Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Re: Rules & Regs Violation

[Sharon Villines (sharon]

What size is your community? How many adults?

I'm wondering about sustainability. How large can a community be and 
still sustain a fairly loose governance structure? Writing down the 
rules without an automatic consequence of violation is what I'm 
referring to as "loose." Although in many communities even if a rule 
and its consequences are spelled out, people are loath to enforce them.

I find that with close to 60 adults, it is very hard to keep everyone 
informed. Even people who were listening in the beginning (this person 
wrote the rules!) stop listening at a certain point.

For the first time this spring, for example, someone turned on our 
fountain without first cleaning the winter dirt out of the basin. Now 
all that dirt has washed inside and the person in charge of the 
fountain has the job of cleaning it all out before it damages the pump. 
Not a job she expected to be doing today.

In a conventional condo this size, the controls would have been locked 
with only one person or a very small number would have had access. If 
they weren't around the fountain would not have been turned on.

In cohousing, people bristle at that kind of control and we end up 
chasing our tails all the time.

(As you might have guessed, we a facilities team meeting last night.)

Sharon
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Sharon Villines
Takoma Village Cohousing, Washington DC
http://www.takomavillage.org