Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: [C-L] July 8th East Bay Cohousing bus tour (San Francisco

[Judy Lightstone (judylmft]

>If you are interested in visiting Cohousing communities in the San  
>Francisco bay area July 8th bus tour, I just wanted to tell you that  
>there are still a few seats available. Take advantage of this unique  
>opportunity and come join us!

What about intentional communities that are not quite cohousing, but 
still offer great promise in that area - such as Halcyon Commons? My family
and I have found that, especially in Berkeley, where we all work and wanted
to live without having to commute (I walk to work and Joel bicycles to work)
- and where housing costs are beyond affordable without the additional cost
of common lands and house, that more creativity was called for in the search
for cooperative living environments.  After many years of work, we have
managed to create a cooperative 5-plex within a cooperative urban block.  We
sometimes share meals and celebrations with the people in our 5-plex, help
each other with pet and child care, created a shared vegetable garden and
bike shed, and are now working on creating a patio in the shared back yard
together.  It's not cohousing, but after 12 years of looking for cohousing
in Berkeley and getting involved with failed effort after failed effort,
we've found this to be a pleasant compromise.

We've also worked hard on the block and neighborhood level.
Halcyon Commons Park, which is in the center of our shared block, was built
by neighbors to replace the parking lot that had been in the middle of the
street. The neighborhood is about to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the
park on September 24th. We also share quarterly community potlucks, an
active neighborhood association that puts out a newsletter and coordinates a
strong crime-watch and disaster preparedness program, community animal and
child gatherings in the park, a weekly email newsletter, strong disaster
preparedness, regular community park cleanups and plantings, etc. etc.
Considering the lack of affordability for full out cohousing in Berkeley and
San Francisco, I think many would be 
interested in at least being shown some of the variations and options 
we (Berkeleyans) have to offer.

As for my little family and I, after all this we are finally going to take
the plunge and move out of the Bay Area so we can afford to live in
cohousing.  But we are selling our townhouse in our cooperative 5-plex in
our cooperative urban block, and are hoping to find communitarians to
replaced us in deference to our neighbors who like to live this way.
Anybody interested in more info about our place should contact me either by
email, at judylmft [at] comcast.net or by phone at the number below.

Peace,
Judy
Judy Lightstone
3038 D Halcyon Court
Berkeley, CA 94705
510) 883-1255





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End of Cohousing-L Digest, Vol 30, Issue 5
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