Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Common House Reservations

[Sharon Villines (sharon]

On Jan 3, 2007, at 10:49 PM, Deirdre Slate wrote:

> We were wondering, do other cohousers allow folks to
> reserve the whole common house for non community events?  If you do,
> how does that work for you?

It works fine on a normal basis. A member has to sponsor and supervise 
the event -- that actually cuts down on a lot of use because members 
don't actually like taking responsibility for a lot of people -- often 
curious ones who have to be corralled to keep them from wandering the 
grounds.

If the event is a religious service, will be advertised to the public, 
admission is charged, or will occur repeatedly (like a book club), it 
has to be posted for objections.

In general no form of religious service or meditation group has worked 
well. We have an open floor plan so privacy isn't possible. It doesn't 
feel good to be checking your mail or doing the laundry while a 
religious service is going on in the next room. Generally a scheduled 
event has to allow other activities, even meal preparation to be going 
on a the same time except for the rare funeral reception, for example.

Otherwise we have office retreats, bicycle clubs, neighborhood 
association board meetings, extended family dinners and celebrations, 
birthday parties, school fundraisers, club dinners, etc. -- all 
scheduled and sponsored by members.

Members just reserve the space on our online calendar. We also post 
this schedule of events weekly on a white board inside the front door 
so we all know what to expect. People feel more comfortable knowing 
that an outside group will be meeting and what it is. Members usually 
post to let people to know if it is an open event or closed. Planning 
to spend an hour working on a puzzle in the sun room only to find 20 4 
year olds you've never seen before in your life running around with 
whistles and streamers can be a shock to the system.

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