Cohousing-L Mailing List: Two interesting cohousing articles in the media

[Sheryl Rapée-Adams (sheryl]

Welcome mat doesn't roll out for cohousing


By Stan Oklobdzija - Bee Staff Writer


Sue Pimentel of Orangevale doesn't care if the folks at Sycamore Village
feel like trading privacy for proximity.

She doesn't mind the idea of swapping a private lawn for a communal open
space, or if all 70 residents feel like eating their dinners together in a
giant common house.

In fact, Pimentel thinks it's a great idea. It's just not one she wants in
her backyard.

FULL STORY:  HYPERLINK
"http://www.sacbee.com/101/story/104565.html"http://www.sacbee.com/101/story
/104565.html

 

 

 


Close for comfort


Residents say cohousing gives them privacy and community


By Sarah Schweitzer, Globe Staff  |  January 7, 2007

Seventeen years ago, they were strangers who came together seeking a life
beyond the suburbs. They wanted green space and good schools, plus a hefty
dose of the Mayberry-style, borrow-a-cup-of-sugar neighborliness they felt
was missing from the suburbs.

The answer, they said, lay in a new concept called cohousing, a cross
between a commune and a condominium, where homes are individually owned, but
land and its upkeep are shared by the community.

Naysayers called them hippie idealists run amok, doomed to the fate of the
failed communes of the 1960s.

But today, the New View Cohousing community, which opened in 1995 after six
years of planning, is intact atop a hillside in Acton, its members having
weathered two divorces, one house fire, one stroke, and one kidney
transplant. They have celebrated the births of nine children and advised
visiting members of start-up cohousing communities.

"What makes it work is that I don't feel like I'm coming home to a house,"
said Franny Osman, 46, a wife, mother of three children, and a
bio-statistician. "I feel like I am coming home to a community."

FULL STORY:  HYPERLINK
"http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/01/07/close_for_comfort/"htt
p://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/01/07/close_for_comfort/


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