Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Cohousing and local neighborhood

[Sharon Villines (sharon]

On Apr 3, 2008, at 12:16 PM, Naoko Inami wrote:

> .Are there any cohousings that actively work with their neighborhood  
> to improve the larger community?
> I heard that some communities, like Songaia Cohousing (Bothell, WA),

Our community has specifically avoided doing this. We were the first  
apartment complex to be built in the community in many years. As an  
historic district, we had to have the architectural design approval if  
the neighborhood associations in order to build. One concern they had  
was that we would become a gated community and/or a dominant force in  
the neighborhood. While the neighborhood had a strong association,  
they were afraid of a block vote by the cohousing community.

And additional factor was Ann Zabaldo's strong conviction that one  
success of cohousing is that it did not participate as a community in  
political action. Taking stands on neighborhood or larger political  
issues would have required members to agree to positions and to appear  
as unified force.

By allowing individuals to take whatever positions they chose and to  
engage as individuals prevented the cohousing community from becoming  
less diverse since new members would have to "sign on" to the  
community's actions and beliefs.

We do have members who are active as individuals in the community and  
our commonhouse is used for one-time community events without charge.  
We require a community member to be present for these events but  
mostly to be a resource if they need something and to ensure clean up.

Ongoing events are usually not invited because we use the space so  
much ourselves. To have it routinely used by any other group would  
inhibit our own use.

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