Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Blocking frivolously

[Racheli Gai (racheli]

An example of frivolous blocking:
At some point, there was a proposal to raise our association dues by  
roughly $5 per household, and an alternative proposal not to raise it.
One couple blocked the one proposal, and the other couple, out of  
anger at the first duo, blocked the opposite proposal...

I don't care to take the time to enumerate all the ways in which this  
is completely unacceptable...

Racheli.


On Oct 2, 2011, at 10:22 AM, Sharon Villines wrote:

> On 2 Oct 2011, at 12:04 PM, Racheli Gai wrote:
>
> > Before we instituted this, we had a number of blocks that were truly
> > frivolous,
>
> I would like to hear more about "frivolous" objections.
>
> I can't say that we have had any that were frivolous although we  
> have had some that were mishandled. These have been instances when a  
> proposal was never brought forward to the full membership because  
> someone on a team or in conversation with a team said they wouldn't  
> accept the proposal. I think it is a mistake to require a team to  
> have consensus or a proposal can't come forward for even discussion.
>
> In dynamic governance, if a team can't reach consensus, the issue  
> goes to the General Circle which includes two people from each team.  
> In this arena there are viewpoints that represent all parts of the  
> community and they are concerned with issues more abstractly than  
> teams. Teams are more concerned with what to do, operational  
> questions, but the General Circle will be concerned with longer  
> range issues and guiding principles. New information and fresh  
> perspectives can often surface a solution that was not previously  
> considered.
>
> We had a request from parents of 10-14 year olds to set up the ping  
> pong table in the dining room at times when it wasn't being used.  
> They sent the request to a team on which there is one person with  
> multiple sensitivities. She became very upset at the idea of even  
> walking through the CH if balls were flying around and particularly  
> coming upon them suddenly. The team went around and around and never  
> brought the proposal forward. Very few of us knew this had happened.  
> And several people had suggestions that we think would have resolved  
> her objections but the team and the  parents by then thought there  
> was too much bad feeling to continue. They wouldn't enjoy playing  
> anymore.
>
> I think we have talked this though enough that a similar thing is  
> not likely to happen again — the proposal would be brought forward  
> and the split in the team explained — but I think that individuals  
> are hesitant to propose something for discussion when they think  
> some people would be against it. My own feeling is that you have to  
> start the conversation, you never know until you try, and  
> individuals shouldn't be able to make decisions for the community.  
> And that's what individuals are being allowed to do when a team  
> doesn't bring a proposal forward.
>
> Sharon
> ----
> Sharon Villines, Washington DC
> Coauthor with John Buck of
> "We the People: Consenting to a Deeper Democracy"
> ISBN: 9780979282706
>
>
>
>
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