Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Smoking Policies

[Moz (list]

Diana Carroll
> We did bring it back to our values, which among others include
> that we will be *welcoming*.  To tell a visitor that they must
> leave our community to smoke is not very welcoming... Can't we
> welcome the *people* without welcoming their behaviors?

Fortunately for us we had people who took this attitude and
were happy to advocate for it, which made it much easier to
explain the problem: exactly how far does "welcoming"
extend?

You mentioned heroin addiction, we used paedophilia, but the
point is the same. Certain problems are associated with
strongly antisocial behaviour and a high risk of relapse or
reoffending. It's safer for our community if those people
are welcomed cautiously and monitored while on our premises
so that we don't have unfortunate incidents. This is a live
issue for us, as some of us have family members who have
histories of criminal behaviour. We have learned that we
must take responsibility for ensuring that they obey the law
when they're around us, because they can't. It's not very
welcoming, but it avoids the nasty recriminations after they
offend in our community.

Now, Urban Coup took the view that as long as vistors (and
residents) agree not to break the law where adults have to
watch then eveything is fine. The explicit example was of
someone who had been convicted of sexually abusing children
but had served their time in prison. Some members (including
all the parents with young children) were uncomfortable with
the idea of welcoming that person into our community, but
there was no consensus on changing the policy.

> what happens when you DO get a smoking member moving in?

They stop, or I leave. More accurately, a somking member
joined and I have left. I have as much right to live smoke-
free as they have to smoke, andI have found repeatedly that
smokers cannot bring themselves to respect any restrictions
on their smoking. Sure, some can, but the other 90% give
them a bad name.

Moz