Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Is Cohousing Cheap(er)?

[Sharon Villines (sharon]

On Jan 2, 2013, at 12:40 PM, oz <oz [at] ozragland.com> wrote:

> Of course this Apples-to-Oranges comparison is of two very different forms
> of houses

While there are some days (many?) when I wish I could blot out the needs of the 
community outside my door, I had an opposite experience at Christmas. I went to 
visit my son who lives in a development of duplexes south of Albany NY. His 
unit is very nice, more spacious than our units, and perfect for his family, 
but I had this odd feeling of nothingness outside. As if there was nothing out 
there. No CH, no brunch, no meetings, no kids room, no tot lot, no gardens, no 
compost bins, no puzzle table, no intranet. Just nothing.

It wasn't the architecture or the landscape; it was the absence of the ability 
to go outside and to the CH and see people with whom one had a connection. That 
my granddaughter couldn't go out and expect to see other kids. They have lots 
of friends but only one family as close as a block or two away and they usually 
drive to see them on the way somewhere else. It is total car culture.

At Takoma Village, Christmas guests were in the CH working puzzles and eating. 
Children of all ages were tearing up the kids room. Strangers and neighbors 
alike. Movies were shown every night in the living room -- sometimes two with 
an early one for kids and then one for adults. Games in the dining room.

Cheaper? It's richer for sure.

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