Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Coho impact on neighborhood ?

[Gerald Manata (gmanata2003]

The new Cohousing going in Eugene also experienced negativity from their 
neighbors.
--------------------------------------------
On Mon, 4/11/16, Tiffany Lee Brown <magdalen23 [at] gmail.com> wrote:

 Subject: Re: [C-L]_ Coho impact on neighborhood ?
 To: cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org
 Date: Monday, April 11, 2016, 10:54 AM
 
 
 
 i would also be curious to hear about negative
 impacts—just any solid research about effects on community
 would be great. for example, in the neighborhood i'm leaving
 in SE Portland, a new co-housing retirement development is
 going in. the neighborhood does not see this as a great new
 addition to the community, but as yet another development
 full of non-local people with out-of-state money piling up
 condos and destroying what makes our town unique in the
 first place. (in this case, the development is going in on
 top of what has been a beloved food cart pod.) so if there
 are ways in which co-housing development is superior to
 regular old displacing-the-locals development, a.k.a.
 gentrification, that is not being communicated in this
 instance. 
 
 does being a "community" or "cohousing" automatically make
 the development "good"? i guess that's something i would
 like to see explored. "We're going to have an eco-roof" or
 "With our smaller footprints, we care more about the
 environment than you do" can make a person sound rather smug
 and superior. the locals who are losing their way of life
 and the affordability of their neighborhoods are just
 struggling to get by. any kind of development can infringe
 on their ability to exist and enjoy life. does this get
 addressed in cohousing literature?
 
 thanks - hope i'm not sounding too grouchy! but there's
 definitely a story here, and i'm a very curious person.
 
 tiffany
 
 
 On Apr 10, 2016, at 2:37 PM, Liz Brown wrote:
 
 > 
 > Thanks Jesse this is exactly the kind of concrete
 examples I'm looking for!
 > 
 > Sent from my iPhone
 > 
 >> On Apr 10, 2016, at 9:48 AM, Jessie Kome <jehako [at] me.com>
 wrote:
 >> 
 >> 
 >> Hi-
 >> 
 >> Here at Eastern Village Cohousing, some of our
 original members founded the neighborhood association for
 the South Silver Spring area. Once founded, they recruited
 representatives from the surrounding buildings and advocated
 for more services and gave us a voice with the County. Over
 the years, EVC has hosted lots of events with local
 officials and candidates and invited folks from the greater
 neighborhood. We have also been a strong voice for getting a
 better polling place.
 >> 
 >> When we moved in in 2004, there was prostitution in
 the hotel down the block from us and we pressured the county
 and the hotel to act. We have participated in getting school
 bus stops nearer to us, and gave the neighborhood a voice in
 the county's school assignment area decisions. 
 >> 
 >> We are seeing indirect effects as well. Some of the
 apartment buildings constructed since we moved in decided to
 add roof decks and even some green roof space like we have.
 And one of the new buildings down the block is advertising
 its courtyard as a place to meet your neighbors. 
 >> 
 >> -Jessie Handforth Kome
 >> Eastern Village Cohousing
 >> Silver Spring, Maryland
 >> Where we are doing the spring work day thing.
 >> 
 >> Sent from my iPad
 >> 
 >>> On Apr 10, 2016, at 9:34 AM, Liz Brown <clzbrown [at] rochester.rr.com>
 wrote:
 >>> 
 >>> 
 >>> Does anyone have research or stories on how
 cohousers help improve their neighborhoods, especially
 urban?
 >>> Liz Brown
 >>> Flower City
 >>> 
 >>> Sent from my iPhone
 >>>
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 > 
 >
 _________________________________________________________________
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 > 
 > 
 
 Tiffany Lee Brown
 editor, plazm magazine
 tiffany [at] plazm.com /
 magdalen23 [at] gmail.com
 
 
 
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