Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Issues in Cohousing [was Play/toy weapons

[Sharon Villines (sharon]

> On Jul 22, 2016, at 10:10 AM, Elizabeth Magill <pastorlizm [at] gmail.com> 
> wrote:
> 
> Also: 
> Do we need a policy, a best practice, or just a discussion?
> If its a best practice do we have to follow it?
> Its more welcoming to have more rules. Its more welcoming to have less rules.
> 
> Smoking.
> When can you call animal control?

Or a tow truck for a car parked repeatedly in the wrong space — yours. We  have 
one space per unit and no spaces for guests or workers. Some have had a hard 
time realizing that we are no longer college students who do as we please. 
Where everyone’s cool. The nurse or doctor who comes home from work at 2 am 
needs their space to be available.

People can always ask to borrow a space, but a few just don’t bother. “It 
doesn’t matter.” They aren’t being intentionally inconsiderate — they just 
don’t realize that this is a major problem for others.

And MBA did an analysis of our members for me a few years ago. ⅓ were actively 
involved in running the community. ⅓ were on total overload from being new 
parents, parents of troubled kids, no jobs, serious illnesses, aging, or 
whatever. And ⅓ were unable to self-start so they weren’t good at taking 
responsibility for independent tasks. (Workdays addressed this — all they have 
to do is show up.)

Even when policies and understandings are important, life is life, even in 
cohousing. Maybe especially in cohousing.

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