Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Community Gardens

[Fred-List manager (fholson]

"Tobia,Blaise" <tobiabj [at] drexel.edu>
is the author of the message below.  It was posted by Fred of
the Cohousing-L management team <cohousing-l-owner [at] cohousing.org>
deleting quoted digest.

Digest subscribers, please delete most of quoted digest and
restore subject line when replying.   NOTE: Digest subscribers can
make replying easier by using "auto folders" particularly Gmail and
Outlook users.   See http://justcomm.org/jc-faq.htm#Q6.5

--------------------  FORWARDED MESSAGE FOLLOWS --------------------

After many years of failed attempts to get a CoHousing project going
in Philadelphia, we took the opportunity to move into an existing
"shared garden" community. Eight houses surround a parklike garden
(complete with central lawn, brick pathways and a shared
toolshed/composting area). Most of the houses face front onto regular
urban Philadelphia streets (even with a trolley line!) but face back
onto this little oasis. All of the property is individually owned but
protected from fences or construction by an easement (which helped us
fend off a developer who wanted to build on part of the garden). We
share all of the gardening work and the maintenance costs (such as
arborist work). This shared garden was originally created in 1947 by a
collective of anti-war Quakers who very much wanted a CoHousing-like
community and raised their families here. It was further improved, and
the easement was created, in 1974. It strikes us that this kind of
arrangement could be recreated all over Philadelphia (and in most
cities) if neighbors could agree to take down fences and cooperate.
"Good fences" do not, in actuality, make good neighbors.