[Kzyxtalk] MendoVito - cohousing model

Mon Nov 24 05:00:42 PST 2014

Hello Kzyxtalk list folks and NSA contractors,

In the past couple of weeks, I have become aware of the MendoVito
community project.  I looked at their website very briefly and read two or
three articles in the newspaper.  I have not spoken to any friends who
attended the public meeting in Hopland recently yet, but I probably will
this week.  As King Collins mentioned in a recent post, my wife and I
helped form a cohousing group about 8 years ago and worked on the goal of
creating a cohousing community somewhere within 10 or 15 miles of Ukiah. 
Over a three year period, probably 100 different people came to at least
one meeting or get-together, and a core group of about 8 or 10 of us were
involved for most of those three years.  King pretty accurately described
the basics of cohousing.  There are many in Northern CA, and I have visted
about 6.  If one existed here in the Ukiah Valley, I would probably want
to live there.

We collectively looked at about 20 properties in that time, and a few of
our members checked on at least 50 other possibilities.  It was difficult
for us to get all of our committed members to agree on a particular
property.  Eventually, about 4 years ago, we decided to put the project on
the back burners of our lives, and after awhile, it fell behind the stove.
 We created some strong and lasting friendships during the process, but we
did not achieve our goal of creating a cohousing community.

At the beginning of this decade, I decided to put a considerable amount of
my spare time into helping to end capitalism by the end of this decade. 
The events of March 11, 2011 at Fukushima have made it clear that just
ending capitalism will certainly not guarantee any sort of livable planet
a few decades from now, not with approx. 140 other nuclear power plants
filled with thousands of tons of radioactive fuel rods that need to be
kept cool. And of course there are many thousands of nuclear weapons that
could be launched at any moment.  But I think that if capitalism is not
ended intelligently and carefully within the next few years, that it will
continue to wreak such havoc on the earth's species that there will be
little hope of a livable planet long before the end of this century.  It
seems to me that we can do our best to work with others to end capitalism
responsibly and rationally now, or we can allow it to crash and burn from
its own contradictions and absurdities over the next 20 years.  I prefer
the former approach.

Back to the subject of the MendoVito project.  I don't know enough to
endorse or strongly criticize it.  I do think that time is short and
building new buildings, no matter how "green" they are, is not quite as
"sustainable" as re-purposing and retrofitting the existing buildings in
our society. I tend to think that starting to build any sort of planned
community from the ground up in hopes of it being ready to move in in 5 or
6 years is not the best use of my time. I think it would be building a
community for our present formation of society that (I hope) will not
exist in 5 years.  What we choose to put our energy into in the near
future may well help shape what happens to our planet in the short run and
in the long run.  My energy is probably better utilized in other projects.

And one more thing.  I take seriously my addressing NSA contractors along
with all of you in the salutation to this letter.  I think the police
state of Orwell's 1984 is just about here.  And I think within a decade
the powerful elete of the world will have even more capabilities  to know
about "thought-crimes" and effectly control, jail, and/or liquidate the
radicals within their societies.  That is another very strong motivation
for my wanting capitalism to be brought down quite soon while common
people have that means to affect dramatic change.

Sandy Turner

> Dear list folks,
>
> MendoVito, the proposed housing project in Hopland, is at least is raising
> the right issues. Local, ecological housing, democratic community,
> renewable energy, water?
>
> This reminds me of  "cohousing" in which a couple dozen or more future
> home owners meet together, decide what they want including common areas
> and shared equipment, a common garden space, a large enclosed green area
> where children can play without cars, etc.  In the cohousing model,
> potential home-owners meet together and eventually hire a suitable
> developer and together they design and build the development. Cohousing is
> a wonderful way to live if you like people and like to share. There are
> several in the Bay Area. At least one in Santa Rosa and Eureka.
>
> A major criticism of cohousing is that each owner must be able to get a
> substantial mortgage, say 300,000 or so. Maybe less, but easily more. I've
> never heard of one that was supported government money, like HUD, for
> example.
>
> Anyway I'd like to hear from Sandy and Louisa Turner (Redwood Valley) and
> others who have made a several serious effort to start community housing
> projects. I'm sending copies to Sandy.
>
> But Mendovito is much bigger and seems to be developer driven rather than
> home owner driven.
>
> --king collins
>
>
>
> On Nov 21, 2014, at 9:15 PM, nsi at mcn.org wrote:
>
>>
>> April: For goodness sakes!  I read Lauri York's post, opened up the
>> website, found a telephone number and called it. (You can do the
>> same.)  A guy named Claude (the founder) picked up the phone and
>> addressed the questions most pertinent to me. I summed all that up in
>> my post.
>> It was like a twelve minute conversation. When he told me that Dan
>> Hamburg had driven him around and introduced him to the current land
>> owner, I believed him.  I know Dan's heart and this endeavor is a
>> perfect fit.
>> I didn't call to do a story. I don't intend to do any back checking.
>> (And I never said this was a Native American project.  Please re-read
>> my post. I'm sorry you didn't get what I was getting at).
>>
>> 'Citizen Sponsored Land Use Initiative' is the keyword here. Whomever
>> follows through on bringing this settlement to fruition needs the
>> signatures of 20% of the registered voters in Mendocino County. (And
>> I love that strategy: the Mendocino County Department of Plannng and
>> Building  sucks. It's also corrupt.)  The proponents will be doing
>> public meetings all over the county, just like the Measure S folks
>> did. If anything, they will have to tweak the financial strategies so
>> that men and women living on local wages, young people raised here,
>> young people already in the locavore movement, have a way to buy
>> in.  Otherwise, this project will not win as a Ballot Measure.  If
>> this starts feeling like gentrification and Google moving in, it will
>> fall flat.  But that's not what the short conversation I had felt
>> like. It really felt visionary and inclusive and neighborly in all
>> its aspects.  . . . I would hope Dan Hamburg chimes in.
>> So. No "Intimacy" or checked out "factual information" re. the
>> people, organization, vitals, history blah, blah.  --beth
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "April Dice"
>> To:"discussion at lists.mcn.org"
>> Cc:
>> Sent:Fri, 21 Nov 2014 18:56:16 -0800
>> Subject:Re: [MCN-Discussion]- MendoVito
>>
>> Hi, Beth.
>> It sounds as though you have researched and know MendoVito
>> intimately. Can you tell us more factual info about the people,
>> organization, vitals, history and recommendations, plans, etc.? Who
>> is behind this? Who benefits? Is it a non-profit? Is there govt money
>> coming to build it?
>>
>> I appreciate your lyrical post and the romanticism, tying in our
>> history and experience of Mendo. Not quite certain how that history
>> ties into this project. I have heard for the first time that this is
>> a Native American project, tied in some way to the Pomo. Is it they
>> who invited these folks in?
>>
>> The story behind the name sounds compelling and yummy. I want to
>> know more. Are there that many Pomo young people who need housing?
>>
>> I heard on kzyx that the housing that will cost $500,000 will
>> subsidize the lower income housing. Who are these wealthy people who
>> will be buying in and where do you see them coming from?
>>
>> Will this be on a reservation?
>>
>> Thanks.
>> __________________________________________________________
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>> __________________________________________________________
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