Microcosmos - Life in a CoOp
Hello to all people who are living or plan to be living in CoOp Housing.
As you may already know, I live in one of the nicest homes in the worst part of town: the MauDan Gardens CoOp on Jackson Keefer and Jackson, a gated community that takes up a whole city block full of huge trees and birds - two blocks from Main and Hastings.
To get an idea what CoOp Housing is all about, check out some of the local and federal housing bodies http://www.chf.bc.ca/pages/about.asp that fund and oversee the units. By definition CoOp's provide a product or service at the best prices to its members - in this case housing. To take advantage of this price break, you will need to be a member of the CoOp which, due to demand, often means having to qualify through a stringent set of criterias and wait lists. There are many such rganisations, so make sure you are well informed on the process 1. Getting into one could be very time consuming, what with wait lists, and interviews, and selection commitees, but you might as well get used to the pace of decisionmaking, cause being patient with the process is essential to understand and live well in a CoOp.
Once you become a member and move into your new home, you are quickly bombarded by requests to join this committee or that activity. Participating in the governance of a CoOp is an essential component of CoOp living, so picking and choosing the right compatibility between your skills and the CoOp's needs will make for a long, productive and harmonious relationship in your new community 2. Given that most of the work is done on a volunteer basis by members. Motivation is essential in manitaining good participation hence good productivity in the managment of the little village that is the CoOp.
Because essentially the CoOp is a little village; a group of people who have to live and work together to accomplish things that are necessary for theirs and their community's well being. Wether it's a small block appartment with 20 people, or a large housing block of hundreds, the structure and needs are the same: collect money, keep the budget, maintain the infrastructure and common areas, accommodate and solicit members and deal with changes and emergencies, while acting within the law ...if you get all this done, then you can plan for some fun and festivities. Essentially it is resource management.
These are pretty much the needs of all societies or cities or countries or even empires: Taxes, Natural Resources, Civil Engineering, Population Growth, Political Structure and Arts / Culture. What is needed is good accounting, fiscal responsibility, good planning, a cooperative attitude, a functionning process, but most importantly it needs the people with the right skillsets to make it all happen.
The issues that come up in CoOps are the ones you read about in the newspapers - only at a smaller scale. The first and foremost is the need for money - are we making enough from the housing charges to cover the running costs as well being albe to do all the things we need to accomodate amortisation and emergencies. If there is a shortage of this one resource, then the strain will ripple down to the other parts of the organisation as people not only have to choose what to spend the money on, but often have to compensate for money with volunteer time. Who gets to choose which things are a priority and which requests are adressed or ignored. This is the starting blocks of all human governments, which is always cluttered by ideology, red-tape, power and influences, corruption and a largely inactive and incohesive population whose needs the system must meet. As you may asertain by now, this scenario is also the cause of most conflicts - a natural result of discrepencey between needs and resources.
I feel this describes in essence the factors at play with most organisations though I feel I would need a volume to be able to draw clear examples, which I hope one day to do, if it has not already been done to death by anthropologists.
Anyway, my chronicles of the events in my CoOp will follow this model: using situations and relationships in the day-to-day managment of our little village to reflect on the events and situations that we deal with as a global village. If enough of the variables are the same, then the analogy would be a very helpful one in understanding the issues we have to deal with as a society in Vancouver/BC/Canada/ North America/... and so on.
One example of such comparative analysis has always been the film Microcosmos http://imdb.com/title/tt0117040/. It studies the lives of insects and plants and the relationships they manage in going about their life cycles. The one big difference of course is the influence of individuals in the direction and outcome of events. Though we can't say everyone is the same, there is a long standing tradion started in the Human Sciences that looks at how most people react to most situations in similar ways. In that generalisation lies the diversity that is human existance - which can also be studied scientifically when you take into consideration, gender, race, wealth, intelligence, background, mental health and ideology. The key here seems to be to identify the behaviours and dynamics of events and issues in the group to mirror it's similarities with larger groups.
...Still not sure where this blogg is going, I am attempting to make a comparative analysis of human behaviour in a small cooperative with society at large: the Macro and Micro of existance. But I'm not sure of the structure of this blogg...will have to revist this later I think - thanks for reading this far (comments are welcome)
The Fine Print
1.These wait lists are managed by the membership committee who look at applicants based on a set of criterias that are set by the governing bodies and/or the CoOp membership itself. Criterias are usualy based on the number of people in the household, the financial situation and maybe some compatibility or demographic needs of the CoOp. The applications are reviewed by the commitee and their decision is then reviewed by members of the CoOp Board of Directors who are the elected body of the membership. Once you get through the application process then you have to buy a share of the CoOp to become a member. This shareprice is set by the CoOp governing body and/or the members of CoOp and can vary from a few hundred to a few thousands - this fee is refundable when your membership is terminated.
2. The decision as to how to participate in the managment of the community will greatly influence your and your community's future, so think carefuly and act accordingly - because things can easily get unharmonious and down right nasty if there is a bad fit.
As you may already know, I live in one of the nicest homes in the worst part of town: the MauDan Gardens CoOp on Jackson Keefer and Jackson, a gated community that takes up a whole city block full of huge trees and birds - two blocks from Main and Hastings.
To get an idea what CoOp Housing is all about, check out some of the local and federal housing bodies http://www.chf.bc.ca/pages/about.asp that fund and oversee the units. By definition CoOp's provide a product or service at the best prices to its members - in this case housing. To take advantage of this price break, you will need to be a member of the CoOp which, due to demand, often means having to qualify through a stringent set of criterias and wait lists. There are many such rganisations, so make sure you are well informed on the process 1. Getting into one could be very time consuming, what with wait lists, and interviews, and selection commitees, but you might as well get used to the pace of decisionmaking, cause being patient with the process is essential to understand and live well in a CoOp.
Once you become a member and move into your new home, you are quickly bombarded by requests to join this committee or that activity. Participating in the governance of a CoOp is an essential component of CoOp living, so picking and choosing the right compatibility between your skills and the CoOp's needs will make for a long, productive and harmonious relationship in your new community 2. Given that most of the work is done on a volunteer basis by members. Motivation is essential in manitaining good participation hence good productivity in the managment of the little village that is the CoOp.
Because essentially the CoOp is a little village; a group of people who have to live and work together to accomplish things that are necessary for theirs and their community's well being. Wether it's a small block appartment with 20 people, or a large housing block of hundreds, the structure and needs are the same: collect money, keep the budget, maintain the infrastructure and common areas, accommodate and solicit members and deal with changes and emergencies, while acting within the law ...if you get all this done, then you can plan for some fun and festivities. Essentially it is resource management.
These are pretty much the needs of all societies or cities or countries or even empires: Taxes, Natural Resources, Civil Engineering, Population Growth, Political Structure and Arts / Culture. What is needed is good accounting, fiscal responsibility, good planning, a cooperative attitude, a functionning process, but most importantly it needs the people with the right skillsets to make it all happen.
The issues that come up in CoOps are the ones you read about in the newspapers - only at a smaller scale. The first and foremost is the need for money - are we making enough from the housing charges to cover the running costs as well being albe to do all the things we need to accomodate amortisation and emergencies. If there is a shortage of this one resource, then the strain will ripple down to the other parts of the organisation as people not only have to choose what to spend the money on, but often have to compensate for money with volunteer time. Who gets to choose which things are a priority and which requests are adressed or ignored. This is the starting blocks of all human governments, which is always cluttered by ideology, red-tape, power and influences, corruption and a largely inactive and incohesive population whose needs the system must meet. As you may asertain by now, this scenario is also the cause of most conflicts - a natural result of discrepencey between needs and resources.
I feel this describes in essence the factors at play with most organisations though I feel I would need a volume to be able to draw clear examples, which I hope one day to do, if it has not already been done to death by anthropologists.
Anyway, my chronicles of the events in my CoOp will follow this model: using situations and relationships in the day-to-day managment of our little village to reflect on the events and situations that we deal with as a global village. If enough of the variables are the same, then the analogy would be a very helpful one in understanding the issues we have to deal with as a society in Vancouver/BC/Canada/ North America/... and so on.
One example of such comparative analysis has always been the film Microcosmos http://imdb.com/title/tt0117040/. It studies the lives of insects and plants and the relationships they manage in going about their life cycles. The one big difference of course is the influence of individuals in the direction and outcome of events. Though we can't say everyone is the same, there is a long standing tradion started in the Human Sciences that looks at how most people react to most situations in similar ways. In that generalisation lies the diversity that is human existance - which can also be studied scientifically when you take into consideration, gender, race, wealth, intelligence, background, mental health and ideology. The key here seems to be to identify the behaviours and dynamics of events and issues in the group to mirror it's similarities with larger groups.
...Still not sure where this blogg is going, I am attempting to make a comparative analysis of human behaviour in a small cooperative with society at large: the Macro and Micro of existance. But I'm not sure of the structure of this blogg...will have to revist this later I think - thanks for reading this far (comments are welcome)
The Fine Print
1.These wait lists are managed by the membership committee who look at applicants based on a set of criterias that are set by the governing bodies and/or the CoOp membership itself. Criterias are usualy based on the number of people in the household, the financial situation and maybe some compatibility or demographic needs of the CoOp. The applications are reviewed by the commitee and their decision is then reviewed by members of the CoOp Board of Directors who are the elected body of the membership. Once you get through the application process then you have to buy a share of the CoOp to become a member. This shareprice is set by the CoOp governing body and/or the members of CoOp and can vary from a few hundred to a few thousands - this fee is refundable when your membership is terminated.
2. The decision as to how to participate in the managment of the community will greatly influence your and your community's future, so think carefuly and act accordingly - because things can easily get unharmonious and down right nasty if there is a bad fit.
posted by Viken's word @ 11:41 a.m.
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