BROOKLYN COHOUSING

To achieve our goals we need to design physical housing space that supports the kind of spontaneous interactions and socializing among neighbors that are integral to this kind of community. We want an apartment building with a central courtyard where children play and neighbors gather, friends talk and people sing, and where plants, trees, vegetables and flowers grow. We currently believe that a mix of 20-30 apartments of various sizes is ideal and we intend to build or modify an apartment building to house a community of this size. We are committed to doing so in Brooklyn within 2 years (by the fall of 2009). We aim to locate within walking distance of Prospect Park, in an area with good public schools, near to public transportation and shopping and services. We value the environment and will include ecologically-friendly technologies where economically feasible. We will design a beautiful building and invest in quality construction to create homes we will be proud to live in for a long time.

We are committed to a consensus process for decision-making and expect to use simple majority-rule voting only as a last resort. While we expect a community culture of shared values and practices to emerge, we will respect the individual's right to make private decisions about their own household practices. The most important common value will be that of the worth of the community itself, and the opportunity it provides to support, share, and inspire each other's lives.