Remember when you could just walk into your neighbor’s home and join dinnertime or the family game of rummy? Neither do I. Although I hate my neighbors, and not for a second would I ever approach their house other than to bitch about their barking dog, somehow the idea of living in a community where you like your neighbors and even share common spaces is strangely attractive. Why? Because young adults never experienced such a community —except on Nick at Nite reruns —and they want a piece of the pie.
Yes, they’re moving on up to the East Side. Belfast, that is. A group of young adults, single parents, and families are planning to build a cohousing community, a neighborhood with residents conciously committed to living as a community. With much enthusiasm, around 50 people met January 29 to discuss the possibility of a Belfast village. Interested parties are anxious for future meetings which will be set to establish a core group and create a common vision.
Laura Seaton, who is heading the group, hopes to create the old-fashioned neighborhood where “I’d be likely to find my son having tea at an elderly neighbor’s house, and he’d be likely to find me stacking wood for a disabled friend.”
A similar group, Two Echo Cohousing Community, formed in 1998 in Brunswick, consists of residents ranging from singles, couples, seniors, and families with children whom you can meet at www.two-echo.org. Residents participate in activities like lobster feasts, talent shows, water sports, vigils, and a farm animal co-op.
Were you to join such a community, you would live in a potentially safe place where everyone looks out for one another, where they join with neighbors on a weekly —or even daily —basis. With a physical design that encourages social contact, families aren’t strangers. Instead of eating alone in your kitchen, you’d meet for a community dinner, and sometimes you would even prepare it. Residents would share responsibilities for common areas. Neighborhood decisions would be made by consensus.
This type of living arrangement, which was created in Denmark in the late ’60s, appeals most to Mainers seeking more community in their living situations and single parents and families with children who don’t want to worry about their little ones every second of the day. You may still have the neighbor who allows their dog to bark all night, but theoretically, neighbors would be accepting of complaints having understood the considerations of a community-minded neighborhood. Hell, they might even clean up their dog poo!
If the convivial life is for you, contact Seaton at lauraseaton@hotmail.com
