Week 28 Meeting Summary by Doug Robnett

This week’s CIT meeting centered mostly on financing. This is pretty exciting stuff,  so hold on. We have two lenders we have been working with: Numerica and National Coop. We are moving forward with Numerica for the construction loan! We also got back comments from the city on our permits that UDP and Chuck are working through and once they have had a chance to dissect them, we will report out on where we stand.

The solar panels have been removed from the stands and they are working to get them installed on the Shop this week.

Much of the meeting was spent brainstorming how to get to the 75% membership at 20% down threshold. A strategy Katie has used successfully in the past is backup buyers. In this strategy members (and perhaps others) can commit to put 20% down on specific unit types. This commitment would deliver a premium rate of return which makes it quite attractive.

UD&P is running a cost/benefit analysis of mini splits including life cycle analysis and payoff schedules. This will help us make the decision of which type of heating we want to go with.
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Finally, we (and by “we” I mean Abby) are working with Yost-Gallagher and Fred’s Appliance to establish the manageable parameters for individual choice on appliances. Stay tuned for that one.

We’re not talking about politics here, we’re talking about Dan Buettner’s National Geographic cover story a while back entitled, “The Secrets of a Long Life.” Buettner identified five regions in the world as evidence for his argument that certain common factors contribute to some populations living healthier and longer lives than others. The places he identified as Blue Zones (versus Red Zones that are less healthy) span from Okinawa, Japan to the Seventh-day Adventists in Loma Linda, California. If he were to do smaller scale studies, he would surely find cohousing communities to be blazing blue spots on the global map.
 
Why? Here is the list of the nine lifestyle commonalities in these zones:

1. Engagement in social life
2. Engagement in family life
3. Moderate, regular physical activity 
4. Stress reduction
5. Plant-based diet
6. Moderate caloric intake
7. Moderate alcohol intake, especially wine
8. Engagement in spirituality or religion  
9. Life purpose

 
A cohousing community is designed for many of these lifestyle factors, and it wouldn’t take much effort to hit all nine aspects of Blue Zones easily. The most obvious Blue lifestyle feature associated with cohousing is social engagement—the common house hub where dinners are served, celebrations and performances happen, young and old pool sharks compete, laundry is folded over chit-chat, nightly gatherings around the fireplace in winter, and porch eating in summer.  Don’t discount the socializing that happens outside of the Common House—these too are designed into our cohousing site plan—nodes for hanging out throughout the commons with benches, hot tubbing, gardening, shop work, music jams, impromptu outings and team gatherings.

Family engagement: not only do many cohousers move in with their family but also living in community can form a sort of secondary family over time. Young parents will have a bonus tier of eager “grandparents” to watch over their children; someone returning from a hospital procedure will have folks tending to their post-op welfare.

Constant and moderate physical activity are also intentionally achieved by design. Unlike most American homes, you won’t be able to drive a car into your garage and simply vanish through a garage door because all the parking is on the perimeter. Cohousing anti-isolation design has your neighbors smiling at you whether you’re walking, dancing, riding a wheelchair or scooter as you pass by their porches to get to your condo. The garden, shop and meditation huts are at a bit of elevation from the main commons and Common House, so some trips up there are built-in potentials for increased heart rate (and rewarding views of Mt. Spokane and the city).

Stress reduction? Dinner creation and cleanup are taken care of most nights by someone else. If your child is sick and you can’t miss work, there’s a kids’ room in the Common House and retirees that have time to help. We will be sharing items from trucks to ginger powder—there will be someone right around the corner that has what you need to finish your project.

More legumes and vegetables?  We’ve got omnivores among us as well as vegetarians, and we’ll be cooking for both. You’ll always have the opportunity to increase your vegetable intake.

Purpose and spirituality? All the way back at the original planning session, we slated a spot above the garden for a sanctuary, otherwise known as the meditation hut. With a quiet place to reflect, purpose can be more easily fathomed, yes? Additionally, living harmoniously in community is its own built-in purpose.


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A Venn diagram of longevity clues from Okinawa, Sardinia, and Loma Linda.
 
This Venn diagram of longevity has a few other aspects that should make
 you smile like “empowered women”—we have plenty of em (see this month’s other article on three women from our cohousing group nominated
for Spokane Women of the Year). Sunshine? We’ll have lovely places all around to spend more time outdoors. So, step into a micro Blue Zone with
us at Haystack Heights and you’ll be giving your mind/body and fellow cohousers some big doses of wholesome lifestyle goodness. 
 
            

 
Out of the 150 nominations for the Spokesman-Review’s annual recognition of outstanding female leadership in business, politics, arts, philanthropy and social services, our Haystack Heights community garnered more than our fair share in 2019: Susan Virnig, Nikki Lockwood, and Mariah McKay. It’s no surprise that all three are also founders of our cohousing project—we tend to attract people that want to improve our Spokane community overall, not just Haystack Heights.
 
One of our nominees, Susan Virnig, was highlighted as one of five in the “Legacy Recognition” for a lifetime of work that has had an impact on our region. Her long history of doing good in the region is chronicled in the Spokesman, but even they had to cut short the lengthy list of accomplishments and summarize years of hard work in a small paragraph tucked into the full-page spread:
 
“While still leading the facilitators group, Virnig kept busy and worked to develop organization vision, resolve staff conflicts and create strategic plans for the YWCA, KPBX, Garfield Elementary School, Shaw Middle School and the Unitarian Universalist Church, as well as the state Commission for the Humanities and the governor’s Task Force on Hunger.”

Haystack Heights nominee Nikki Lockwood is a Spokane Public Schools’ Board of Directors candidate.  Her passion for restorative justice and accommodating all students’ needs is central to who she is and her vision of District 1’s future. As the Spokesman says, “She has been a leader behind the scenes in the schools, tirelessly working to better educate and include our children and provide them the skills they need to thrive in the world. She has taken not only an educational but political lead and has a long history of advocacy for education, human rights and fairness.” We are very excited about Nikki’s candidacy—she has a large and supportive community standing with her in Haystack Heights.
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Nominee Mariah McKay is Executive Director of Spokane Independent Metro Business Alliance. SIMBA is the independent business alliance of the Spokane-Coeur d’Alene metro region, promoting a prosperous, equitable, and local economy by organizing and educating regional businesses, consumers, and partners. Until her recent full-time dedication to SIMBA, Mariah has worked tirelessly as a lead in Haystack Heights marketing efforts. Quoting the Spokesman Review, “Mariah has been dedicating her enthusiasm, energy and creativity to the Spokane Community for several years. She is the executive director at Spokane Independent Metro Business Alliance, a board member at Spokane’s University District, and also a former Public Health Educator at Spokane Regional Health District.” The Spokesman can only claim that Mariah has dedicated her energy over “several years” because she is one of the youngest nominees. Those of us who know Mariah are witness to the fact that she seems able to pack into a day or two what would take many of us a month to accomplish. We look forward to the unfolding her vision and capabilities in the years to come.
We are more than lucky and proud to have these three women amongst us in community. Their efforts offer a heartening view of the kind of remarkable work to improve society that concerned citizens can initiate. Who knows how the synergy of so many caring activists amongst us can help shape Spokane’s future?