Utopia Gains Fair Haven Foothold

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by Thomas MacMillan | Jul 18, 2011 1:14 pm

(30) Comments | Commenting has been closed | E-mail the Author

Posted to: Housing, Fair Haven

Thomas MacMillan Photo A neighbor came over and mowed the lawn for three guys who recently moved to a house on Atwater Street. In return, they made him a lunch of tofu and roasted vegetables.

It was an example of basic old-fashioned neighborliness—as well as the beginnings of a new “intentional community,” one in which people work for each other, not for money.

The three roommates—Adam King, Adam Wascholl, and Bill Richo—are founding members of an initiative they’re calling the Atwater Resource Cooperative (ARC). They see it as a new way for neighbors on Atwater to live and work together by sharing their time and skills for mutual benefit.

ARC has three houses so far, another coming soon, more on the way. Houses, and dreams of a different way for neighbors to live together.

They have plans for an alternative local economy based on “gifts” of labor and expertise rather than on money, and for an alternative to local property ownership. The group would collectively own community members’ houses.

To that end, King and Wascholl recently assumed coordinator-ship of SHARE Haven, an alternative, time-based currency for Greater New Haven.

And King recently put down the down payment to buy two multi-family homes on Atwater Street, numbers 48 and 92, between Grand Avenue and Pine Street. He said he won’t own them for long. As soon as the group can figure out the appropriate legal mechanism, the properties will become “self-owning” LLCs, he said.

King said friends will soon move into two other houses close by on Atwater Street, expanding the number of ARC houses to four. Eventually the members of ARC will help each other by contributing what they are good at and enjoy doing amid a web of mutual aid and outside of the money economy. They would use the word “utopian” if not for that word’s connotations of naivete and impracticality, King said.

ARC’s plans are similar to some new and existing ventures in New Haven and elsewhere. Like King and his roommates, the founders of the recently opened New Haven Free Store are trying to create alternative economies based on gift giving. The Grove co-working space on Orange Street places a similar emphasis on cooperation and synergy. The Rochdale Co-op, a building on Elm Street near Howe, has been owned collectively by its various occupants since the 1940s.

Across the country, co-housing community members live in intentionally designed neighborhoods, sharing facilities and activities like child care and cooking. And alternative currencies exist nationwide.

But while co-housing and alternative currencies are well-established elsewhere, ARC is, for now, three roommates in an apartment on Atwater Street—with big ideas.

Seeds

Last Thursday afternoon, King, Waschall, Richo, and a curled-up house cat occupied the darkened living room of their second-floor apartment. King, who’s 45, furnished glasses of water. He put coasters between them and the coffee table, at the request of Waschall, who’s 28 and who recently quit his job as an accountant after finding it “physically, emotionally, and spiritually” exhausting. Waschal, who wore a polo shirt and khaki shorts, stowed a meditation bench before taking a seat on the plush sectional sofa. Richo, a Yale librarian who’s also 28, sat on another couch, wearing a shirt with a Punisher skull on it and sporting a subtle mohawk.

“The idea is really simple,” began King, a professor of computer science at Fairfield Univerity. “We’re all interested in the way currency functions and the way money hurts us.” Under the current financial system people go out to do things they don’t want to do to accumulate dollars they then come home and give away to a landlord who often doesn’t live near them. Instead, King said, why not work for and with your neighbors on things you all want to accomplish?

The trio’s current efforts are the result of their meeting at an “Open Space,” a gathering of people interested in the “Transition” movement, which aims to find solutions to global energy, environmental, and economic crises. The three were among a group that began talking about local forms of currency and other alternative economic systems.

Over months of meetings last year, they formed a plan for a Local Exchange Trading System they call SeedLETS, which could form the operating system for their local gift-based economy. It’s a system of trade that, with the help of the internet, would allow people to share their services, skills, and needs directly with the people in their communities who need or can provide help.

SeedLETS could also take into consideration the personal values of both the consumer and the provider of a good or service, King said. For instance, if someone needs a housecleaner, she could log on to the website and sort people who are offering that service according to their commitment to, say, alternative transportation to her house, use of biodegradable cleaning agents, or proximity. The housecleaner and the house owner could then work out a trade of some kind, based on the needs of the housecleaner and the skills of the houseowner.

Eventually, an ecology of service exchanges will develop, thanks to the system’s sharing of information, King said. If someone is taking more than he is giving back to the community, people will stop providing him with services. The system based on information, not money, Waschall said.

King acknowledged that none of the three of them have the web skills to put together a SeedLETS website. “We don’t know how to do all this stuff. We’re not worried about it.”

In June, Waschall and King took over coordination of SHARE Haven, the local time bank organization, which they see as eventually evolving into SeedLETS, they said.

Eventually last year, after sufficient discussion ideas like SeedLETS, King decided it was time to put their money where their mouth was, so to speak. Richo recalled him saying, “Let’s just do it.”

He spotted a yellow house at 45 Atwater St. with a lot of land for gardening out back. He couldn’t buy it because of a messy legal situation with an absentee landlord, but he’s still hoping to pick it up in a foreclosure sale, King said.

Instead, in March, he closed on 58 Atwater St., a duplex. In May, he put down the down payment 92 Atwater St., which has three apartments. While both houses are currently owned in King’s name, he said he anticipates them soon moving into collective ownership.

Both buildings came with one apartment occupied each. Paul Hammer, a local activist and bicycle-rickshaw entrepreneur, joined ARC by moving into one of the open apartments at 92 Atwater.

King said two pairs of other friends are moving to Atwater Street to join the movement. Two recently bought a house across the street at number 47, and two more are looking to buy a house further up the street, he said.

Eventually, ARC may even have a communal house with shared space for community meals and meetings and a workspace for entrepreneurs to make things like jams and lip balms, King said.

Claudia Ruffle, who’s 61, bought 47 Atwater St. on June 20 with her boyfriend Vladimir Jankovic, and electronics technician and photographer. She said she had a longstanding interest in co-housing, but grew frustrated with the endless planning of a co-housing group she belonged to. When they saw that King was taking action on Atwater, she and Jankovic jumped on it, she said.

“We’re interested in having our lifestyles depend on local resources as much as possible and having our neighbors be an integral part of our daily life,” said Ruffle, who hasn’t worked for 10 years due to physical disabilities. She said she inherited money in 2007 that she now used to buy 47 Atwater. It’s her first time being a homeowner, she said.

A New “Tribe”?

King and roommates Wascholl and Richo are starting very small in developing a sharing system. They’ve begun contributing to the apartment according to their skills and preferences. Waschall, for instance, likes to build. He recently erected a new compost bin system in the backyard next to a new henhouse with six pullets. He’ll then benefit, in exchange, from the vegetables Richo is growing out there in buckets.

These small exchanges could be grown into larger cooperation at the neighborhood level, King said. For example, Richo and others could grow vegetables for several households and receive honey in exchange from a hypothetical Atwater Street bee-keeper. The three said they see it as a way to create a strong local community, one that’s free of the alienating forces of the traditional money economy.

The roommates have also begun trying out cooperative information-sharing systems among themselves, from color-coded labeling of food in the fridge to a joint Google calendar of important dates, like when the city is sweeping the street, Waschell said. It’s basic good-roommate stuff. It could also develop into “synergies” of mutual aid at a neighborhood level, King said.

Like sharing grocery-shopping duties. An alien looking down at the way people live would think we were crazy, Waschall said, borrowing a metaphor from King. It see a dozen cars going to the supermarket from a single neighborhood, each with a human buying groceries for a single household. Why not cooperate and send one car from Atwater Street to the supermarket, to pick up groceries for the whole community? Waschall asked.

Using the internet, a community could even create an interactive map showing errands that different households need to run, like picking up dry-cleaning. Waschall said. As with the the grocery shopping, one person could pick up clothes for several people. With that kind of mutual aid, people would have more time to do the things they really care about, he said.

King said he sees the goal as a return to the “original collective intelligence” and a time when families lived in “tribes.” “It’s reforming a localized group,” he said.

While the ideas may seem high-flown, it comes down to what works, Richo said. “Ultimately this was a practical decision to come together and live intentionally.” Living together and sharing resources is the “obvious solution,” he said.

Richo said neighbors have welcomed them into Atwater Street, which he said has suffered from the neglect of absentee landlords.

King said they’ve found the neighborhood quite affordable. The monthly mortgage bill is only $1,200 for 58 Atwater, and $1,300 for number 92, he said.

“To be honest, we’re really excited about the neighborhood and community here,” King said. People on Atwater Street have more practical skills than the professors and students who occupy his former neighborhood in East Rock, he said. If the money economy were to collapse, “these people would be better off,” Waschall said.

As ARC develops, members will look to forge more intentional connections with their new neighbors, and maybe get them on board with the vision. King said he’s already encountered one barrier to that effort. The downstairs tenants that came with his new house speak only Spanish, which will make it hard to explain notions of community synergy and the theory of a gift-based economy. He said he’s working on learning the language.

Comments

posted by: streever on July 18, 2011 1:30pm

This is REALLY cool. I’ve met Richo and he always seemed friendly and easy-going. Awesome to see that he and his friends are doing something so cool.

posted by: Tina Clarke on July 18, 2011 2:51pm

You guys are awesome!!! Thanks for the great house-warming party on Saturday for everyone to meet and have fun!

posted by: Tracy on July 18, 2011 3:47pm

Congrats all! Your housewarming was awesome and I’m psyched about what you’re doing!

posted by: LeeCruz on July 18, 2011 3:55pm

Adam,Adam & Bill:
Welcome to the community, we are glad you are here—and not just because you put together a great party.

Anyone interested in learning more about building community in urban neighborhoods should check out the events calendar and blog at http://www.chathamsquare.ning.com

posted by: Livesinfairhaven on July 18, 2011 4:18pm

I’m REALLY HAPPY too these guys moved into the neighborhood. I can just TELL they don’t do burnouts with their cars, ride ATVs and motorcycles crazy through the neighborhood, smoke crack, deal drugs, carry weapons - all that. I’d like to see them buy every house for sale on Atwater. Try Dover St too. WELCOME guys! I think our property values will be going up…

posted by: Terry Halwes on July 18, 2011 4:45pm

Another “Intentional Neighborhood” project in the Greater New Haven area is Green Haven Co-housing
(http://greenhavencohousing.org ) which is looking for a property with enough land to allow intensive food production as well as clustered housing for about 30 families.

posted by: pat on July 18, 2011 5:05pm

Let’s hope we’re seeing the future in what these guys are doing. Creating community is a praiseworthy goal, as is living off what your grow and exchanging favors with your neighbors.
This is SO exciting.

posted by: Threefifths on July 18, 2011 5:08pm

As soon as the taxes start in,There will be gone.

posted by: cwhig on July 18, 2011 6:10pm

You might want to fold the Mary Wade Home into the mix—seems like the kind of thing they would appreciate. Volunteer time with the residents would be great.

posted by: LeeCruz on July 18, 2011 6:15pm

Hey Threefifths,
Maybe, maybe not that is the mystery of community, there is always someone to take the place of those who move on. We just lost a great couple on Atwater Street, they moved to NJ where I am confident they will continue to do great work, and we gain these 3 guys.

As resident we can watch neighbors struggle, we can spend time predicting when their good efforts will fail or we can help. I sincerely hope you are lucky enough to have neighbors like these guys. I suspect that you are and that maybe you just don’t know it yet.

posted by: LeeCruz on July 18, 2011 6:35pm

Terry Halwes - Let’s talk soon about a tour of the neighborhood so you can see the properties that are available and meet some of the good folks who already live in our great neighborhood.
Information about what we are doing is available at: http://www.chathamsquare.ning.com

posted by: Gretchen Pritchard on July 18, 2011 6:56pm

Gosh, threefifths, have a nice day.

posted by: Threefifths on July 18, 2011 10:18pm

posted by: Gretchen Pritchard on July 18, 2011 6:56pm
Gosh, threefifths, have a nice day.

Thank you.

posted by: LINDA ISHIKAWA on July 19, 2011 1:20am

KEEP GOIMG I LOVE THE IDEA OF WHAT YOU ARE TRYING AND DOING.
I’M A BUDDHIST AND IT IS SOO APPEALING TO HOPE THAT THIS CAN BE A PART OF THE FUTURE FOR SOME.
THE WAY THINGS ARE FOR SO MANY PEOPLE THIS MAKES SENSE. CREDIT RATING WILL NOT BE THE BASIS THAT PEOPLE BUY ANYTHING ANYMORE.JUST HAVING A JOB WILL BE THE
CRITERIA A SO MANY ARE UNEMPLOYED. THE END OF CAPITALISM AS WE KNEW IT MAY BE SOONER THAN LATER. BLESSINGS LIN ISHIKAWA

posted by: Rafael Ramos on July 19, 2011 7:51am

This is great for Fair Haven welcome.

posted by: KingofthePaupers on July 19, 2011 12:22pm

they formed a plan for a Local Exchange Trading System they call SeedLETS, which could form the operating system for their local gift-based economy. It’s a system of trade that, with the help of the internet, would allow people to share their services, skills, and needs directly with the people in their communities who need or can provide help.
Jct: Welcome to the LETS family. In 1999, I paid for 39/40 nights in Europe with a timebank IOU for a night back in Canada worth 5 Hours. I’ll take yours if you’ll take ours. http://johnturmel.com/uniset.htm shows you how I set up my own P2P UNILETS Timebank account page at http://facebook.com/john.turmel?sk=info with my Offers, Wants, Hours given, Hours received over the past dozen years. Everyone else soon will timetrade too when they’ve got no gold and their time is the only asset they have left.

posted by: Threefifths on July 19, 2011 12:23pm

posted by: LeeCruz on July 18, 2011 6:15pm
Hey Threefifths

I do have neighbors.In fact my neighbors that I know have there boxes back up and have take there for sale signs down from there homes and are geting the hell out of this state.In fact as soon as I can find a suck to buy my house,I will be geting the hell out of this state too.

posted by: LeeCruz on July 19, 2011 3:16pm

Hey Threefifths,
Sorry to hear that you are planning to leave the area. We don’t agree on much however some of your comments on articles in the past have really made me think; I appreciate people that make me think and I try to never underestimate your value. Good luck.

posted by: Threefifths on July 19, 2011 5:24pm

posted by: LeeCruz on July 19, 2011 3:16pm
Hey Threefifths,
Sorry to hear that you are planning to leave the area. We don’t agree on much however some of your comments on articles in the past have really made me think; I appreciate people that make me think and I try to never underestimate your value. Good luck

Hey you and others maybe next.

Connecticut taxing the hell out of people
Posted on July 1, 2011

With the State of Connecticut enacting new taxes, it seems to me that this state is trying to run people out of Connecticut and making Connecticut very unwelcoming for Young professionals and businesses. The taxes they raised today are making life harder for people to survive and live with. With the bad economy in this country right now, raising taxes is not going to help people in this Country or in the State OF Connecticut. It’s going to have an opposite effect in which people are going to uproot and move to states that are Tax friendly and are open for business.

The one thing about Connecticut, is that it’s becoming one of the most expensive states to live in, find work and even survive in. It’s made more expensive now because of the Tax and spend Democrats and taxing people right to the Bone. The Democrats in Connecticut have taxed the Middle class and the Working Class right out of the state and leaving those who are on Welfare and social services. It just seems that in this tight economy that America is in, You have democrats who want to tax the Middle class right out of existence and and spend our tax dollars on needless and unnecessary projects.

Even for Young professionals and college Students like myself, who are contemplating on leaving Connecticut after college. Going to states that are tax friendly and are open to Business. The problem in Connecticut, is that Taxes are so high, business don’t want to open shop in Connecticut and hire Connecticut Workers. That’s why you have Young working professionals and College graduates who graduate from Connecticut colleges and Leave the state for better places. It makes you wonder why people don’t want to spend their lives in Connecticut when it cost too much to live in the State.

The cost of living in Connecticut is So high that it’s not even funny anymore. It cost so much to live in Connecticut that other States like North Carolina or Georgia or even Texas are less expensive than Connecticut. That’s why you see alot of people trying to jump ship from Connecticut and jump to States that cost less to live in.

It’s why today, with the new hike in taxes in Connecticut, I don’t think this state can remain competitive for business and for Young people. I don’t think that Connecticut will be able to recover with the Tax and Spend Democrats who are running the State. What Connecticut is doing is running people out of Connecticut and even making the middle class move to states that cost less to live in. Connecticut is taxing people so much that business will have no choice but to move and relocate to business friendly states. Which in the results, high unemployment for the State and people moving out to states that are Tax friendly and business friendly. Basically, Connecticut is screwing the heck out of the Middle class and driving people away from Connecticut

Connecticut Is The Eighth Most Expensive State To Insure A Vehicle, Report Says

http://blogs.courant.com/connecticut_insurance/2011/03/connecticut-is-the-eighth-most.html

posted by: Claudia Ruffle on July 19, 2011 10:15pm

I would first like to thank Tom MacMillan for his lovely and accurate portrayal of ARC and focus on important issues involved. But Vladimir and I are not a romantic “couple” as the word “boyfriend” usually connotes. He and I bought the house as joined owners and are roommates. And very happy to be able to join ARC in Fair Haven !

posted by: robn on July 20, 2011 8:54am

3/5,

Taxes in CT are remarkably low for wealthy people compared to states like New York and New Jersey and that does shift burden onto middle and working class families. But a much, much bigger problem than our state taxation is that federal taxes which CT residents pay are inequitably distributed away from our state (and have been for a very long time). The paradox is that conservative so-called Red States which purportedly don’t believe in big federal government or in excessive taxation (where you’re presumably moving because of their lower state taxes) hog federal spending.

http://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2004/09/red_states_feed.html

http://www.taxfoundation.org/files/sr139.pdf

So you can move, but keep in mind that you’re playing into the paradox or rather the hypocrisy of low tax states.

posted by: kerry on July 20, 2011 11:14am

what a wonderful article to read and i’m especially proud to know that all of this innovative, community centered work is taking place in my neighborhood. from the CSNA to this latest group working to better our little corner of the city, there is so much to be proud of in fair haven specifically and new haven in general. i may not always be as active in community efforts as i’d like (toddlers twins will do that to you!) but i follow closely the great work of others and thank you all for it.

posted by: Threefifths on July 20, 2011 3:20pm

posted by: robn on July 20, 2011 8:54am
3/5,

Taxes in CT are remarkably low for wealthy people compared to states like New York and New Jersey and that does shift burden onto middle and working class families

It is cheap to live in NewYork,Then connecticut. Case and point.New York has rent control and rent stabllization apartments.Connecticut does not.

http://www.housingnyc.com/html/resources/faq/rentstab.html

New York has 24hour Transit System Connecticut does not.

http://www.ny.com/transportation/

New York has no Property Tax on cars.Connecticut does.
I have family in New York who own brownstones worth over a million dollars and only pay four thousand dollars a year in Property Tax.I have a friend on Alden ave in westville who pays seventeen thousand dollars a year in Property Tax and his House is not even close to being worth a million dollars.

New York does not charge tax on your pension.Connecticut does,

Like I said as soon as I get me a suck to buy my over tax house See you!!!!!

posted by: robn on July 20, 2011 5:28pm

3/5

The mill rate in New Haven is 43.9 meaning that your annual taxes are 4.3% of your assessment. The assessment is 70% of the appraised value (market value). So if you own a million dollar home, your taxes are 1,000,000 x .7 x .0439 = $30,100.

In New York City a Class 1 property (including 1-3 unit residential) is assessed at a maximum of 6% of market value and then taxed at a rate of 17.364%. So if you own a million dollar home, your taxes are 1,000,000 x .06 x .17364 = $10,418.

So superficially it sounds like you’re right but of course there’s more to it….(of course, I’m assuming that you’re not a trustafarian and that mommy and daddy aren’t leaving their estate to you)…If you’re buying a home in NYC, the average price is $1000/sf. If you’re buying a home in New Haven, the average price per square foot (for a neighborhood like East Rock) is like $150/sf-$200/sf. So if you buy in New York rather than New Haven because you think you’re getting a great deal on taxes, you’re actually locking up a huge amount of capital that could be earning more invested elsewhere than you’re saving on taxes.

I won’t even get into the issue of rent (New York is much higher than New Haven), but since you mentioned it, rent control and rent stabilization are very rare and becoming rarer in NYC….many have become deregulated so good luck getting into one.

posted by: Threefifths on July 21, 2011 8:47am

Robin,You got to do the math. Connecticut cost more to live in then in New York.Remeber you have upstate New York which is even cheaper then New York City to live in..I have family and friends who live in up state New York and there taxes are very low.Do the math.You can’t get around it. Connecticut is the one of the most expensive states to live in.

posted by: streever on July 21, 2011 9:05am

Robn posts math, 3/5th posts an admonishment to Robn to do the math while recounting anecdotes.

3/5th, out of curiosity, how is the cost of living in CT related to this story?

Secondly, how do your friends in upstate NY do for work? I hear there are lots of jobs and a really vibrant economy up there.

posted by: robn on July 21, 2011 9:19am

3/5,

When you mentioned 24 hour transportation I assumed you meant the NYC Subway. Upstate is beautiful but is served by Metro North just like New Haven.

According to these guys, Connecticut has the 3rd highest State and Local tax burden in the country at 12.0% of income and New York has the 2nd highest State and Local tax burden in the country at 12.1% of income.

http://www.taxfoundation.org/taxdata/show/471.html
http://www.taxfoundation.org/taxdata/show/445.html

If your very own personal math works out, I wish you luck.

posted by: Ben Berkowitz on July 21, 2011 9:33am

Looks like GiftFlow.org (local site developed by freestore founders) could be used for listing and sharing services and goods.

posted by: Threefifths on July 21, 2011 12:15pm

posted by: streever on July 21, 2011 9:05am
Robn posts math, 3/5th posts an admonishment to Robn to do the math while recounting anecdotes.

3/5th, out of curiosity, how is the cost of living in CT related to this story?

Taxes that are going up in New Haven and across this state.Taxes are a part of this story.

Secondly, how do your friends in upstate NY do for work? I hear there are lots of jobs and a really vibrant economy up there.

Most of them own there own business.I have a friend that he and is wife are doctors with there own practice.I have friends who own organic farms and ship there produce out to other states.Also you would look it there because there are a lot of bike trails.

posted by: robn on July 21, 2011 9:19am
3/5,

When you mentioned 24 hour transportation I assumed you meant the NYC Subway. Upstate is beautiful but is served by Metro North just like New Haven.

Yes I am talking about NYC Subway System.

If you talk about westchester county and long Island county yes some parts the taxes are high.But this state as a whole the jobs are leaving and the taxes are growing.

Living In Connecticut To Get More Expensive
Gov. Malloy Proposes Stiff Tax Hikes Across The Board
February 15, 2011 6:45 PM

http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2011/02/15/living-in-connecticut-to-get-more-expensive/

Like I said do the math.New York is still cheaper to live then Connecticut.I stand by what I said As soon as the taxes start in,There will be gone.

If New York Can Close Deficit, Why Can’t We?
March 29, 2011

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has pledged to close New York’s $10 billion deficit without raising taxes. He is going to cut spending and even cut some taxes. So how can he do this while we, in Connecticut, are planning to tax everything from underwear to haircuts? Before even considering the first budget cut, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy is intent on making it even more expensive to live in Connecticut.

Gov. Malloy should watch closely what is happening in other states. Caterpillar Inc. has just notified the governor of Illinois that it might consider moving to a more tax-friendly state. States such as Illinois and California are losing companies and citizens because of high taxes and the high cost of living.

posted by: robn on July 24, 2011 10:07am

3/5

Still…please don’t miss my first and central point…that is that state and local taxation in mostly Blue States is high to make up for the behavior of federal tax hogging Red States. The hypocrisy of the so-called fiscal conservatives infuriates me.

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