Re: Nelson Commons has credible plan
Russell Precious’ letter seems to prove my point and well, he might write defensively as the project manager. Sure, the Nelson Commons project may be a success from his “business” point of view. That wasn’t what I was getting at.
In fact it seems to me that his organization, as well as Vancity and Mountain Equipment, seem to have co-opted an early model designed by farmers and country folk to cut out the middle man and are consequently out of character.
That model is what I used to think co-ops were and one that certainly has a place in small-town Nelson. But how come the corporate social responsibility he mentions did not see its way to include social housing (i.e. subsidized by whomever) as opposed to what appear to be expensive luxury condos and subject to the stresses and strains that other strata developments face which are not part of the co-op experience?
I wish them well, of course, but I rather suspect the juxtaposition of the co-op model and the necessity to show at least a break-even are really not compatible.
Maurice A. Rhodes, Nelson
