Michael Allen Black, the architect of Yulupa Cohousing (Santa Rosa, CA) died of a heart attack this month. He was 70, and will be missed. He created Two Acre Wood (Sebastopol, CA) and was in the process of building the first 100%-affordable new-build homeowner cohousing in the U.S., Sequoia Village (also in Sebastopol).
A memorial fund has been set up; details below.
Here's his obituary in the Santa Rosa Press-Democrat.
MEMORIES OF MICHAEL - stories from Northern California Cohousers
I saw Michael just a month ago as he and his wife Alexandra Hart were giving a cohousing presentation for a forming group locally. He was energetic, active, and I only later learned that he had had a heart attack a few months earlier. He did make reference to his mortality, in terms of the urgency to do some presentations at the coming National Cohousing Conference in Boston this June... "I don't know how many more I'll make it to," he told me.
I was skeptical at first of his concept that you could create a successful cohousing community with minimal participation during the development process from the future residents, but I have since visited and help facilitate at Yulupa Cohousing and I became a believer.
We will sorely miss him, his leadership and inspiration.
If you have memories or photos or videos of him you would like to share, please click here to drop us a line.
-- Raines Cohen, Northern California Cohousing
Alexandra writes:
A Michael Black Memorial Fund at Redwood Credit Union has been set up, account number 303540. The address is P O Box 6104, Santa Rosa, CA 95406. If people prefer to have it known who is contributing, then they could mail to Alexandra Hart, 1350 - F Yulupa Ave., Santa Rosa, CA 95405.
There has been a very great outpouring of love and support, and I am
overwhelmed with the true community that Michael created wherever he went.
Four separate communities, two of them cohousing, participated greatly in
his memorial service and in the work required to make this large event
occur.
My heartfelt thanks go out to everyone who loved him back.
I feel honored that I got to know Michael Black. He was a gentle and calming presence. I spent a wonderful weekend at Yulupa Cohousing in 2007 for a Tree Bressen facilitation training. At the time, I was feeling shell shocked because our project, Orangevale Cohousing, had just been rejected by the local Planning Council. Michael was very encouraging, and he had several specific suggestions to help us. He made copies for me of letters of endorsement from Mayors and other officials, and he taught me that getting letters like that could really help our project get approved. He gave me copies of letters from the Mayors of Davis, Emeryville, Chico, and Sacramento, which I was then able to get updated, since the letters were ten years old. He had to make a special trip to his storage facility to dig out the letters for me. He also wrote a letter about his experience in Sebastopol, where 100 neighbors had opposed cohousing. After the project was built, three of those neighbors, who had formerly been opposed to cohousing, cut holes in their fences so they could join the community. All of these letters are now posted on our website, www.OrangevaleCohousing.org. Michael also helped us by recommending a fire consultant when we were having trouble with our local fire department. He was generous with his time, and a pleasure to talk with.
I will miss Michael's gentle and encouraging spirit! He did much to advance the Cohousing movement.
Marty Maskall
Fair Oaks, California
