The tone of this site comes across as if it was written by a bunch of hippies with little knowledge of how the world (or people in general) work.
This is a process that will take years to even get started properly. They try to condense it into 4 steps, but... well, let's break this down.
- Need 10k enrollees. The definition of "enrollee" seems loose here, so given some mindless campaigning this is actually the easy part. Let's give it a modest 3 months.
- Ah, nice, so now that we've supposedly got enough people, we need to spin up a little marketing campaign to get people to sign off on it. Alas, this isn't a feel good movie, so we're going to give this a nice... six months (being pretty generous here).
- Oh, shit, uhh... hey guys, you all also need to be pre-approved for loans. We didn't really do anything to check this out when we got you all mentally invested (if you're even still interested by this point). We're lucky if we get half of you! Allocate at least a year for this, since there won't be the 10k people that originally got onboard, and numbers need to be shored up again.
- Step three begins when we get a board to actually approve all of this. There's really no guarantee this part will work; that said, if it does, we're saying 1.5 years for all of the basic setup.
- Step four, huzzah! We're building homes... for another 1.5 years. Can't live here just yet! No worries, though, we've got a super high speed build process... hey, wait, you're not listening, are you?
There are so many pitfalls with this it's not even funny (and I'm being incredibly generous with the numbers above). I'm guessing the people behind this are from the Bay area; surprised they never heard of a drop off rate. ;P
Speaking of the people behind this, who are they? There's absolutely no information on this site explaining why you should ever bother placing some level of trust in the efforts spearheaded by these people.
Then again, maybe this entire thing is a joke. I almost felt certain of it when I read this line:
This step is all about social networking. We need 10,000 enrollees to complete this step. Tell your friends, neighbors, cousins, distant acquaintances, cats, dogs, and anyone who will listen. If everyone does this, we will finish this step in about twenty five minutes.
> We need to spin up a little marketing campaign to get people to sign off on it.
Facebook, twitter, local news, the crazier the idea the faster it will spread. Mostly through the "Oh look at the crazy hippies building a commune" kind of attitude but there will be some in the network that might like the idea. So nowadays it doesn't all have to be paid advertisements in NYT or on TV.
> hey guys, you all also need to be pre-approved for loans.
Why not make that the first step before signing-on. It took us a relatively quick trip to the bank to get pre-approved for a mortgage loan. This is different, maybe it will fall into a 'building a house on an empty lot' housing loan category...
> We're building homes... for another 1.5 years.
Don't have to build all at once. Can build some quicker and bring in a few businesses, then extend out. Those who sign-on first get their first.
Overall it does seem like a joke. But if it is not I can see idiologically motivated people with disposable income signing on. Maybe retiring hippies who have money, or young adventurous individuals who have good jobs, and want to do something different.
Klonoar, you make some very good points, I'll address them one at time:
"Need 10k enrollees. . ."
We are just getting off the ground and have planned on a 60% attrition rate; however, we will readily admit this may be optimistic. To that end we have raised our goal to 50,000 enrollees (people signed up through the website). Our initial plan called for 4000 units at 2.5 occupants per unit. In creating the website we have created a higher targert to account for attrition. We have changed the wording on the website to reflect this ambiguity. We have allotted one year for this phase of the project.
"we need to spin up a little marketing campaign to get people to sign off on it. Alas, this isn't a feel good movie, so we're going to give this a nice... six months (being pretty generous here)."
We have allotted a year for this phase.
"hey guys, you all also need to be pre-approved for loans"
This can happen in parallel with marketing campaign and will take approximately one year with the help of a strong volunteer base.
"Step three begins when we get a board to actually approve all of this. There's really no guarantee this part will work; that said, if it does, we're saying 1.5 years for all of the basic setup."
This is what the "marketing campaign" is for. Of course there is "no guarantee" we will get approval. The re-zoning alone will add $200 million to the value of the land and will not be granted without strong public support. As noted elsewhere, we have allotted one year for this phase of the project.
"Step four, huzzah! We're building homes... for another 1.5 years. Can't live here just yet! No worries, though, we've got a super high speed build process... hey, wait, you're not listening, are you?"
Snarkyness aside, we are listening. . .and have just launched the site, so please give some slack. We are proposing to use Variable Density Aggregate (foam concrete) poured in form with windows and plumbing intact. The VDA will act as insulation, fire proofing, as well as an earth quake tolerant structural exterior. We anticipate building 4000 homes, including infrastructure, in 12-18 months.
"Speaking of the people behind this, who are they? There's absolutely no information on this site explaining why you should ever bother placing some level of trust in the efforts spearheaded by these people."
Point well taken, we will be putting up bios on our new "About Us" page.
The "who we are" bit definitely needs to be front & center, and if you don't have enough people with serious & relevant credentials, it's important to get more on board.
As a very small start, are any of you currently living in a house like the ones you're proposing? Have lived/are living in one of the many eco-villages around the world? Helped found any of them?
I love this kind of idea -- but it's one of those kinds of things that explodes in complexity when you get beneath the surface. Don't listen to the naysayers, generally -- but listen very carefully to the ones who have experience/expertise you're lacking, and get started sooner rather than later on attacking the problems they foresee.
Yeah, it's probably going to be really difficult. May as well not even bother trying. Best to just pick holes in it and offer up no constructive criticism.
Well done you (slow clap)
I'm so tired of people shooting stuff down for the sake of it.
This is like complaining about people who tell kids Santa isn't real.
Presumably the people behind the website are adults. They should be ready to accept criticism. Maybe they'll find a way around these problems, maybe they won't.
But there's no reason that we should avoid criticism because someone somewhere might not like it.
Well, the literal bottom line on the page is "This leaves $1-1.5 Billion to invest in the most extraordinary series of civil expenditures ever put forward" soon after a major bullet point of "universal healthcare".
Hey, if some group wants to create their socialist utopia by building a new town devoted to that cause, great. That's a much better plan that the current one of confiscating my wealth, via police powers, for their lofty and ill-fated goals. I'll be watching with great interest. (Don't get me wrong: I also watch, with more interest, the similar yet opposing plans of hardcore libertarians.)
This is a process that will take years to even get started properly. They try to condense it into 4 steps, but... well, let's break this down.
- Need 10k enrollees. The definition of "enrollee" seems loose here, so given some mindless campaigning this is actually the easy part. Let's give it a modest 3 months.
- Ah, nice, so now that we've supposedly got enough people, we need to spin up a little marketing campaign to get people to sign off on it. Alas, this isn't a feel good movie, so we're going to give this a nice... six months (being pretty generous here).
- Oh, shit, uhh... hey guys, you all also need to be pre-approved for loans. We didn't really do anything to check this out when we got you all mentally invested (if you're even still interested by this point). We're lucky if we get half of you! Allocate at least a year for this, since there won't be the 10k people that originally got onboard, and numbers need to be shored up again.
- Step three begins when we get a board to actually approve all of this. There's really no guarantee this part will work; that said, if it does, we're saying 1.5 years for all of the basic setup.
- Step four, huzzah! We're building homes... for another 1.5 years. Can't live here just yet! No worries, though, we've got a super high speed build process... hey, wait, you're not listening, are you?
There are so many pitfalls with this it's not even funny (and I'm being incredibly generous with the numbers above). I'm guessing the people behind this are from the Bay area; surprised they never heard of a drop off rate. ;P
Speaking of the people behind this, who are they? There's absolutely no information on this site explaining why you should ever bother placing some level of trust in the efforts spearheaded by these people.
Then again, maybe this entire thing is a joke. I almost felt certain of it when I read this line:
This step is all about social networking. We need 10,000 enrollees to complete this step. Tell your friends, neighbors, cousins, distant acquaintances, cats, dogs, and anyone who will listen. If everyone does this, we will finish this step in about twenty five minutes.