BUILDING FOR SCHOOL AND COMMUNITY - Kennedy Bibliothek

120. Perhaps the most radically new form of governance was that proposed
for the multi-usage Neighborhood Center in Gananda New Town, in the State
of. New York. The new town was designed as a series of 17 neighborhoods,
each to have approximately 1 500 - 2 000 families (or 5 000 people). The
Neighborhood Center which was built as a result of the games described in
paragraph 65 was therefore the first of a series of 17 such Centers. The
citizens and officials who participated in the games formed a sub-committee
to design the governance of the Neighborhood Center, with the idea that it
would be the prototype for the administration of all 17 Centers. The
following was their recommendation:
a) The development corporation which is building the new town would
build the Neighborhood Centers.
b) As each Center is completed, it would be mortgaged from the
developer by a Neighborhood Facilities Corporation. This
Neighborhood Facilities Corporation would thus own all 17 Centers
throughout the new town, and the mortgages for each Center would
be paid off by the Corporation over a forty year period.
c) Each neighborhood (1 500 - 2 000 families) would form its
Neighborhood Association. The Association would rent the
Neighborhood Center in its own neighborhood from the central
Neighborhood Facilities Corporation. The Association would be
a citizen group.
d) The Association would in turn sub-lease space in its building to
the various cultural groups or public departments using it.
These would include the public library, the schools, adult education,
health services, drama and other arts groups, etc. Spaces
for these activities would be on a time/space basis, scheduled by
arrangement with the Neighborhood Association. Their rentals
would in turn pay for the lease of the building as a whole and
its administration. Thus the control of the Center and responsibility
for its upkeep would be in the hands of the residents.
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