Jeffrey Semin ⋅ Miramar , FL U.S. Army, Specialist ⋅ 3 years served

Organize an village of employee owned companies - a planned community that feeds itself and neighboring communities. Complete with butcher, baker, and internet-everything maker.

A 40ish acre piece of urban blight or a rural paradise is split into small close together plots around a town center few roads and many walking paths. Earthships, minihouses, and experimental homes are encouraged the goal is to be off the grid as much as possible - a self sustaining community.; not a commuter community.

In the attract a community and design phase a web site would encourage community members to get together and design the community using one of the many open source simulated community software frameworks. The real world property is purchased by the community as in pooling money and purchasing land by the square foot, about half to one third would be community or common to all properties examples include the stores, restaurants, streets, green houses (except those on home property). The businesses (productive land) are managed and built by the employee owners the land is owned by the community. The parks and streets (community land) are managed by town counsel new england style. Individual ownership is limited to the homes (personal land) - businesses can be individually owned on the personal land, ideally the owner would live on the land the property must allow for habitation. Property tax is payed to the county on a square foot basis community land is subtracted personal and productive land are taxed the same. Ideally the entire property would be assessed to one price.

After a number of these successful open source communities exist through our great nation. New communities I currently call monasteries - would in theory address the massive homelessness issue. Homelessness is like herpes easy to get, and very difficult if not impossible to get rid of. The monasteries would heal homelessness by addressing the root causes. Mental issues would be addressed by healthcare professionals funded by philanthropic partners. Chemical addiction would be addressed by job training, a very busy monastic life or some other magic - the theory is teach impulse control not abstinence.