Umbrella Organizations

Maybe Neptune went fishing in the nude. I can find no other explanation for the statue in the Piazza del Nettuno. At the top of the fountain/sculpture/monument stands Neptune totally naked, Trident in hand, stomping on a dolphin. It gets weirder after that. At the next level below, there are four cherubs. Needless to add, all are naked and they hold dolphins in their hands which spew forth fountains of water from their mouths. Not sure if this means something or it is an early example of art for art`s sake.

That however becomes irrelevant as we get to the lowest level. Here, arching backwards in a highly suggestive pose, are four sirens. Of course, they too are naked. Their modesty is protected by strategically placed pots. Rather pointless in my opinion because fountains if water stream forth from their breasts. The photographs are attached. Exotic, erotic, obscene or just plain weird – you decide.

The first visit this morning was to Legacoop. Legacoop is an organization that has been set up to promote the values of cooperation and mutuality, They provide representation, assistance and protection to the member co-ops, assist in management of relations with the government, advice on legal issues, etc. 15,000 co-ops are members of Legacoop. These have a combined annual revenue of €58 Billion, employ 485,000 workers and have 9.5 million members.

Our basic purpose here was to understand the functioning of the organization so that we can study the prospects of replicating it in our environment.

Next halt – Risanamento Housing Co-op. Social housing is an important part of Vancity`s strategy so we were all eager to see this success story ourselves. Everything about Risanmento is impressive starting with the gate to their office.

The co-op is 126 years old. It started its life with a capital contribution of 50 cents. Today it owns 2,223 apartments in Bologna. They have 6,972 people on the waiting list. 2009 ``housing charges`` amounted to €17 million. EBITDA was €6 Million (35%) and the properties are collectively valued at approx €600 Million!

The average rent for a downtown Bologna apartment is €361 per month. A corresponding private tenancy comes in at €1,800 per month. Yes you got that right. And they still made a net profit of almost €4 Million!

They are retrofitting old buildings to make them safe, build eco friendly new ones and give members choices of decor during construction.

And they serve great sandwiches.

We have the weekend free. A couple of us are going to drive down to Cinque Terra, a picturesque string of 5 villages on the Mediterranean Coast. I shall try to blog on my return, but we are going to hike the distances between the villages so it promises to be a long day.