I can't think of a better school than teaching where food comes from, the ecosystem it is a vital part of and how a person is able to provide for himself or herself. This might be the most important thing a person could ever learn. If every child in Encinitas learned this before age 16 it would change our world. This beats soccer all to hell and back.
The Quail Gardens Drive property is the perfect place to put a community garden. The land was originally bought for a park. Indian Head Canyon is dedicated to open space. There is not much of that left in Encinitas.
But Stocks and Bond have other plans. The Quail Gardens property was swapped with the Ecke property on Saxony, but that deal fell through. Nevertheless the city approved a subdivision map, which was to expire last year. The three men voted for an extension of the subdivision map. At the back of the room during the council discussion was David Meyer, waiting like a predatory vulture, eager to swoop in and grab it with his greedy talons, when the city quietly puts it up for sale.
We must be vigilant so that there is fair and open bidding if the property is sold. The council will probably discuss it in closed session, and we will never hear about it. Shameful!
The reason there won't be a community garden on Quail Drive is that there is an unwritten agreement between Danny and David Meyer. David Meyer will get the property when the real estate market is just starting to heat up again.
Having a sense for where food comes from and that food production is part of an ecosystem is an important lesson.
How or why would the world change if children were taught this lesson?
How or why would the world change if children were exposed to a community garden? It might seem obvious to you, but please walk us though your thinking.
We don't have investigative reporters. The community doesn't support that sort of media. We have news reporters. If you want it reported, issue a press release and hold a rally, otherwise don't expect much to happen.
We are living in a time when economy and ecology have be treated as two mutually exclusive spheres, rather than connections. It is only in recent history that food production has been relegated to vast monocrop corporate operations. It is an unsustainable system and it is making us sick.
Gardening is a sustainable, fundamental process as old as humankind. I can imagine children actually learning how interconnected the relationships within the garden and the surrounding land (including the bird, critter and insect interplay). There is nothing more basic, nothing more valuable than being free to provide for oneself.
And it is empowering and inspiring to know you have a place amongst others, others who depend on you to join in the effort. This is a dramatically different experience than simply telling a child a truth or a value. And it is a dramatic difference from 24/7 exposure to advertisements telling children if they are (fill in the popular characteristic here) they must buy something.
The change would be a generation of children who have experienced a simpler truth. They don't have to rely on buying something to fill a need. Besides, one gets to eat the fruits of his or her labor.
Kate, Knowing the simple truth doesn't change the fact that the world is not living sustainably. I would bet $500 that your direct and indirect effects on the world ecosystem are not sustainable, yet you know that simple truth.
urther, there is no reason that a garden is more likely to be sustainable than a well run farm. Trying to have everyone grow their own food is less economically and ecologically efficient. The fact that few Americans have to spend the enormous time involved in tending fields allows us to specialize and become more economically productive.
Good points. Leave farming to the Chinese who can yield far more food for far less than we. That'll give me more time to sport kill from my helicopter.
As usually Jerome was twisting the truth when he said that the land is zoned for houses. When orginally it was suppose to be a park, it was considered for the libary, public works and so on. Quail Gardens is a perfect location. It is city land and should be used by the people - not sold off for houses.
This land, like all land the City holds, is an asset and has value. If the final disposition of this asset is a sale, then I want my leaders to get top dollar for that sale.
Unfortunately, the City rarely does well in any real estate transaction dating back to the purchase of City Hall. I'm sick of the taxpayer getting screwed every time the City is involved with the purchase or disposition of any property. They must be getting very poor advice, or not paying attention.
Land also has value in itself, beyond a monetary commodity for trade. I think that's the community garden point and the open space point. This is the worst possible time to be talking about land sales. And to talk about building houses when there are hundreds of homes standing empty because of foreclosure. These discussions are based on different times, values.
The hatespeak about people on the dole are also those fed the myths of the past. The wealthiest of this country benefit when we all alienate each other rather that work together to focus on and expose fraud and greed.
Can someone please explain exactly what lot on Quail Gardens Drive was planned for a park and is now being considered for a garden (or a new housing tract)? There already is a small park off Quail Gardens Drive - Las Verdes Park at Paseo De Las Verdes/Quail Gardens Drive. And the empty land directly to the north was originally planned for a school.
An excellent point was made in the public comments for the Quail Garden site. A example was made of Central Park in New York City. What a different place that would be if developers would have had their way. Encinitas originally was much more agricultural than it is now. Remember being the Flower Capital? Unfortunatly we have decided to grow more houses instead of flowers. I think Quail Gardens is the perfect place for a community garden. It is, centrally located in the city, where people can walk, ride bikes, bus service etc.I understand that the community garden group is asking for only part of the location. Do we really need more McMansions in that location?
The majority of community garden users will be republican senior citizens and non-partisan school children. This garden will add to the quality of life in Encinitas. Turning the garden into a right wing vs left wing argument is bizarre and childish.
The Hall property would make a great community garden. It seems 2-3 acres could be carved out for that now since nothing else is being done anyway. Other than minimal parking, the infrastructure cost would be very low.
There could be roundabout-shaped garden plots in the community garden! No rectangular plots for this city's citizens!
Actually,community gardens are great. I belonged to one in college (UCD, of course) and enjoyed the time off from studies and my neighbor's fresh tomatoes. Of course, you run into the usual human dynamic problems (organic farmer next to a pesticide lover, veggie sampler next to a frugal sort, etc). I'm not sure that we could pull this off here in Encinitas. I expect lots of hose fights if it does happen. Also, I'm agreeing with "the boys" about the location; if a garden is put into a site that the city ultimately plans to sell, there will be tons of protesting, fruit throwing, garden-sitting, etc when the time comes to sell the site. We don't need the drama. I think that the pool site at the Hall property would be a good location, since that's unlikely to ever come to pass. It would be great to have a pavilion for a farmer's market there as well.
I too graduated from UCD. A community garden is a great idea. But bonddi is correct. The Hall property has documented pesticide contamination, which includes toxaphene and dieldrin, both carcinogens. Plus there are high levels of arsenic and chromium from the pressure treated lumber used in the greenhouses.
So unless the city pays millions of dollars to haul the contaminated soil out or the gardens are grown in raised beds with imported clean soil, it's not a good idea. Besides the three men on the council already approved a park plan excluding any community garden. They prefer soccer fields for the sports minority.
I'm not sure whether there were ever greenhouses on the Quail Gardens Drive site. It's possible because there were lots of greenhouses in the area 20-30 years ago. The road has been realigned and punched through to Leucadia Blvd, so it's hard to figure exactly where things used to be.
The Hall property also has DDT contamination. DDT is usually not considered a carcinogen, but there is some controversy here. The main problem with DDT is that it gets into riparian habitats, lagoons, and the ocean where is causes havoc with wildlife.
Smart growth is anti-garden. This is a great observation and exactly why we need community gardens.
community gardens that you have to drive to? It is a joke and a rip off of the environment and the tax payer. If that land is excess it should be sold not used for a community garden that really isn't in a community.
For those unaware, food is a vital theme of the 21st century. Big Agriculture has gotten us into a terrible position. If you are one of the few who hasn't been paying attention, check out The Future of Food".
8:21 - The site is pretty much in the center of our community. If you're against having a community garden, fine. But....the location can not possibly be a serious issue.
Location is an issue in the era of smart growth. Activities are suppose to be positioned near high density and transit. This is a low density neighborhood and not near transit. There are no condos near this site.
Everyone in that neighborhood has ample yards to grow their own gardens. Tending an organic garden means visiting the site multiple times a week at least.
Are we being a little romantic in thinking that most people will walk, ride, or take the bus from across encinitas to tend their gardens? Maybe a few will, but most working folk in Encinitas don't have that much free time to give up to transport time.
For some odd reason, I have always the public land in this city, even if it is not developed, belongs to the people, not to the 5 member Council. We ARE the people, and we are the City. I am not offering an opinion about a community park, but rather the thinking about the land. As citizens, we paid for it. Why does a 5 member group of people get to decide what to do with it? Just like the Hall peoperty. Put it to a vote. We should be telling them what to do.
Well, since the proposed Quail Gardens garden site soil hasn't been tested for pesticide residues recently, we're comparing tomatoes to potatoes here.
Good luck finding a plot of land in Encinitas east of the I-5 which hasn't had a greenhouse on it or been ccommercially cultivated at one time. I suspect that the majority of our homes were built on pesticide-laden soil (maybe that explains some of the disfunction in the city!)
Well, the widespread former use of land for agricultural purposes in our city may explain the alleged cancer clusters that a fair number of citizens complain about. No studies to support this, but I know of two areas that have an suspiciously high number of cancer cases.
Nobody has mentioned the Pacific View School as a site for a community garden. It would satisfy the carping about not being smart growth. It's two blocks from the train and bus stations, and right in the middle of an area zoned for increased density and mixed use. The only problem is the city doesn't own it. At least, not yet, if the school district would make a deal. It would be a win-win for all of us.
Raised beds could always be used in a community garden if there were issues with the soil.
Also, mycelium (link)could be introduced to soils to clean them. One of the primary roles of fungi in an ecosystem is to decompose organic compounds. Petroleum products and pesticides that can be contaminants of soil are organic molecules. Fungi therefore should have potential to remove such pollutants from the soil environment, a process known as bioremediation.
Mycelial mats have been suggested (see Paul Stamets) as having potential as biological filters, removing chemicals and microorganisms from soil and water. The use of fungal mycelia to accomplish this has been termed "mycofiltration", although there is no reason to suspect that the process is any different from that of bioremediation using fungi.
I suppose if people didn't have the space at their abode, it would be OK for the rest of us to sponsor a plot of land for growing food for personal consumption, but there are unintended consequences such as security, working hours, water bills, pesticides vs organic, life time of the project, etc. Go into it with an attitude that it could work or not, but at least give it a try. Maybe one planting season or a year. Or two.
A community garden as a recreational activity is as justifiable as most of what our Parks and Recreation does. As a means of providing local food security, a few small plots will not make a substantial dent in amount of food sold at our grocery stores.
There are a lot of sites that could have community gardens in town.
The people that recently realized that the Quail Gardens Property was being wasted just sitting there ran straight into the Dalager, Bonds, and Stocks standard operating procedure. Those three officials have clearly decided the fate of that property, but you won't find a record of their decision. It is just unfortunate that they did not want to make that decision in an open forum where they could publicly explain their thinking.
I'd sure like to know why selling that property is the best option. Regardless, land is currently going unused, let it be used while they wait to sell it.
If they were committed to selling this property, why on earth did they wait? It will be real interesting to see what those 3 guys have in mind and why they waited to sell. When we find out, please ask yourself if the delay was in the interest of the public.
Over a year ago I wrote about the community garden site here: http://tinyurl.com/dao92j
I'm not a terrorist. I just believe that we need to cut down our carbon emissions. Driving to your garden just increases global warming. Someone blogged that the site is the middle of OUR community. What a load of manure. Our city is not a community. It is a city made up of many communities. A community garden should be a place people in a community can garden after work by walking down the street. If the city council members were serious they would have many, many community gardens spread throught out the city. Take a little space from every pocket park and set it aside for gardening.
One of the underlying themes of these postings is what the best usage of a piece of city property is. Maybe one way to approach this is to determine what the inventory of city property is (and have a publicly accesible database of city property), and then have a regular (every 2-5 years?) open discusssion of what the plans for those properties are. My impression is that our city has a habit of doing these things on a case by case basis, rather than planning for usage. If planning is occurring, then a better job of opening up those plans and the planning process to the citizens is needed. This would be time-consuming in the beginning, but in the long haul it would make things go more smoothly.
Community gardens are great, and having more than one, especially in the more densely populated parts of town would be wonderful. The citizens wanting these gardens do have just as much right to request assistance from the city as the organized sports leagues. But folks do get very attached to their garden plots.If the city has a plan to use a particular piece of property in another way in the future, then both the city and the gardeners need to agree (in writing, please) to an exit strategy beforehand. If the intent is convert a piece of city property into a community garden in perpetuity, then folks need to be upfront about that.
BAD IDEA!!!
ReplyDeleteThey are completely TRASHY looking.
And - that site was promised to be a SCHOOL!
Food is TRASHY? You must want to vomit every time you walk through the produce aisle in Vons.
ReplyDeleteI can't think of a better school than teaching where food comes from, the ecosystem it is a vital part of and how a person is able to provide for himself or herself. This might be the most important thing a person could ever learn. If every child in Encinitas learned this before age 16 it would change our world. This beats soccer all to hell and back.
ReplyDeleteThe Quail Gardens Drive property is the perfect place to put a community garden. The land was originally bought for a park. Indian Head Canyon is dedicated to open space. There is not much of that left in Encinitas.
ReplyDeleteBut Stocks and Bond have other plans. The Quail Gardens property was swapped with the Ecke property on Saxony, but that deal fell through. Nevertheless the city approved a subdivision map, which was to expire last year. The three men voted for an extension of the subdivision map. At the back of the room during the council discussion was David Meyer, waiting like a predatory vulture, eager to swoop in and grab it with his greedy talons, when the city quietly puts it up for sale.
We must be vigilant so that there is fair and open bidding if the property is sold. The council will probably discuss it in closed session, and we will never hear about it. Shameful!
The reason there won't be a community garden on Quail Drive is that there is an unwritten agreement between Danny and David Meyer. David Meyer will get the property when the real estate market is just starting to heat up again.
ReplyDeleteWhy is it that Danny's corruption is so easy for us to see, and yet the press never reports on it?
ReplyDeleteKate,
ReplyDeleteHaving a sense for where food comes from and that food production is part of an ecosystem is an important lesson.
How or why would the world change if children were taught this lesson?
How or why would the world change if children were exposed to a community garden? It might seem obvious to you, but please walk us though your thinking.
We don't have investigative reporters. The community doesn't support that sort of media. We have news reporters. If you want it reported, issue a press release and hold a rally, otherwise don't expect much to happen.
ReplyDeleteWe are living in a time when economy and ecology have be treated as two mutually exclusive spheres, rather than connections. It is only in recent history that food production has been relegated to vast monocrop corporate operations. It is an unsustainable system and it is making us sick.
ReplyDeleteGardening is a sustainable, fundamental process as old as humankind. I can imagine children actually learning how interconnected the relationships within the garden and the surrounding land (including the bird, critter and insect interplay). There is nothing more basic, nothing more valuable than being free to provide for oneself.
And it is empowering and inspiring to know you have a place amongst others, others who depend on you to join in the effort. This is a dramatically different experience than simply telling a child a truth or a value. And it is a dramatic difference from 24/7 exposure to advertisements telling children if they are (fill in the popular characteristic here) they must buy something.
The change would be a generation of children who have experienced a simpler truth. They don't have to rely on buying something to fill a need. Besides, one gets to eat the fruits of his or her labor.
5:20
ReplyDeleteWere you the kind of guy that knocked unripened fruit off a tree when you were a kid? Or did you have more respect for what it was designed to do?
Kate,
ReplyDeleteKnowing the simple truth doesn't change the fact that the world is not living sustainably. I would bet $500 that your direct and indirect effects on the world ecosystem are not sustainable, yet you know that simple truth.
urther, there is no reason that a garden is more likely to be sustainable than a well run farm. Trying to have everyone grow their own food is less economically and ecologically efficient. The fact that few Americans have to spend the enormous time involved in tending fields allows us to specialize and become more economically productive.
9:11
ReplyDeleteGood points. Leave farming to the Chinese who can yield far more food for far less than we. That'll give me more time to sport kill from my helicopter.
If you want sustainability. Start with zero population. control immigrants having 10 kids on the government dole each.
ReplyDeleteStop welfare that promotes poor people that can not care for their children from having more children.
Its a world death sentence, like rats over breeding.
Geeze is it that hard to recognize?
As usually Jerome was twisting the truth when he said that the land is zoned for houses. When orginally it was suppose to be a park, it was considered for the libary, public works and so on. Quail Gardens is a perfect location. It is city land and should be used by the people - not sold off for houses.
ReplyDeleteThis land, like all land the City holds, is an asset and has value. If the final disposition of this asset is a sale, then I want my leaders to get top dollar for that sale.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, the City rarely does well in any real estate transaction dating back to the purchase of City Hall. I'm sick of the taxpayer getting screwed every time the City is involved with the purchase or disposition of any property. They must be getting very poor advice, or not paying attention.
Land also has value in itself, beyond a monetary commodity for trade. I think that's the community garden point and the open space point. This is the worst possible time to be talking about land sales. And to talk about building houses when there are hundreds of homes standing empty because of foreclosure. These discussions are based on different times, values.
ReplyDeleteThe hatespeak about people on the dole are also those fed the myths of the past. The wealthiest of this country benefit when we all alienate each other rather that work together to focus on and expose fraud and greed.
The country was founded to do business.
That line should have been: The country was NOT founded to do business.
ReplyDelete(But big business is running things now.)
Go look at the one on Centre City Parkway in Escondido. WHAT A DUMP!!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeletePeople in Encinitas have yards. These make more sense in an area like Downtown or UTC.
But, you naive freaks can dream all you want. You are all Al Gore loving, Obama loving, left wing Liberals that are destroying this country!
10:18
ReplyDeleteMe so sorry.
10:18. I'm a Republican- not liberal in the least and I love to garden. Not a huge fan of Al Gore though.
ReplyDelete9:10 No hatespeak just truth.
ReplyDeleteWelfare kills the soul and the country's freedom
Can someone please explain exactly what lot on Quail Gardens Drive was planned for a park and is now being considered for a garden (or a new housing tract)? There already is a small park off Quail Gardens Drive - Las Verdes Park at Paseo De Las Verdes/Quail
ReplyDeleteGardens Drive. And the empty land directly to the north was originally planned for a school.
An excellent point was made in the public comments for the Quail Garden site. A example was made of Central Park in New York City. What a different place that would be if developers would have had their way. Encinitas originally was much more agricultural than it is now. Remember being the Flower Capital? Unfortunatly we have decided to grow more houses instead of flowers. I think Quail Gardens is the perfect place for a community garden. It is, centrally located in the city, where people can walk, ride bikes, bus service etc.I understand that the community garden group is asking for only part of the location. Do we really need more McMansions in that location?
ReplyDeleteThe majority of community garden users will be republican senior citizens and non-partisan school children. This garden will add to the quality of life in Encinitas. Turning the garden into a right wing vs left wing argument is bizarre and childish.
ReplyDeleteThe Hall property would make a great community garden. It seems 2-3 acres could be carved out for that now since nothing else is being done anyway. Other than minimal parking, the infrastructure cost would be very low.
ReplyDeleteunfortunately the Hall property is contaminated with pesticides, I don't think it would be safe to eat food grown there
ReplyDeleteThere could be roundabout-shaped garden plots in the community garden! No rectangular plots for this city's citizens!
ReplyDeleteActually,community gardens are great. I belonged to one in college (UCD, of course) and enjoyed the time off from studies and my neighbor's fresh tomatoes. Of course, you run into the usual human dynamic problems (organic farmer next to a pesticide lover, veggie sampler next to a frugal sort, etc). I'm not sure that we could pull this off here in Encinitas. I expect lots of hose fights if it does happen. Also, I'm agreeing with "the boys" about the location; if a garden is put into a site that the city ultimately plans to sell, there will be tons of protesting, fruit throwing, garden-sitting, etc when the time comes to sell the site. We don't need the drama. I think that the pool site at the Hall property would be a good location, since that's unlikely to ever come to pass. It would be great to have a pavilion for a farmer's market there as well.
I too graduated from UCD. A community garden is a great idea. But bonddi is correct. The Hall property has documented pesticide contamination, which includes toxaphene and dieldrin, both carcinogens. Plus there are high levels of arsenic and chromium from the pressure treated lumber used in the greenhouses.
ReplyDeleteSo unless the city pays millions of dollars to haul the contaminated soil out or the gardens are grown in raised beds with imported clean soil, it's not a good idea. Besides the three men on the council already approved a park plan excluding any community garden. They prefer soccer fields for the sports minority.
Was there greenhouses on the quail site?
ReplyDeleteLots of fruit and nuts in Leucadia!
ReplyDeletewhat if I live in a smart growth unit without a yard?
ReplyDeletesmart growth is high density multifamily buildings with no yards. The whole idea is anti-gardens.
ReplyDeleteI have a condo and no yard, so what about me?
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure whether there were ever greenhouses on the Quail Gardens Drive site. It's possible because there were lots of greenhouses in the area 20-30 years ago. The road has been realigned and punched through to Leucadia Blvd, so it's hard to figure exactly where things used to be.
ReplyDeleteThe Hall property also has DDT contamination. DDT is usually not considered a carcinogen, but there is some controversy here. The main problem with DDT is that it gets into riparian habitats, lagoons, and the ocean where is causes havoc with wildlife.
Smart growth is anti-garden. This is a great observation and exactly why we need community gardens.
community gardens that you have to drive to? It is a joke and a rip off of the environment and the tax payer. If that land is excess it should be sold not used for a community garden that really isn't in a community.
ReplyDeleteFor those unaware, food is a vital theme of the 21st century. Big Agriculture has gotten us into a terrible position. If you are one of the few who hasn't been paying attention, check out The Future of Food".
ReplyDelete8:21 - The site is pretty much in the center of our community. If you're against having a community garden, fine. But....the location can not possibly be a serious issue.
ReplyDeleteLocation is an issue in the era of smart growth. Activities are suppose to be positioned near high density and transit. This is a low density neighborhood and not near transit. There are no condos near this site.
ReplyDeleteEveryone in that neighborhood has ample yards to grow their own gardens. Tending an organic garden means visiting the site multiple times a week at least.
Are we being a little romantic in thinking that most people will walk, ride, or take the bus from across encinitas to tend their gardens? Maybe a few will, but most working folk in Encinitas don't have that much free time to give up to transport time.
Are we for or against smart growth?
It Quail Gardens Drive walkable?
ReplyDeleteFor some odd reason, I have always the public land in this city, even if it is not developed, belongs to the people, not to the 5 member Council. We ARE the people, and we are the City. I am not offering an opinion about a community park, but rather the thinking about the land. As citizens, we paid for it. Why does a 5 member group of people get to decide what to do with it? Just like the Hall peoperty. Put it to a vote. We should be telling them what to do.
ReplyDelete":Why does a 5 member group of people get to decide what to do with it? "
ReplyDeleteSilly blogger. Those are the five elected members of the encinitas city council. We voted them the power to decide.
Well, since the proposed Quail Gardens garden site soil hasn't been tested for pesticide residues recently, we're comparing tomatoes to potatoes here.
ReplyDeleteGood luck finding a plot of land in Encinitas east of the I-5 which hasn't had a greenhouse on it or been ccommercially cultivated at one time. I suspect that the majority of our homes were built on pesticide-laden soil (maybe that explains some of the disfunction in the city!)
8:03
ReplyDeleteGrow mushrooms for profit in your basement.
5:57
ReplyDeleteNo, but the toxins are still present from Quail poop.
Well, the widespread former use of land for agricultural purposes in our city may explain the alleged cancer clusters that a fair number of citizens complain about. No studies to support this, but I know of two areas that have an suspiciously high number of cancer cases.
ReplyDeleteNobody has mentioned the Pacific View School as a site for a community garden. It would satisfy the carping about not being smart growth. It's two blocks from the train and bus stations, and right in the middle of an area zoned for increased density and mixed use. The only problem is the city doesn't own it. At least, not yet, if the school district would make a deal. It would be a win-win for all of us.
Raised beds could always be used in a community garden if there were issues with the soil.
ReplyDeleteAlso, mycelium (link)could be introduced to soils to clean them. One of the primary roles of fungi in an ecosystem is to decompose organic compounds. Petroleum products and pesticides that can be contaminants of soil are organic molecules. Fungi therefore should have potential to remove such pollutants from the soil environment, a process known as bioremediation.
Mycelial mats have been suggested (see Paul Stamets) as having potential as biological filters, removing chemicals and microorganisms from soil and water. The use of fungal mycelia to accomplish this has been termed "mycofiltration", although there is no reason to suspect that the process is any different from that of bioremediation using fungi.
I suppose if people didn't have the space at their abode, it would be OK for the rest of us to sponsor a plot of land for growing food for personal consumption, but there are unintended consequences such as security, working hours, water bills, pesticides vs organic, life time of the project, etc. Go into it with an attitude that it could work or not, but at least give it a try. Maybe one planting season or a year. Or two.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteA community garden as a recreational activity is as justifiable as most of what our Parks and Recreation does. As a means of providing local food security, a few small plots will not make a substantial dent in amount of food sold at our grocery stores.
ReplyDeleteThere are a lot of sites that could have community gardens in town.
The people that recently realized that the Quail Gardens Property was being wasted just sitting there ran straight into the Dalager, Bonds, and Stocks standard operating procedure. Those three officials have clearly decided the fate of that property, but you won't find a record of their decision. It is just unfortunate that they did not want to make that decision in an open forum where they could publicly explain their thinking.
I'd sure like to know why selling that property is the best option. Regardless, land is currently going unused, let it be used while they wait to sell it.
If they were committed to selling this property, why on earth did they wait? It will be real interesting to see what those 3 guys have in mind and why they waited to sell. When we find out, please ask yourself if the delay was in the interest of the public.
Over a year ago I wrote about the community garden site here:
http://tinyurl.com/dao92j
Gardening is an American tradition. Anyone against a community garden is a terrorist.
ReplyDeleteI'm not a terrorist. I just believe that we need to cut down our carbon emissions. Driving to your garden just increases global warming. Someone blogged that the site is the middle of OUR community. What a load of manure. Our city is not a community. It is a city made up of many communities. A community garden should be a place people in a community can garden after work by walking down the street. If the city council members were serious they would have many, many community gardens spread throught out the city. Take a little space from every pocket park and set it aside for gardening.
ReplyDeleteOne of the underlying themes of these postings is what the best usage of a piece of city property is. Maybe one way to approach this is to determine what the inventory of city property is (and have a publicly accesible database of city property), and then have a regular (every 2-5 years?) open discusssion of what the plans for those properties are. My impression is that our city has a habit of doing these things on a case by case basis, rather than planning for usage. If planning is occurring, then a better job of opening up those plans and the planning process to the citizens is needed. This would be time-consuming in the beginning, but in the long haul it would make things go more smoothly.
ReplyDeleteCommunity gardens are great, and having more than one, especially in the more densely populated parts of town would be wonderful. The citizens wanting these gardens do have just as much right to request assistance from the city as the organized sports leagues. But folks do get very attached to their garden plots.If the city has a plan to use a particular piece of property in another way in the future, then both the city and the gardeners need to agree (in writing, please) to an exit strategy beforehand. If the intent is convert a piece of city property into a community garden in perpetuity, then folks need to be upfront about that.
Good stuff Aggie. I'm clueless as to how many parcels the city (we) own.
ReplyDeleteI'd also like to see rain water harvested for such gardens.
Fred, the West facing slope of the Quali Gardens site is a perfect candidate for this idea. You're on to something, man.
ReplyDelete