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A Friday good-news post: London Olympics and Toronto Pam Am Games copy our community-garden goals

June 22nd, 2012 · 17 Comments

Peter Ladner, many moons ago, suggested that Vancouver set a target of 2010 garden plots by the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver when he was on council.

The city reached that goal, without fanfare, at some point.

Now others are emulating the idea. London is setting a goal of 2012 plots for this summer and Toronto, 2015 plots for the Pam Games in 2015.

I say yahoo. I looooove community gardens.

They make the city look gorgeous and human and taken care of. (Who ever thought the former gas station at Burrard and Davie could be such a thing of beauty? And the gardens along the rail tracks near Fourth are stunning.)

They bring people together with their neighbours.

And the arugula I had from Danielle’s Mount Pleasant community-garden plot recently was scrumptious.

 

Categories: Uncategorized

  • Raingurl

    Go to the new garden on Hastings at Abbott. Holy cow, they are doing an amazing job down there! The totem pole is coming right along as well. Things are looking up for the ol’ DTES!

  • Bill Lee

    Another Fabula blog about urban gardening in odder places, still in the Uncategorized categories on the left, was:

    http://francesbula.com/uncategorized/how-to-turn-the-city-into-a-farm/

  • Michelle

    Are we talking about the same parcels of land that are sucking millions of dollars out of the public city purse thorough, symbolic “community gardens” that go back in developer’s pocket … on standby, till future development?
    I am flabbergasted that people in this city are so gullible, and are so over enthusiast to see patches of green on vacant lots instead of getting the right property tax that could be put back in having more parks, park maintenance, clean public washrooms, longer hours for community centers, lower fees for sport activities…

  • Jay

    C’mon its Friday!

  • Terry M

    Community gardens… Aka property tax shelters!
    Better talk about those Frances!
    Or it cuts into your friendship with Vision & their friendly developers?
    Ouch!

  • Bill Lee

    There have been complaints that many newer homes and some older ones are tarmacing / concreting etc. their entire yards to ease any yard work or weeds.

    I’ve seen front yards all pea gravel or cedar shavings (prevent weed growth) and backyards paved from one side to another.
    Page 25 of the 70 page City.Vancouver Laneway Housing Guide says that you can’t pave over, (on assumed new construction), but can only put small permeable wheel paths.

    Can or should the city force all the tarmac to be taken up on private property to allow growing plants, even dandelions, to grow freely?
    Certainly empty lots can be used with lot owners permission but how much demand is there for open, unfenced public garden space?

    I see one garden shop pushing European chafer beetle (Rhizotrogus majali) poison this month before such “cosmetic chemicals” are banned. Would mass gardening encourage such pests in the city?

    Certainly the City Parks Board has a full web page and handouts on Rhizotrogus m. to prevent their lawns from becoming overrun

    And they have taken up various hectares of the relentless English lawns if their “parks” for community gardens, some of which will be stolen, abandoned, or not planted well during the season. Probably better than grass cut too short.

    One example of edge of lane gardening (w/ photos) in the strip behind the backyard fence.
    http://growingedibles.blogspot.ca/2009/09/blacktopped-lanes-revised.html

  • babalu

    Arrrrgh…..I’m in agreement with Michelle on this one. Just a tax shelter for many developers sitting on the site. It also saves them money on renting fencing and maintenance. No one dumps old sofas and computers in community gardens. I think Michael Geller once said that every tomato costs 10 bucks. (I could be wrong).
    Terry, keep the politics out of it. I’ll wager the bylaw was on the books long before Vision was in power.
    Great concept none the less.

  • Glissando Remmy

    Thought of The Night

    “Thinking of Babalu… Just got his message, from the other day, from over there at City Caucus, and I’m here with my helmet on to keep him company…”

    BTW, tomatoes are $20 each, the lettuce is $10!

    We live in Vancouver and this keeps us busy.

  • Agustin

    Or it cuts into your friendship with Vision & their friendly developers?

    Try again.

    “Peter Ladner, many moons ago, suggested that Vancouver set a target of 2010 garden plots by the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver when he was on council.”

  • Joe Just Joe

    I think most of the NPA faithful have decided that Peter Ladner tows the Vision line even more than most of the current council.

  • Peter Ladner

    Wearing my helmet for this (even though it crimps my vision when I turn to check if I’m still towing all those VV councillors…)

    Just a note on developer breaks– when a commercial property moves into a different tax bracket, the city doesn’t lose any revenue. Other commercial taxpayers pick up the slack to ensure the same percentage of the city’s budget is covered by commercial taxpayers.

    So those new gardens are a tax shift, not a reduction in revenue for the city. You can have your garden and eat it too.

  • Raingurl

    Bottom line…….It’s a GARDEN! In the middle of a stinky, rat infested, cespool of dust and crime……errr I mean grime. The DTES is looking good!

  • Paul

    It seems to me that Peter Ladner toes his own line.

    (We used to call it integrity….in fact many of us still do.)

    For that, and his puns, I am grateful.

  • Frances Bula

    Jazus, Michelle and Terry M, does your curmudgeonliness ever stop? Remind me never to spend Christmas with you.

    The vast vast majority of community garden plots are not on privately held developer land, but parks, rights of way and the like. The acceleration of the community gardens project happened under an NPA council and Peter Ladner, not VIsion.

    And the idea that people are “pro-developer” unless they’re actively engaged in burning down some developer’s house is so so tiresome

  • Paul

    +1 Fabula

  • Chris Keam

    The garden plots at Scotia and 7th (in the park) have replaced unused grass with a large number of raised beds… every single one already taken by a local, just a couple of weeks after they went in. Clearly there is pent-up demand for this amenity and it’s hard to imagine why anyone would piss and moan about people turning lawns and empty lots into something more productive. Perhaps it smacks of soshullism or sumthin to see the people using their own land for their own purposes.

  • Bill Lee

    @Chris Keam Jun 27, 2012 at 9:28 pm #16

    Hmm, Rogers Park at 7th and Scotia.
    The Globe and Mail’s Ian Bailey says
    “Ian Bailey Twiitter.com/pfbvan
    Handle ‏@ianabailey
    “Gardener in a Mount Pleasant ‪#communitygarden‬ in ‪#yvr‬ gets serious about protecting their crops. No razor wire. Yet. pic.twitter.com/zVfth7d2 “