Sent to you by Robin via Google Reader:
Wilson Street Urban Farm
Improving Buffalo's distressed neighborhoods
By Brian Meyer
The Buffalo News
March 23, 2010
Community gardens and urban farms could be valuable tools to help improve Buffalo's distressed neighborhoods, speakers from several local groups told Common Council members this afternoon.
Advocates are prodding the city to take early but key steps aimed at making it easier for people to create community gardens and pursue urban agriculture. The measures would include setting up a "diggable database" to help aspiring gardeners and farmers pinpoint land that has been cleared for planting.
Other steps would involve creating a model lease based on agreements used in other cities that address a variety of unique issues. Supporters also want assurances that neighborhood gardens and urban farms are taken into account as long-delayed efforts move forward to overhaul Buffalo's antiquated zoning codes.
Among the speakers at a City Hall hearing today was Mark Stevens, whose family made headlines last year in a struggle to create an urban farm on Wilson Street, not far from the Broadway Market.
The farm is continuing to expand, Stevens reported today. He's convinced that urban agriculture and neighborhood gardens are assets that can help revive "dying communities."
"Hopefully, the vision for the City of Buffalo becomes pro-community gardens, and it also sees how urban farming fits into that at just a little bigger level," said Stevens.
A task force has been working for 20 months on a multipronged strategy for promoting gardens and urban farms. Many groups are involved, including Grassroots Gardens, a nonprofit organization that oversees about 70 community gardens.
Group president Kirk Laubenstein is a legislative staffer to Niagara Council Member David A. Rivera, who sponsored a resolution that was recently approved by lawmakers. The bill endorses efforts that would promote ornamental gardens, vegetable gardens and farms.
Council Majority Leader Richard A. Fontana agreed that gardens can make a positive difference in neighborhoods. But he warned that when they're neglected or abandoned, they can be ugly messes. Fontana dubbed them "gardens gone bad."
"I like them a lot, but they have to be done right," said Fontana.
Advocates concurred that oversight is an important element as efforts are stepped up to promote more gardens throughout the city.
Things you can do from here:
- Subscribe to City Farmer News using Google Reader
- Get started using Google Reader to easily keep up with all your favorite sites
No comments:
Post a Comment