Hello;
I am a seasoned gardner, and have had a plot at The Garden for a year. That's a long enough time to know it well, and a short enough time to see what I am looking at. Unless I have been out of town, I have been in the garden at least once EVERY week for the last ten months. I have never been there between midnight and 5:00 AM.
The Garden is on a lighted street, one block from each of two major thoroughfares. The neighborhood is mostly of owner occupied small homes, which unfortunately include several larger ones, notably jammed with tenants (and their cars). One of these is located across from the garden. The garden has an attractive steel fence and a locked gate
The members of The Garden are about the nicest group of INDIVIDUALS I can imagine. And that is the basic problem. There is almost no broad based, "sense of community", and nothing is being done to develop one. Were this addressed, all other problems would disappear.
Unfortunately, this "niceness" leads to non-inforcement of the bylaws of The Garden by its Board. THESE BYLAWS MANDATE THAT EVERY PLOT BE PLANTED AND WEED FREE, EVERY DAY OF THE YEAR. A copy of these bylaws, and Board Minutes, should be available, under the 'Brown Act' at the Alameda City Hall. The Bylaws are, essentially a contract with the City. The Minutes are a matter of law. Were the time line for abatement and eviction honored, that would allow new tenants in, and perhaps a change in the makeup of the Board. If you don't like what you see in the garden, as you drive by, call the Alameda Housing Authority (510 747-4300), Or the City of Alameda (510 747-4800).
I know Racism. I was born and spent my childhood in Watts, my teen age years in Pasadena, (where I graduated from the same High School as Jackie Robinson), and most of my Professional Life working with Native Americans and Alaskans. I am certain that there has been racism between now and 1982 when The Garden was founded, but I have not noticed (or been told of) a hint of it now. There are currently several highly regarded tenants of long standing, who are "non caucasian". These include several people of color.
AK Dave read more