Rents Rise on Community Plots : Soaring Insurance Rates May Strangle Garden

For seven years, Cedar Community Garden has been an enclave of agriculture amid the offices and apartment buildings of Uptown. But now, the half-acre plot, which provides space for 30 residents without backyards to tend small patches of corn, zucchini or azaleas, faces the prospect of a barren future.

Soaring liability insurance rates have raised the rent on garden space from $12 to $50 for six months.

“At least four people have quit because they can’t afford it,” said garden chairman John Parker, who added that the garden may have to close if new tenants don’t join. “That’s a lot of money for somebody on Social Security. They can buy a lot of groceries for $50.”

The garden, at Front and Juniper streets, is operated by Senior Community Centers of San Diego, which leases the property rent-free from the San Diego Unified Port District. The root of the problem is a Port District policy requiring all lessees to have at least $1 million in liability insurance protection.

In the past, that coverage has been provided by a Senior Community Centers umbrella policy, said Anne Gillespie Brown, the centers’ executive director.

“We always had $1 million,” Brown said. “We paid $8,000.”

But when that policy expired March 31, the center was told by its carrier, Signa Insurance of North America, that new liability insurance would cost $16,000 and provide only $500,000 in protection, Brown said.

“They say we’re high risk because we deal with senior citizens, we deal with transportation and we deal with food,” Brown said. “It’s been a very frustrating thing to deal with.”

To keep their garden growing, Parker and the other tenants had to buy an additional $500,000 of coverage--at a cost of $1,719. The gardeners chipped in $75 each to pay the bill, but not without some grumbling.

“I feel this is an unreasonable demand against us,” said gardener Carol Roskos. “I don’t like having to pay for coverage we don’t really need.”

Center officials wrote to the Port District for an exemption, questioning why their small, neighborhood garden was subjected to the same liability insurance requirements as the large commercial operations that also lease property from the Port District.

“This is a patently absurd situation,” Parker said. “That lease is designed for people with trucks loading thousands of pounds of cargo.”

However, port property manager Gary Page said an exemption for Cedar Community Garden would not have been fair.

“The decision was made that it would be inappropriate to make an exception,” Page said. “We are a public agency and we have a responsibility to be fair and equitable in our leasing procedures. It basically got down to a matter of fairness and consistency.”

The garden was established in 1979 to provide fixed-income senior citizens with recreation and a respite from skyrocketing food prices. Now, those involved with the garden say much of its economic benefit to seniors has died on the vine.

“It’s become more of a hobby,” said gardener Gerald Teudt. “If (the garden) survives, it will be because people will do it more as a hobby, to be outdoors with the birds and the sunshine. It’s an emotional, psychological thing. The greatest benefit of gardening comes from the distraction from other things.”

But according to Roskos, who is a social worker at Physicians & Surgeons Hospital, the diversion offered by tending a patch at Cedar Community Garden may now be prohibitive for many older people.

“I’m concerned that this increased fee limits the access to fixed-income senior citizens,” Roskos said, adding that even those gardeners with disposable income may be dissuaded by the price. “I know I’ve had to evaluate whether my gardening experience is worth $10 a month to enjoy.”