Sylmar : Neighbors to Decide Fate of Alley Oasis

A gardener who turned a vacant alleyway into a miniature oasis--but managed to raise the ire of neighbors along with her marigolds--may lose her swath of green, the Los Angeles City Council has ruled.

Neighbors said, however, that Victoria O’Casey had already removed her plants from the alley off Aults Avenue between Berg and Astoria streets before the council turned the alley back over to adjacent property owners on Tuesday, leaving it to neighbors to decide the garden’s fate.

One of those property owners, Beth Block, said all that remains now is “buildings and garbage.”

O’Casey did not return phone calls.

Although media reports on the city’s threats to bulldoze the O’Casey’s garden prompted a public outcry, Block contends that O’Casey used locked gates to keep others out and erected buildings in the alley.

“I can see no garden,” Block said. “All I can see are bamboo fences and sheds.”

One of those sheds, Block said, was more than a place to sketch, as O’Casey had contended. Block said the shed at one time contained a bed, an answering machine and a toilet.

Edna Cooper, who with husband Gil has lived on the other side of the alley from Block since 1947, said the garden at first was a welcome sight.

“From our standpoint, we much preferred her garden than what was there before,” Cooper said.

But lately, she said, although she doesn’t necessarily want the foliage gone, the patch of roses, pampas grass and camellias has brought more telephone calls from reporters and notices of official meetings than joy.