Peas in our time
THE RECENT bulldozing of the South Central Urban Farm after 350 gardeners were evicted from the site was a severe setback for those who want Los Angeles to be a greener, more livable and more food-secure city. The problem is that many other community gardens are similarly vulnerable.
There are about 60 of these gardens around Los Angeles, most of them small, even tiny plots. That’s not because they are unpopular. The list of gardeners waiting for a plot is long at virtually all these sites. At any time, however, gardeners can be evicted and the land bulldozed.
Community gardens offer many benefits. They are a source of fresh and healthy food for surrounding residents. They promote physical exercise. They can be a community gathering place and an outlet for entrepreneurial activity. And, of course, community gardens beautify a neighborhood by adding color and varieties of plant life to an urban landscape.
So, why are there so few of them, and why are they so vulnerable? For one, L.A. does not have a citywide community garden policy. Its Fresh Food Access program, though small, has helped start a few gardens, and there is a Neighborhood Land Trust to buy land for greening purposes. Both programs need to be expanded, but even if this happened, they would add just a few more community gardens in the short term because they depend on land purchases.
There are several ways to create more community gardens and make them permanent. For starters, the City Council could change zoning regulations to establish more open space.
Commercial and real estate developers could be required to set aside land for community gardens. Indeed, plots could be linked to building affordable housing. The city could partner with the Los Angeles Unified School District to establish more school gardens that could also serve as community gardens. Finally, more vacant city-owned land could be converted into permanent garden sites.
But most of all, the city needs to tie these and other pieces together in a policy that will institutionalize community gardens as a public good like parks and affordable housing.
