Letters to the Editor: Santa Monica’s community gardens aren’t just for the rich, but that could change

To the editor: Santa Monica’s community gardens aren’t a “rich person’s playground,” with only well-to-do residents renting these spaces, but that could become the case if plot fees are raised by 200% to balance the city’s budget, which is way out of whack due to other factors (“Community garden or ‘rich person’s playground’? Santa Monica gardeners fear 200% price hike,” June 17). And the increase would make only a small dent in the city’s budget problems.

Community gardens provide many public goods. For example, they provide green open space, sorely lacking in Santa Monica. They provide a place to grow nutritious produce and flowers for many residents who do not have yards at their apartment or condo buildings. The city does not have adequate parks on a per capita basis, so the small collection of community gardens provides a place for residents, as well as pedestrians and drivers, to enjoy viewing the flowers and the variety of vegetation. The gardeners work with the city to provide excess produce to others. The vegetation helps to clean the air and reduce the heat island effect of the city’s buildings and streets.

These are only a few of the public benefits. The city should take into account these benefits before imposing a very large fee increase, making them available only to the wealthy.

Lizbeth Bell, Santa Monica

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To the editor: Thank you, Santa Monica! Here I thought L.A. had the lock on short-sighted, inept leadership, but clearly that is not the case. To think that a 200% increase on plots of land used for healthy living, netting a whopping $30,000, would meaningfully help offset Santa Monica’s $60-million deficit is laughable. Surely, the next part of this genius plan is to increase all city-related fees, like permits and parking tickets. Fair is fair, right?

Jeff Belated, Chatsworth