Community Teaching Garden

[Tero]

http://www.castanet.net/news/Penticton/ ... e#comments

How is it possible that this is being closed and will then just sit empty? What is missing here? How far behind the times can Penticton get? My God, it was giving huge amounts of food to Soupeteria. It's all win win.

I don't get it. I wish I had a huge piece of land I could let them garden on!!

[XT225]

Why don't you ask one of the city councillors or the mayor if there is a plan for that lot? Highly unlikely that they would let it sit empty after allowing the gardening, unless they plan to sell it or something is in the works. Don't expect a fast response however, our council is exactly known as being "openly transparent".

[Queen K]

The news article says that the Council had no immediate plans for the site.

To me that means one of two things, they are negotiating a deal with someone or already did something but signed confidentiality agreements.

Either way, too bad they can't pony up an alternative site for the gardens.

[Tero]

Why don't you ask one of the city councillors or the mayor if there is a plan for that lot? Highly unlikely that they would let it sit empty after allowing the gardening, unless they plan to sell it or something is in the works. Don't expect a fast response however, our council is exactly known as being "openly transparent".

It says in the article it will return to barren as they have no plans for it.

[XT225]

It says in the article it will return to barren as they have no plans for it.

I read the article., but do you REALLY believe the city when they say something like this? Why would they not want to keep the garden going...if there are no plans for it otherwise? I believe there is a slight odour in Denmark. If there really are NO plans to dispose of the land, then why would the city not welcome the Community Teaching Gardeners to continue using it?

[sale4u]

If you want answers to what's going to happen there you only need to pay close attention to the "share the road" plan. They are upgrading Ellis in order to allow bike lanes. They will be taking part of that lot to widen the road then pave the remaining parking lot. I totally disagree with this plan for two reasons. First, they will be adding more traffic (although be it bikes) which will increase the chances of accidents. Secondly, there is currently a perfectly good bike/pedestrian path that should be widened instead. The bike/pedestrian lanes would make for a beautiful ride, it even has two bridges along it and connects with the KVR Trail. I guess the biking community has more pull than gardeners. Politicians...go figure...they never seem to do the logical thing.

[southy]

And you know this because .........

[XT225]

And you know this because .........

Exactly, southy....where does this info come from re bike lanes, paving parking lot, etc come from? I've heard zero on the bike lane issue for some time. Its highly unlikely that the Ellis Street bike lanes would be going ahead without more public consultation. If the mayor stated that the city has no plans for that lot, then we have to believe him. If that isn't true, then the situation will solve itself in the Fall election. Sale4u, can you elaborate a bit more? Oh...and you ARE quite correct..there is already a perfectly good bike route now; could use a bit of widening, yes, but its in place and NOT that well known, it might seem.

[wanderingchef]

Backwards thinking indeed. What we need is more green/garden space. I remember hearing that the city was not to stoked on the cleanliness and organization of this garden, it tended to always look unkept. Also, I don't doubt the city will tear down the fence and add more parking spots...... revenue.

[twobits]

What precipitated this whole thing was the number of complaints about the unsightliness of the property. And while growing food, and donating much of it to charities is a noble cause, the appearance of this property was pretty bad. Then the lease comes up for renewal and having the complaints in the back of their minds, they decided not to renew the lease. At this point after push back from Eva Durance, it came to light that several Councillors understood it was a "Community" garden and did not realize it's purpose to be a "teaching" garden. An assumption here is that the council thought that as a "community" garden, there was little public interest as evidenced by weeds greatly outnumbering veggies. Once they were all on the same page as to it being a teaching garden, they agreed to offer a one year extension after some discussion on better upkeep of the property. Remember too that this is a one dollar a year lease.
My thought was that this was a reasonable outcome. I don't understand why this group of gardening enthusiasts decided to pull they plug. It actually seems rather petty.

[FSmith59]

Once they were all on the same page as to it being a teaching garden, they agreed to offer a one year extension after some discussion on better upkeep of the property. Remember too that this is a one dollar a year lease.
My thought was that this was a reasonable outcome. I don't understand why this group of gardening enthusiasts decided to pull they plug. It actually seems rather petty.

This part is what every other poster either didn't read, or are choosing to ignore, to make the City look like the usual scapegoat of all things in the news.

They were offered an extension. For whatever reason, they have chosen not to take it.

Now they are selling and/or giving away all their garden tools and supplies, this weekend.

Head down there tomorrow. They are giving most of it away. Apparently they are going to try and sell off a few of the items with value. ie. gardening boxes...free, shovels, $3..Hoes...$50 an hour...

[XT225]

I think that I owe the forum an apology, as I was a bit too quick to criticize City Hall this time, over the Teaching Garden. There appears to be possibly a situation where it wasn't being kept up to certain standards (I say, possibly) and also the city DID in fact offer the group another years extension and they declined that. There ARE times when the City deserves a shot or two but this may not have been one of those times. ETA - the garden on Vancouver Hill, where folks rent space is a beautifully designed one and kept up nicely.

[twobits]

ETA - the garden on Vancouver Hill, where folks rent space is a beautifully designed one and kept up nicely.

I will ditto that one. It is a nice community space and serves a great purpose too for an otherwise unused property.