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[Kelly Dietz <kdietz AT ithaca.edu>]

If you haven't heard, the future of Ithaca's Community Gardens is at risk. 

 

For the last 29 years, the gardens have resided on land that is now being considered for sale by the city to Aeon, a commercial developer. A vote on whether to sell is scheduled for Wednesday, August 22nd.

The gardens give people access to land, sunshine, and water to grow their own food. They bring together community members and provide green space for the whole city.

The city council has not had time to conduct due diligence on the proposal to sell the land and no viable, alternative locations for the gardens have been found.

While other cities across the country are working hard to build community gardens, we need to protect our community gardens.

The Ithaca City Administration Committee will meet tomorrow, Wednesday, at 6:00 PM.  Those who are in favor of protecting the Ithaca Community Gardens are encouraged to gather in front of Ithaca City Hall at 5:30.  At a minimum, the committee needs to table the resolution to cede the leased property on which the gardens stand to developers.  We also, of course, want to show that we've got a substantial body of citizens in the city-proper and the surrounding community who know that -- given the worsening impacts and decreasing availabilities of fossil fuels and the development models ultimately predicated on them -- Ithaca, like all cities, must increasingly and with increasing speed foster development policies that don't produce one kind of green at the expense of the other.