Two years after Councilman (now Council President) Herb Wesson vowed to allow vegetable gardens to be planted in public parkways to help improve access to fresh food, an 'edible landscape' motion languishes while the city cracks down on homeowners.
"Almost exactly two years ago I told the tale of Ron Finley, who took an urban gardening class and turned his South Los Angeles curb strip into a fabulously bountiful Eden that brought neighbors together and provided free, nutritious food to a neighborhood with too few healthy options," writes Steve Lopez. "This resulted, of course, in Finley being cited. The city owns those 'parkway' strips between sidewalk and street, and growing vegetables is forbidden. Finley was told to uproot his little slice of Eden."
"Finley decided to fight City Hall, and Councilman Herb Wesson vowed to take Finley's side," he adds. "But two years later, Wesson's 'edible landscape' motion is still stuck in the City Hall sausage machine, with several city agencies quibbling over details."
"And now the city's garden cops are cracking down again."
FULL STORY: L.A. still saying parkway vegetable gardens must go
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City of Albany
UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies
Mpact (formerly Rail~Volution)
Chaddick Institute at DePaul University
City of Piedmont, CA
Great Falls Development Authority, Inc.
HUDs Office of Policy Development and Research