[Education] [Membership] Status of Community Gardens in the Parks

[Angela Taylor]

 Good evening all, I hope all are safe and well.  if you would be so kind as to share the list of these 82 parks I would be grateful.
Thanks,Angela
    On Thursday, April 30, 2020, 05:26:08 PM CDT, Lorraine Kells via Membership <membership at chicagocommunitygardens.org> wrote:  
 
 Hello all,
You know well that the Park District has closed the parks, shuttered all the field houses, cancelled all activities in the parks, but did you know this includes over 82 community gardens growing fruits, vegetables in the parks?  The Park District has grouped these gardens as park district programs and shut out gardeners from growing food at a time when grocery stores are empty of fresh spring greens; there are no garden markets, mental health is as important as physical health and the worst frustration is that those very gardeners are not part of the solution.  NeighborSpace Gardens and suburban cook county gardens are open.  It can and is being dandone successfully and with vigilance for wearing masks, gloves, hand-washing, cleaning tools, social distancing and scheduling to accomplish that.  Please consider a zoom meting to discuss this ASAP, read the attached letter as a sample to work with, and let me know what you think. The letter is also copied at the end of the email.
Without going into the many reasons this is an unfortunate and just wrong  designation, I want to ask CCGA to draft a letter on behalf of all the community gardens in the parks and send it to the appropriate people at the park district, list in hand.  Earlier today I sent an email to the 82 gardens in the parks to join our letter.  Many of those gardens are run on the kind of volunteer basis that email seldom gets read or answered. We can step in; these community gardens are CCGA gardens too.  
I've also spoke with May Toy who sent a letter to the Park District that went unheeded, and I have it on good authority that the letter was put aside--I've asked May to allow us to take her letter as our own with needed changes to the wording and go from there.  Her letter is attached.  It says just about everything we would want to say.  If you have something to add please respond.
The Park District hold on community gardens in the parks expires tomorrow, but no one expects to see gardens up and running, but it's likely the Park District will extend the order without asking for any input from gardeners; without allowing gardeners to propose a solution. Please let's get together on this.
Regards,Lorraine

Mr. Mike Kelly, Superintendent & CEO - Chicago Park DistrictMr. Pat Levar, Chief Operating Officer - Chicago Park DistrictMr. Alonzo Williams, Chief Programs Officer - Chicago Park DIstrictBoard of Commissioners, - Chicago Park District

I hope this email finds you safe and well in these unprecedented times.
I'm writing about the Community Gardens.  Recently the decision was made by the Park District to close the community gardens.  The reason given was that park district consider community gardens a program and all programs have been cancelled due to COVID-19.  Community gardeners have been told that they can't work in gardens even though the gardens themselves are not closed..
I'm writing to ask that the Park District reconsider the closure of community gardens to the gardeners. Community gardens don't really fit into a program category like sports or afterschool programs where there is close interaction among participants.  Community gardens don't really fit into a traditional program box/concept.   For the most part, edible community gardens are worked by individual household units and unlike sport programs there is no real interaction between gardeners except maybe to exchange greetings if they happen to be at the garden together just as if they ran into each other on the street.   . 
I also volunteer with the Chicago Community Gardener Association ( CCGA) Resources committee and we provide materials ( seeds, vegetables starts ) to many community gardens all over the city but primarily to communities in need.  They have been hard hit by the COVID-19 shut down and many of the gardeners who we have distributed vegetable seeds to have express to me their concern and need to be able to grow food again.  
ESSENTIAL FOR FOODGrowing food is essential and the Park District should open up community gardens again with additional rules for physical/social distancing, IL rules for wearing masks, gloves, etc..  A simple schedule signup can easily be setup to ensure that people are not working the plots in close proximity.   Food is essential and  many community gardeners have expressed to me across the city that they have been laid off especially those in the West and South sides that I work with thru CCGA, some of whom garden in parks.   
Most gardeners rarely see another gardener when they are working or watering their plots.  I know that when I was in the gardens at Skinner Park, I rarely saw another community gardener unless it was a group volunteer work day.  And we cancelled all of our group work days early on. 
MENTAL HEALTHMany community gardeners are also seniors and growing food and flowers is good for mental health especially in these times where seniors are most at risk of social isolation.  Yesterday, I saw children walking in Skinner Park delight in seeing the tulips that we planted last Fall.   
MAINTAINING COMMUNITY PARK GARDENS IS ALSO MAINTAINING COMMUNITY MENTAL HEALTH Park gardens need to be maintain.  The Park District is still paying landscape companies to maintain Grant Park and the lakefront.  99% of the flower gardens in neighborhood parks have been nurtured and maintained by community gardeners and supported by donations.  These gardens if not maintained will become overgrown and extremely hard to get back to good condition, destroying years of hard work by volunteers.  Most ornamental gardens are maintained by a few hard working volunteers in each park who can act responsibly.  For example, the Skinner Park Advisory Council and other PACs and garden groups cancelled open group volunteer days even before the Governor's mandate.  Many of our core volunteers have asked how they can individually help in the gardens while adhering to COVID-19 restrictions.  They want to help and I think it helps with their mental health to do something productive that also helps the community long term.  They would NOT be interacting with other people outside of their households.  
The flowers gardens that are maintained responsibly does not only help the gardener but also help the community's overall mental health in seeing beauty and something just growing & living in these times of great stress.  The ornamental gardens in neighborhood parks are not closed to the general public and many neighborhood residents walk in them to get exercise but they still need to be maintained although with different rules for how community gardeners can work.  .  
I can write many more pages on why the Park District should open up the community gardens but I'll end here by strongly advising that the Park District should work with community gardeners to create rules that will allow them to return to grow food and work in the gardens and help with the community's mental health.   The City of Chicago have not shut down community gardens as non-essential because food is essential as is mental health.   
Thank you for taking the time to read this and please let me know if I can help in any way.
Yours Truly,
May
May ToyPresidentSkinner Park Advisory Council



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