Save the Garden - The Value of ACGA Membership & the ACGA Listserve
- Subject: [cg] Save the Garden - The Value of ACGA Membership & the ACGA Listserve
- From: H* A*
- Date: Thu, 27 Jun 2002 11:40:45 -0400
Pamela,
What
you received from me was an example of how the American Community Gardening
Association's(ACGA) listserve works - the Internet allows whomever is online at
a given time to respond as if trading planting tips over the back garden
fence.
Most
of the folks on the ACGA listserve are master gardeners, agriculture
agents, commuity garden program directors and rank-and-filers like myself.
The
ACGA has an annual convention ( next month at NYC's Columbia University) and
maintains a marvelous website, filled with the best of what appears on the
listserve and other sources, a wealth of community gardening, food security,
neighborhood greening and other information - http://www.communitygarden.org
.
What
the organizaton needs now are more dues paying members. After perousing our
site, please visit, our membership page;
Best
wishes,
Adam
Honigman
Volunteer
Adam, your response was exactly what I hoped for. Many thank
you's. I am forwarding to my friend whose garden I am helping with.
He is the real gardener--I am the labor since I am the local high school
librarian and have the gardening season free of work commitments. I am
fascinated by the diverse group of people working gardens that also represent
great diversity. Some with neat, thriving traditional rows looking like the
work of master gardeners and some planted in circles, sweeping curves, and other
designs representing the flair of artists. One Sunday I asked a lady what
flower she was working with and she tried to tell me--in Spanish--and then said
her son would be here in a minute (translator). Turned out it was
chamomille for tea. What a delightful exchange.
There is a meeting tonight at 6:00. We will share your thoughts with
much praise and gratitude for your timely response. You were so
quick--have you received emails like mine before?
Pam Hoffmann
summer address
>From: "Honigman, Adam"
>To: "'phoffmann65@hotmail.com'"
>CC: "'community_garden@mallorn.com'"
>Subject: RE: [cg] FW: save the garden
>Date: Thu, 27 Jun 2002 11:07:59 -0400
>
>Pam,
>
>I am so sorry that you are now in "Chicken-
>Little-Community-Garden-Bulldozing-Mode", generally a NYC
phenomenon caused
>by community gardeners who have not looked outside of their
garden gates
>long or hard enough to nuture the neighborhood support needed to
sustain a
>community garden against political or developer pressure.
>
>I am not chiding you or putting you down - you're a community
gardener and
>my heart. It's just that many of us, including myself believed
that cleaning
>up a space, making it crime free and actively gardening to create
a
>neighborhood oasis was enough.
>
>Unfortunately it isn't - you really have to politically pull the
>neighborhood with you, to have them feel that a community garden
is an
>integral part of the life of their neighborhood, just like the
police
>precinct or the public library - not that they'll ever use
either, but that
>these institutions integral to the community.
>
>Community gardening is 50% gardening and 100% political action.
>
>Here are some generic political activist steps to take now that
you are in
>Chicken Little Mode. Understand that you are not going to bed
tonight. Be
>sure you pray.
>
>1) Contact your core group immediately(probably 3-4 core folks
who care
>about this as much as you and are willing to do the work.) Get
them to
>commit to bringing at least 10 to 15 friends ( they can be
non-gardeners,
>what we are talking about now are bodies) to jam the meeting
room.
>Politicians and city planners always count the room.
>
>2) Contact all of your gardeners and tell them that they are
going to
>absolutely lose their garden plots unless they show up at the
meeting, with
>signs and be prepared to talk. Be sure that there are plenty of
seniors and
>children who are willing to get very emotional about the garden
for the
>benefit of media - invite the local TV, radio and print stations
( intimate
>that there might be a civil disturbance, that emotions will be
running very
>high.) REMEMBER TO PASS THE HAT FOR EXPENSES AND TO KEEP TRACK OF
ALL
>OUTLAYS. BE SURE THAT YOU ARE ALWAYS ABLE TO MAKE A REPORT TO
STAKEHOLDERS
>WHO CONTRIBUTE MONEY.
>
>3) Go to your wordprocessor and create a one page Poster and one
page press
>release ( with contact names and numbers) explaining in bullet
points all of
>the reasons why garden X is important to the community and must
be saved.
>Xerox hundreds of these for distribution to gardeners,
neighborhood members,
>city officials and the press.
>
>4) Re: " Is the local councilman the first contact. Agricultural
extension
>agents? . How about local garden clubs? The newspaper? Parks
Commission?
>Who are our best advocates?" Contact and see if any of them will
show, or
>send representatives to the meeting. Make sure that all of these
have your
>literature and make any and all promises you can to get them to
support you
>( a voters registration drive in the garden, photo oportunities
with kids
>and seniors, veiled promises of campaign contributions and
election work,
>letters of thanks and appreciation to the Agricultural extension
agent's
>superiors, your first born.)
>
>5) Pack the room. Collect names, addressses and e-mails on sign
in lists and
>be sure to transfer them asap to an Excel database and/or a
roladex card. If
>you have roladex cards, have folks fill them out ( tell them to
write "Last
>Name First comma First Name on the top line - place these
immediately in
>your roladex.)
>
>6) Get 3 loud applauders to run the response to speakers (
cheers, clapping,
>hissing, polite silences) and place them strategically throughout
the room.
>
>7) Get, if you can find them, a couple of rich and influential
people to
>make phone calls to politicans they own.
>
>8) Get clergy and educators ( school principals and kindergarten
teachers
>are wonderful) to call the politicians. If you have cops and
firemen who are
>part of your garden community or think you are cute, then ask
them, on
>bended knee, donuts and whatever inducements you have in hand to
show up,
>while off duty, in uniform to speak in favor of your garden (
i.e., it's
>crime free, it's a great place to gather ones thoughts after a
fire - they
>ran us a great benefit picnic, etc)
>
>9) Poster every lamp post in your neighborhood, tape up in every
store that
>takes your money garden crisis leaflets.
>
>10) Repeat as often as necessary. Be sure that you pray.
>
>11) Resolve that if your community garden survives, that your
garden
>community will do the kind of political, neighborhood and school
outreach
>necessary to building community and sustaining your garden.
>
>Pray alot and keep drinking that coffee. It's going to be a long
night and
>day.
>
>Adam Honigman
>Volunteer
>Clinton Community Garden
>http://www.clintoncommunitygarden.org
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Sally McCabe [mailto:smccabe@pennhort.org]
>Sent: Thursday, June 27, 2002 9:34 AM
>To: list serve (E-mail)
>Subject: [cg] FW: save the garden
>
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Pam Hoffmann [mailto:phoffmann65@hotmail.com]
>Sent: Thursday, June 27, 2002 1:08 AM
>To: smccabe@pennhort.org; sallymcc@libertynet.org
>Subject: save the garden
>
>
>I am in a fight to save a community garden from developers. It
has existed
>for nearly 100 years--honest--run by a school. Then it was a
victory
>garden. I am thinking that there must be a strategy that has
worked for
>others. Please advise. It strikes me that public sentiment is
important.
>Is the local councilman the first contact. Agricultural extension
agents? .
>How about local garden clubs? The newspaper? Parks Commission?
Who are our
>best advocates?
>
>This is a political issue--not a logical one. People understand
the value
>of green space. Any quick ideas of how we proceed? A mtg. is
scheduled for
>tomorrow night. Thanks for any ideas.
>
>Sincerley,
>
>Pam Hoffmann, gardener
>phoffmann65@hotmail.com
>
>
Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com.
