Re: needles and school gardens (Charles Levkoe)

**D* B* <d*@yahoo.com>**

Hi, Charles,

We faced a somewhat similar problem in the homeless
garden I work with. It cleared up, to some extent,
once we got the garden in place and folks involved.
The dealers didn't like it, though, and did some
relatively minor trashing until they finally got tired
and left.

The problem with your school, I think, is how to get
the folks shooting up there to begin thinking of that
area as inappropriate for drugs (like a church isn't
right for shooting up, your grandma's house, the
counseling office...etc). Do you have any contacts
with the neighborhood for people who might spread the
word that you want to make a garden for the kids
there?

Is it sheltered, where folks can use and not get
caught? If so, you may want to look for a site that
has good visual access, or improve visual access to
your site. That helped us, since we're on a hill.

But the most important thing is the people. Sounds
like there are two worlds, one during school hours and
one at night.

Of course, there is fencing, but that's expensive and
doesn't always work. Is there a fence of any kind?

Good luck, at least you can know you are not alone -
our problem now tends to be beer and liquor bottles -
but you never know, any given morning, what you'll
find.

Don B. Charlotte NC

 1. needles and school gardens (Charles Levkoe)
> 
> --__--__--
> 
> Message: 1
> From: "Charles Levkoe" <charles@thestop.org>
> To: <community_garden@mallorn.com>
> Date: Thu, 18 Nov 2004 13:27:01 -0500
> Subject: [cg] needles and school gardens
> 
> I have a question i am not sure where to go with so
> any advice would be
> helpful.
> 
> A local school is attempting to put in a food and
> native plant garden. It is
> in a tough area here in Toronto and they have run
> into some stumbling
> blocks. Many needles are found on the property daily
> and the principal does
> not want the kids in the soil until a solution is
> found to protect their
> safety. I am wondering if anyone knows of any other
> schools or communities
> that have dealt with this and what they have done.
> 
> Charles Z Levkoe, Urban Agriculture Coordinator
> The Stop Community Food Centre
> P.O. Box 69, Station E
> Toronto Ontario, M6H 4E1
> 416-652-7867 ext.236
> charles@thestop.org
> www.thestop.org
> 
> 
> 
> 
> --__--__--
> 
>
______________________________________________________
> The American Community Gardening Association
> listserve is only one of ACGA's services to
> community gardeners. To learn more about the ACGA
> and to find out how to join, please go to
> http://www.communitygarden.org
> 
> To post an e-mail to the list: 
> community_garden@mallorn.com
> 
> To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your
> subscription: 
>
https://secure.mallorn.com/mailman/listinfo/community_garden
> 
> 
> End of community_garden Digest

______________________________________________________
The American Community Gardening Association listserve is only one of ACGA's services to community gardeners. To learn more about the ACGA and to find out how to join, please go to http://www.communitygarden.org

To post an e-mail to the list:  community_garden@mallorn.com

To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your subscription:  https://secure.mallorn.com/mailman/listinfo/community_garden