LBPOST.com: LA Times Features Long Beach Success Story

Thursday, September 2, 2010

LA Times Features Long Beach Success Story

by Ryan ZumMallen | Long Beach News | 10.20.09 |

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The Los Angeles Times today reports on the turnaround success of Long Beach�s own Henderson Avenue, a westside neighborhood that was violence-ridden before blighted apartments were replaced with a community-wide garden. The Times� Robert Faturechi tells the tale:

Just a few years ago, two adjacent apartment complexes on the 1900 block of Henderson were havens for drug dealers and prostitutes, according to city officials. Neighbors were leery of leaving their homes, and the complexes drew a high number of police calls.

But these days the scene is decidedly peaceful. The crime-plagued apartments have been replaced by healthy plots of squash, golden chard, watermelon and cucumbers thriving in Long Beach's salty breezes.

The story is indicative of possibility in troubled areas, and an example of community pride defeating crime and violence. Faturechi explains that the Redevelopment Agency spent $1.6 million to buy the plagued apartment buildings in 2007, so it may be worth wondering why the practice isn�t employed more often.

Maybe because it's not permanent. The article mentions in passing that the garden was intended to be a two-year project and that it will eventually be replaced with affordable housing � an odd footnote, considering the garden is framed as the solution to the problem. The article doesn�t mention the issue again, but one has to wonder whether new apartments will revive old neighborhood habits, and whether residents have any fear of that possibility.

The article quotes one resident who says that current, positive community relations would not be possible without the garden. What happens, then, when you remove the garden?

Comments

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7 Comments so far.

lbresident
Absolutely. The neighborhood would be better off if they just leave the gardens. Don't build low income housing.

gardener
With Ryan's kind of logic, South Africa would return to apartheid when Nelson Mandela completed his term as President. Once the change is made, it moves forward. Henderson residents will have a positive gardening experience and gained skills that are transferable. The garden simply moves to a new location and continues to nurture in a myriad of ways.

Ryan Z
Fair enough, gardener. Just asking a question that I thought was pertinent, and wondering why the article didn't ask the same question. Thanks for reading

jay
The LB RDA is not a government organization. It is a non-profit organization that still has high salaries to pay for/ cover from their annual earnings. Thus, the LB RDA cannot buy parcels of land to turn into parks, it must spend the money to buy land with intentions of later on putting something in it's place that will repay the money. The only way you can create a permanent park is if the city buys the land and officially converts it into a city park. Also, in todays times do you think that the city is going to buy a piece of land with their budget deficits and not just spend the $1.6 million land purchase price, but deprive themselves of the annual $20K per year in property taxes forever. That's never going to happen. Take a look at the new planned court house for downtown long beach. The RDA ownes the vacant lot where the new court house will be built, and has swapped that land for the more valuable piece of land where the courthouse currently sits on Ocean Blvd. The city is not paying for the building of the court house either. Just thought I'd give you some insight in how everything works. There's no free lunch.

Also a gardner
This is a success story for a terrible neighborhood. Gardens promote community pride. The gardens will continue - if not in this location, then another. Great job to all involved!

Sasha Kanno
At the Wrigley Garden we believe that healthy communities make healthy people. We are convinced that once we can get people to engage themselves in the process of gardening and growing their own food we can really get people to change. This will be the foundation for a better community. Whether or not they garden with us or in their homes we are changing the environment while changing someone’s sense of self. We need to get policy makers to accept community gardens as a permanent part of our park and rec system. We need them permanently placed on city maps included in the green space. Green spaces have really important consequences for people’s lives and should be a matter of public policy that we find ways to do this, to make sure that there’s nature at every doorstep.

David Carlton
I appreciate all the news stories covering our new community gardens in Wrigley and the positive changes that they bring to our neighborhood. I agree with Sasha that it should be a priority for our city leaders to add permanent community gardens into the open green space planning with Parks and Rec. I encourage everyone to contact their city representatives and let them know your priorities for open green space and community gardens.

Long Beach News

LBPOST.com Managing Editor Ryan ZumMallen keeps up on all the current and breaking Long Beach news.

Ryan ZumMallen has served as the managing editor of the LBPOST.com since 2007. He graduated from CSULB with a degree in Print Journalism in 2008 and is a member of the 2009 class of Leadership Long Beach. You can find him on various basketball courts around the city.

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