Community garden

[1234]

What, if any, is the chance of the former dog park area along Corinthian being converted into a community garden? I admit that I am not entirely familiar with the situation, specifically who owns the land and such. If this is at all a possibility, I would be more than willing to work on it with anyone who's interested. (I can't be on the waiting list at the Spring Gardens any longer!) Thanks for any information you can give.

[Owen]

My friend and I were commenting on that the other day! That space should totally become a community garden. I wonder how one goes about getting that to happen??????????????

[1234]

Niel? Help! Do you know who we could contact about this possibility?

[niel]

Well, in theory, it would still be Friends of Eastern State Penitentiary Park (FESPP) as well as our local councilman, Darryl Clarke. But the fallout from the nastiness over the dog park has yet to lose its toxicity, and I think it's poisoned that site for some time to come. In order to do anything substantial there you'd need consensus and people working together for a greater good, and I honestly don't see that happening any time soon.

But I'd love to be proven wrong, so you can try contacting FESPP. Their site is www.ourpark.org. Sorry to sound a down note, but I was personally pretty appalled at the way that whole thing played out.

[Titus]

I think public gardens such as this proposal are usually overseen by the Horticultural Society's Philly Green program. We can certainly use more such garden allotments.

[JeffM]

And we already know that the soil is well fertilized!

[brooklyncat]

Can someone explain WHO the "friends of ESP" are?

I don't give a rat's behind about dog park or no dog park. but the non-park is a freakin eyesore and I think the community deserves an explanation as to what is happening next and when.

Does ESP have any say in what happens? Is there someone there to contact as well?

[netnerd]

My first thought is that there'd be no way certain Corinthian residents would allow for the fertilizer that smells like you know what to be used. ;-)

[niel]

The land belongs to the city but FESPP is in charge of its oversight. PHS (the Horticultural Society) is indeed involved in community gardening efforts citywide, and I've been reminded that there will be "Ribbon of Gold" workday tomorrow morning along the Fairmount Avenue side of ESP, which may well be attended by a PHS staff member. So perhaps you could go find that person and ask them.

Anyway, whatever happens here, FESPP does have to be part of the equation.

[1234]

Thank you for all of the responses.

I had actually gone back to one of the dog park threads to figure out who was in charge of the land, and sent off a few emails to FESPP this afternoon, so we'll see what happens from that end.

I agree that the entire dispute got way out of hand, and I also agree that current state of the area is a disgrace to the neighborhood. I have a hard time believing that anyone would argue against a community garden, but then again, a lot of things that go down these days are difficult to imagine.

The way I see it, it would be a way to obtain free and regular maintenance of a spot that is currently an eyesore. And we would not use stinky soil or fertilizer.