The Wiota Street Garden (from Google Street View).

Those in attendance at last night’s public meeting on the future of the Wiota Street Garden in West Powelton tenuously agreed to block attempts to build housing on the parcel.

Some 60 people turned out for a meeting of the West Powelton Concerned Community Council, which, though divisive at times, led Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell to promise to stop developers’ attempts to buy the land and construct housing. She also urged community members to devise a plan that would make the garden a community space with a defined and transparent management structure.

The City of Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority, which owns the parcel at 46 Wiota St. (near 40th and Powelton), has deferred any decision to sell the property to Blackwell, who attended the meeting to gauge public opinion. Her agreement to help protect the garden came with the stipulation that it be managed in a way that invites the entire community. 

The garden, which has been at the site for about 30 years, has largely been tended and managed by resident John Lindsay and many in attendance last night said they felt excluded.

“John has done a herculean job keeping it up, but I don’t see any community in this so-called community garden,” said resident Curtis Seward, who lives across the street from the plot.

“I hear you loud and clear,” Blackwell said.

One proposed solution was to turn ownership of the garden over to The Neighborhood Gardens Trust, which would move it off the Redevelopment Authority’s books and preserve it as green space.

The Trust’s executive director, Jenny Greenberg, said at the meeting that the organization’s board has approved acquisition of the plot “contingent on broad access to the garden.”

Concern over the future of the garden heightened recently when a property developer expressed interest to the Redevelopment Authority in buying the property. West Powelton has seen a marked increase in student housing construction in recent years and many residents last night opposed construction on the site.

Consensus emerged after 90 minutes of heated discussion that sometimes pitted longtime residents against newer residents on everything from property tax increases to schools. One point of agreement, though, was to save the small piece of green space from development.

“There is too much development going on in the neighborhood,” said one resident, as others nodded in agreement.

– Mike Lyons