Photo from the Wiota St. Garden’s Facebook page.
Community members are invited to attend a rally in West Powelton on Sunday, Sept. 18 in another attempt to save the Wiota Street Community Garden from development. The garden was established in 1984 on a vacant lot at the corner of Wiota St. and Powelton Ave. and has been providing area residents with fresh produce for eight months of the year since then. Plans were revealed in 2014 to build housing on the site of the garden, but tenuous community consensus to preserve the garden was reached at a December 2014 public meeting with Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell. However, the garden has again come under threat as reported recently by Hidden City.
The rally will be held at the garden (4022 Powelton Ave.), beginning at 4 p.m., and the organizers are asking the participants to bring a picnic.
Under the stipulation of the 2014 public meeting, the garden caretakers have established relationships with local schools to educate students about the importance of urban agriculture and also holds community workdays in the spring and summer. In addition, local charities and food banks receive weekly donation of produce from the garden throughout the growing season. Recently, the Wiota St. Garden, which hosts a farm stand on Sundays from 11 a.m. – 3 p.m., has joined Food Fit Philly, an initiative launched by the Department of Public Health that lists farmers’ markets throughout the city.
For more information about the Wiota St. Garden, visit its Facebook page.
September 13th, 2016 at 12:42 pm
Something has to be done to stop these cutthroat developers, even if it means civil disobedience.
September 13th, 2016 at 9:40 pm
Wonder whether the protesters are the same ones who protest the lack of funding for the Philadelphia school system… Yes, let us save a community garden from the ravages of development that would generate tens of thousands of dollars of tax revenues for the schools. Save the garden; screw the children!
September 14th, 2016 at 9:23 am
I’m pro-development, but how does a tax-abated property generate any money for the schools?
September 14th, 2016 at 11:44 am
The same children who learn truly valuable skills in that garden, JB? The same children who are given positive opportunities and not written off in that garden, JB? The same children who continue to learn powerful life lessons outside of school in that garden, JB? What an enlightening point. Let’s draw dubious comparisons from an article about a garden to protesters for the lack of school funding. Bravo, witty rejoinder, mate.
September 14th, 2016 at 4:39 pm
goldenmonkey, you are right; it’s not an immediate benefit; but if we said that years ago, we wouldn’t have millions of dollars in taxable property rolling off the abatements right now going into the schools’ coffers. a long-term perspective is helpful here.
terry, thanks for your reply; but it’s not terribly helpful. residents of this city spend time and energy in every neighborhood fighting development that would help pay for our schools, and then we cry poverty to the state when we lack the tax base to educate our children. it’s a matter of priorities, and for the better part of 50 years, philadelphia and its leaders have prioritized a variety of things over building a sustainable tax base that could fund our schools, and we are now left with the repercussions. i don’t mind you disagreeing; but at least be thoughtful about it.
September 15th, 2016 at 1:50 pm
Well, ok I guess in that case, I retract my previous comment as it lacks thoughtfulness.