Sunday, December 13, 2009
Poor liberal fools just can't seem to accept the realities of human nature.
I found this in yesterday's letters-to-the-editor in the Savannah Morning news.
http://old.savannahnow.com/stories/101602/LOCFISHMAN.shtml), I donated a lot located at West 32nd Street and Martin Luther King Boulevard at the request of Savannah Development and Renewal Authority and Susan Patrice for the use of a Urban Youth Eco-Village.
The purpose was to provide a lot with rich soil for inner-city families and individuals to use to grow vegetables and flowers. The Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation gave a $25,000 grant and a selection of fine stones were donated by Savannah Hardscape as a gift for the project. I also cleared and cleaned the lot for their use.
The project is being run by Nine.One.Two, Inc. a 501C3 and now sponsored by The Home Depot Foundation. I have paid $9,203 in taxes and $444 in insurance on this very useable lot for seven years, and I cannot tell you how sad it is to see the lot decline and not be monitored for the intended use. In these difficult times it seems so logical that a family or individual would want free fresh vegetables and flowers to add some food and color into their homes.
Once in a while I will stop by and find someone trying to make good use of the lot.
As the old saying goes no good deed goes unpunished. The city has taken the position that because I am the owner of record, that it is my responsibility and has summoned me to court on three occasions to clean up the trash and weeds on the lot.
I will be forced with much reluctance to level this high profile lot on MLK that could have been a great example for the MLK area and provide food for urban families.
This type of project has been very successful in so many other enlightened cities. It is so disheartening to see the short sightedness of the Savannah Development and Renewal Authority, Nine.One.Two, Inc., (a non-profit organization) and the city of Savannah put an end to this project, let alone providing the same opportunities for other empty lots in the MLK and Montgomery Street area.
I am sure the Arthur M. Blank Foundation and Home Depot Foundation would like to know where their well-meaning donations have gone. So would I.
MICHAEL BROWN
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6 comments:
This is typical in two ways. First off attempting to give some thing to those who want some thing for nothing is the situation here. They would have to work to plant veggies. Work is not what they want. Hand outs yes. A chance to reap what you so, no. Second it was part of the government. Those two things alone doomed the project.
Actually, the project was not some half-cocked liberal failure to understand human nature. There are several glaring omissions in the letter to the editor. The group currently managing the urban garden on the site is not linked to the original project, they found the land wasn't being used and attempted to re-invigorate the project. The land had been left in disrepair by the original grantee's, but currently, (I drove by the property this morning to have a look for myself) there are plant boxes growing a variety of vegetables. The property has been cleaned up significantly, and looks like it's doing pretty well, considering it's being managed by a group of part time volunteers on the weekends. I don't know whether Mr. Brown hadn't been by in a while, or when the citations from the city actually occurred, but looking at the property right now, most of the claims appear to be false or outdated.
Do you live in Savannah? If so, where? Caution: I'm from there.
Yes, I'm from Savannah, and I live a couple blocks away from the property in question. Why should I be cautious because you also live in Savannah? Apparently your geographical proximity hasn't provided you with any additional insight into this project. If it had, you might have done some homework and formed an informed opinion, rather than just write them off as "poor liberal fools." Were you at all familiar with the background on the property or the series of groups that have worked on it prior to seeing this letter to the editor, which only presents one side of the argument?
So, just as I suspected, you can't give me anything to convince me that you are actually living in Savananh and not some lying,localliberaldownhereinSt.Marys with a terminal case of Jay Derangement Syndrome.
Foropeners,how did you come across this blog and how long have you been folowing it?
Something is wrong with my keyboard. It does not advance every time I hit the spacebar. Might be about time for a new one.
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