Quote:
Originally Posted by tete
Aaah, so the Calgary Interfaith Food Bank isn't worthy of food grown in a community plot, it has to come from squatter's land? Right. What a loony.
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I agree with her on that point, community garden projects already serve an important role in providing food-growing opportunities for apartment-dwellers who otherwise don't have access to such plots. Taking such plots, which are typically in high demand in the inner-city, and using them for food bank donations, defeats the purpose of community gardens. It's better use to allow locals to use such plots for their own vegetables.
However, if she was primarily concerned about the food bank (which sounds more like a after-the-fact sympathy grab), then one question should be whether she's exhausted all of the capacity of her own property to grow potatoes.
I'm all for urban gardening initiatives, as well as for finding ways to make vacant lots useable by their communities, but there needs to be a better way to do it... perhaps a city-run program that encourages participation by allowing a slight tax-break to the property owners, and is actually operated as a temporary community garden, not as one person's activism crusade.