Hi, Folks!
While all of you have been having real gardening fun talking about composting, pruning and winter events, I've been working on our own winter event, here in Phoenixville, PA. (In one week, I had conversations with two Congressmen, one Mayor and 4 Councilmen - I think Adam is looking out for me up there, but I really wish he was still here with us!). We need your help to for our winter event on Tuesday, December 18 at 4:30 pm which is: The Housing Authority of Chester County Board Meeting, King Terrace Apartments, 300 High Street, Phoenixville, PA 19460 At this Board Meeting, during Public Participation, St. John's United Church of Christ will present to the HACC Board why it believes that the lease for the community garden should be continued, rather than allowed to run out on September 1, 2009. Public Participation begins at 4:30 pm. The PA Sunshine Law states that anyone from the public may address the Board during Public Participation - audience members will be taping this meeting to ensure that this PA law is respected. Look good for the camera - the video will be placed on YouTube afterwards! So, if you live near Phoenixville, our community garden really, really, REALLY needs you to come to Phoenixville, wear a "Save the Community Garden" Tomato Sticker (we'll give them out at the door) and speak for 1 minute to the Board during Public Participation. If you cannot come to Phoenixville, but would like to help, please e-mail both myself and Patricia Matson, the Editor of The Phoenix (our local newspaper, her e-mail address is <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>) a letter of support as to why you believe that St. John's United Church of Christ Organic Community Garden and Labyrinth should have its lease extended or become a public park. We already have the ACGA letter and are very grateful for it, but we need more. If you would like more information, we have produced a "searchable by Table of Contents" PDF proposal that is based on 10 years of e-mails and church reports. Besides the proposal, it includes all documents related to the community garden and labyrinth and a copy of Leslie Provence's May 2007 Master's Thesis: Community Gardening on Public Housing Properties: Where, Who, How, Why and Why Not? Although the document is long, by using the "searchable Table of Contents," anyone can download the document to their PDA and then click on the section they would like to read. >From the document: The Consistory of St. John's United Church of Christ offers this document which describes St. John's United Church of Christ's stewardship of the HACC land it was offered in 1997 and has maintained and improved to the best of our ability for the past 10 years. We believe that the reasonable solution is for St. John's United Church of Christ Organic Community Garden and Labyrinth, as it is, where it is, to become what the public wants and needs it to become - a public park. We look forward to working with the Housing Authority of Chester County Board to make this proposal a reality within the year. Proposal The Consistory of St. John's United Church of Christ proposes that the Housing Authority of Chester County either extend the current lease to the long-term (30 years) for the water access and land on which St. John's United Church of Christ Organic Community Garden and Labyrinth has stood for the past 10 years or permit this land to be donated or purchased by the Borough or County as a recognized public park dedicated to community gardening, community integration, environmental awareness and local hunger relief as it has done so successfully for the past 10 years. The current lease expires on September 1, 2009. Consistory believes that keeping this de facto public park as much-desired public open space and continuing our multi-award winning programs on this particular site of public land provides services to the Fairview Village tenants and the greater Phoenixville community that are too valuable to lose. The reasonable solution is for St. John's United Church of Christ Organic Community Garden and Labyrinth, as it is, where it is, to become a du jure, rather than de facto, public park Sue White created the following YouTube video which highlights the community garden in August 2007 and illustrates many of the themes in this proposal: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3z0ysB7NfY Thanks so much for your help. We need it. Dorene Dorene Pasekoff, Coordinator St. John's United Church of Christ Organic Community Garden and Labyrinth A mission of St. John's United Church of Christ, 315 Gay Street, Phoenixville, PA 19460 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... 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