[Community_garden] Unusual Funding Needs for a Community Garden

[Julie Burleigh]

Hi Amy & List,

Very good suggestions -- I will get to work on these as soon as I can  
-- I will be out of town until Sunday night, July 8th.

Thanks again -- I'll be in touch soon...

Julie


On Jul 2, 2007, at 6:58 AM, Amy DeShon wrote:

> Assuming you need to act fast, then these are questions you should  
> be able
> to answer (and in this order):
>
> 1. Who else wants the garden in your neighborhood? Get their names,
> addresses, signatures on a petition.
> 2. Do you have a neighborhood association? Do they support you?  
> Does the
> Neigh Assoc belong to a city-wide association? Would those other
> organizations support you?
> 2. Who are your other resources? What does the City Parks & Recs  
> and Comm
> Development Departments think of your idea? Do you have any  
> commissioners
> who would support you on this? What about other environmental  
> groups? Would
> they support you? List their names.
> 3. What about the local Foundation? Would they entertain an  
> application?
> Mostly they support non-profits. So under what organization would  
> you apply
> for funding? This is true of corporations too. Find a non-profit  
> who wants
> to do this project and have them apply for the funds under their 501 
> (c)3
> status.
> 4. Do you know someone who had the resources to pay the tax bill (deep
> pockets) and keep the land out of "use" until you have your ducks  
> in order?
> What agreement would they need that you could pay them back?
>
> Hum... other suggestions???
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: community_garden-bounces at list.communitygarden.org
> [mailto:community_garden-bounces at list.communitygarden.org]On Behalf Of
> Julie Burleigh
> Sent: Sunday, July 01, 2007 10:21 PM
> To: community_garden at list.communitygarden.org
> Subject: [Community_garden] Unusual Funding Needs for a Community  
> Garden
>
>
> Dear Community Garden List Members,
>
> My name is Julie Burleigh, and I live in South Central Los Angeles in
> a neighborhood called West Adams. I would like to start a Community
> Garden on my block, in a vacant lot. A Community Garden would provide
> a much needed improvement to our multi-ethnic, low-income
> neighborhood, reducing crime, and improving the quality of life for
> many adolescents, children, adults and seniors in our community. I
> have met with the LA Community Garden Council, and the LA
> Neighborhood Land Trust. They have been encouraging, but I need more
> help.
>
> The vacant lot I am interested in is owned by a woman who has a long
> history of problems with the neighborhood, and the city. The lot has
> a history of gang use, abatement problems, and a fire about 15 years
> ago. Because of $80,000 in back taxes owed by the owner, it is
> scheduled for a Section 8 auction in August. There have been multiple
> liens, multiple fraudulent bankruptcies, and multiple social security
> numbers associated with the owner of this property. I have approached
> the owner about buying the land (for $80K -- what is owed in back
> taxes) -- she said that she would just file bankruptcy again so that
> she could get out of the section 8 auction, and have another year to
> hold on to the property. This owner has gotten out of several
> previous tax sales over many years by filing for bankruptcy just
> before the sale, then canceling the filing immediately after the sale
> date, thus giving herself a potentially infinite number of
> bankruptcies to use. This has been a nuisance property, and the owner
> has used dangerous and illegal practices to get around paying taxes
> and caring for her properties (last year, there was an arson fire at
> another of her properties, in which firefighters were seriously
> injured).
>
> Time is running out, as the tax sale is scheduled for August. Please
> let me know if you have any advice about funding so that we may offer
> to buy the land at the amount it is worth (probably $250K), or if
> anyone has dealt with issues of this nature in acquiring the land for
> their garden. I know we could lease it from her, but its such an
> unstable situation, I think it would just be better if we could buy
> it...
>
> Thank you very much,
>
>
> Julie Burleigh
> 323-737-6211
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