[Community_garden] Locking garden gates?

Thu Jul 24 09:55:52 EDT 2008

Its a really hard issue and a real problem.

When Giuliani wanted to bulldoze all our gardens,
our argument was they are open for the people.
We got arrested and fought and created encampments
to save the gardens.  Now they are mostly locked 
spaces, gated community spaces for an exclusive
few.  I know the risks.  But I think the turn
toward locking them creates a lot limitations. 

-----Original Message-----
>From: cordalie.benoit at aya.yale.edu
>Sent: Jul 24, 2008 8:18 AM
>To: Don Boekelheide <dboekelheide at yahoo.com>, community_garden at list.communitygarden.org
>Subject: Re: [Community_garden] Locking garden gates?
>
>I garden at one of the more than fifty gardens in New Haven,CT, Williams 
>Street. When I first gardened there in 2002, there was a locked gate on a 
>four foot fence.  My comment was, if I can climb over this fence and I can 
>and did, anyone can.  (The lock was a combination style.)
>
>To make a short story long, we now have an open arch.  We sometimes have 
>problems with children "playing" in the garden.  One of our members has a 
>psychiatric diagnosis and lives two houses away from the garden.  He often 
>"shops" in the garden, but he helps us more than he harms us.
>
>I saw a locked garden in Paris which posted its "open hours" for touring and 
>picnicking, etc.
>
>These gardens are "community" gardens, there are those who contribute and 
>there are those who take more than there share, but hey, only heaven has 
>only the good.
>
>Sometimes City people complain about the people who help themselves, but at 
>least there are no deer in New Haven neighborhoods (yet)!
>
>Best, Cordalie
>----- Original Message ----- 
>From: "Don Boekelheide" <dboekelheide at yahoo.com>
>To: <community_garden at list.communitygarden.org>
>Sent: Wednesday, July 23, 2008 5:54 PM
>Subject: [Community_garden] Locking garden gates?
>
>
>> Hi, all,
>>
>> Recent posts about theft prompt me to write about our recent decision to 
>> lock our garden gates. The decision did not come easily, and has caused 
>> hard feelings on both sides. The lock supporters are very sure of the 
>> need, and lock opponents equally sure that it sends an exclusionary 
>> message and won't work.
>>
>> But now that it is a "done" deal, I wonder belatedly what other people do.
>>
>> Do you have locks on your garden gates? If so, how do you manage them? 
>> What kinds of locks? How do you allow "nice" people to visit?
>>
>> (If you don't have locks, why not?)
>>
>> Second, how effective are locks? I've read (was it in the research done by 
>> Mark Frances some years back?) that most CG theft comes from "inside" the 
>> garden, not outside - is that accurate, do you think?
>>
>> If you have locks, how do you handle:
>>
>> 1. Making sure that the whole community knows that they are welcome (if 
>> they don't rip things off), and discouraging the perception that the 
>> community garden is one group "taking advantage" of public resources for 
>> personal gain?
>>
>> 2. Addressing problems of rotting produce left by gardeners who don't 
>> harvest (I liked Doreen's answer to this).
>>
>> 3. Dealing with "inside" unauthorized harvesting?
>>
>> 4. Addressing problems of security- are gardens safer with locked gates?
>>
>> 5. Dealing with hungry and impoverished people who see the food and are 
>> tempted by it?
>>
>> Has anyone gotten rid of locks? Why?
>>
>> Overall, do you think they work? Are they worth the hassle?
>>
>> About us:
>>
>> Our community garden is a half acre site with 55 beds, most 20x20. It is 
>> in an open field on public parkland, beside a road with pulses of heavy 
>> traffic during the morning and afternoon commute and modest traffic 
>> otherwise. There is very little pedestrian traffic. Gardener drive to the 
>> garden. The closest house is across the road (the old farmhouse), 
>> otherwise the site is pretty isolated though surrounded by suburban 
>> development near UNC Charlotte. The garden is surrounded by a 6 ft "nice" 
>> chain link fence (black paint). We have not had locks for 3 years. The 
>> locks chosen are "spin" combination locks, similar to the ones used in 
>> Portland, OR (I believe).
>>
>> Several gardeners have become very concerned about being "ripped off", and 
>> some have reported seeing sinister looking pickup trucks and cars driving 
>> up to the garden and then speeding off. Also, some gardeners say that 
>> strangers have stopped and come into the garden with plastic bags (like 
>> the example in the recent theft discussion), asking "How does this work? 
>> Do you sell? Is this a community garden? Does that mean I can take what I 
>> need?"
>>
>> Also, the disagreement over whether or not to lock has prompted some very 
>> troubling disharmony within the gardener community. Any thoughts on how to 
>> handle it when one "faction" gets its way and really doesn't feel like 
>> listening to the "other side", such as an individual or "counterfaction", 
>> who persistently keeps raising questions, alternatives and objections even 
>> after a decision has been made?
>>
>> Don
>> www.urbanministrycenter.org
>> (this is for the community garden where I'm a member, at Reedy Creek, not 
>> the Urban Ministry garden)
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
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>
>
>
>_______________________________________________
>The American Community Gardening Association listserve is only one of ACGA's services to community gardeners. To learn more about the ACGA and to find out how to join, please go to http://www.communitygarden.org
>
>To post an e-mail to the list:  community_garden at list.communitygarden.org
>
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