[Community_garden] Locking garden gates?

Thu Jul 24 12:35:42 EDT 2008

"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?"
- I agree with Mike!  And I love his analogy: "Judo--don't meet force with force; let that force dissipate or work against itself."
  - I also to add that if there are those "who persistently keeps raising questions, alternatives and objections even after a decision has been made", you wonder about the decision making process, and if everyone's voice was heard.  A lot of times, these people are doing so, because they don't feel that their (or those that they represent) concerns are addressed.

Mike McGrath <MikeMcG at PTD.net> wrote:
  "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?"

I'm facing this exact situation right now. I've been hired by a 440 home 
community to convert their (already pretty good) lawn care and landscaping 
to 100% organic. So far, my tactic has been to try and make people on both 
'sides' feel like they're personally causing very positive change.
I have to juggle a landscaper, the Board and the residents--some of whom 
want a little golf course in front of every house every if it means guys in 
Haz-Mat suits out there every day and some who might prefer the planting of 
meadows and issuance of individual scythes.
I already know I can't make everybody happy, but I'm trying to make them 
all allies and see where that goes.
Judo--don't meet force with force; let that force dissipate or work 
against itself.

Good luck, Donnie!
---Mike McG

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Don Boekelheide" 
To: 
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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> 

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