The Need for Community Gardens in Culver City

Michelle Weiner

Community garden space is a rare commodity in Culver City, and the city needs more space to meet increasing demand. A little community garden already exists, just west of Veterans Auditorium, but falls short of the potential that a well-developed community garden holds. This 16-plot garden, managed by Culver City Parks Recreation and Community Services (PRCS) has a waiting list of 30 people and plots rarely become available. Nearby Santa Monica, a city of approximately 10,650 people per square mile (Culver City’s density is 7,500 per sq. mi.) has 110 garden plots, dispersed over a number of locations. According to Darren Uhl, the city employee who manages the garden at Vets, Culver City Council has no plans to develop additional community garden spaces, as they are not regarded as a necessity; however, last year at the direction of Culver City Council, the PRCS Commissioners formed a sub-committee to support community efforts to locate space for a community garden.

For those of us with home gardens, we might question the notion of a community garden that serves so few individuals and families, wondering what benefits are reaped by the larger community. Community gardens strengthen community on many levels: they provide space for exercise and recreation, open space for gatherings, outdoor classrooms where youth learn new vocational skills. Community gardens include residents of various ages, incomes and ethnic backgrounds. Community gardens have the potential to produce surplus food for food banks and shelters and are a valuable resource for low income families. According to the National Garden Association, garden plots can yield a $500 food value per year, considering costs and market value of produce. In general, they serve to increase urban food security and improve public health on a number of measures. In terms of environmental benefits, community gardens reduce greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution by absorbing carbon dioxide. Well-conditioned soil absorbs rainwater, reducing storm run-off, and replenishing ground water.

Community gardens need not be limited to the one-plot-per-family model. The Learning Garden on the grounds of Venice High School is a very different community garden model and it’s a hub of community activity. In addition to horticulture classes for Venice high school students, beginning gardening classes are offered to the public. Also, one can pick up vegetable starts for school gardens, participate in a Seed Library or enjoy a community potluck. Families drop by to water whichever areas need tending. Students and instructors from nearby Yo San University raise Chinese medicinal herbs and teach their uses. A California native garden attracts beneficial insects and other local critters, demonstrating that drought tolerant is its own kind of lush and lovely. This outdoor classroom provides hands-on experience in sustainability, health, nutrition, agriculture, sociology, science and math. It is a gorgeous eco-system…one to be emulated.

Although finding unused space in our 5+ square mile city presents a challenge, creative use of available space may produce a yield. Schools, hospitals, senior centers, abandoned or empty lots, and lanes along Ballona Creek all hold amazing potential and hidden opportunities. Councilmember Jeff Cooper has proposed to create portable community gardens in empty lots. “This would beautify the city while it serves as a community garden and people would keep the lots clean and beautiful,” said Jeff, during his 2010 campaign. Public accessibility is the key to keeping costs minimal. Volunteers provide labor and upkeep, freeing school and city employees from farm chores that community members are eager to perform.

While beautifying vacant lots with a temporary community garden may seem like a win-win, displacing the community members who invest time and energy to develop a garden erodes public trust. Finding permanent garden space is an investment in social capital that benefits the community as a whole. According to a report by Public Health Law and Policy (PHLP), funded by the California Department of Public Health, community gardens meet so many health and sustainability goals that cities across the country are developing supportive policies, resolutions and amendments to city general plans. Boston, Berkeley, Chicago, Seattle and Vancouver all have policies, resolutions, zoning codes, regulations and/or long-range plans to preserve open space for community gardens. PHLP has developed model zoning and planning language so that California cities, including Culver City, can begin to respond to this urgent community need.

Michelle Weiner is the Chair of Transition Culver City and a former member of the Culver City Martin Luther King Planning Committee.