SOCIAL: Social Digest, Vol 77, Issue 33

Wed May 9 12:30:50 PDT 2012

Or Kit-Cat, of course!!! (:
Excuse typos and brevity- via Sunny's cell! 

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Subject: Social Digest, Vol 77, Issue 33

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Today's Topics:

   1. Re:  urban agriculture contacts? (Catherine Rauschuber)

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Message: 1
Date: Wed, 9 May 2012 15:02:11 -0300
From: Catherine Rauschuber <c.rauschuber at gmail.com>
To: Kimberly Conley <khconley at gmail.com>
Cc: Tara Tranguch <ttranguch at yahoo.com>, Social at lists.deeptrouble.com
Subject: Re: SOCIAL: urban agriculture contacts?
Message-ID:
	<CAPNY=HGyC-L9NzZCDWQWzVWc0da3gE9OLe-xncAeXyCOH_k5jw at mail.gmail.com>
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I would be happy to introduce her to the person at SPUR (Eli Zigas) and the
folks at SFUAA, among many others.  I have been working on urgan
agriculture in SF through past jobs at Rec and Park, and now in Sup David
Chiu's office, where we are planning a lot of urban ag policy goodness.
=)

-Cat

On Wed, May 9, 2012 at 1:00 AM, Kimberly Conley <khconley at gmail.com> wrote:

> Socials:
> One of my nearest and dearest friends, Tara Tranguch (copied here), is
> working on a farm in Connecticut and would like to know more about the
> urban agriculture scene here in SF (see article below). Does anyone know
> folks at SPUR or CUESA she could talk with? Or other organizations she
> should know about? Any resources and connections you can provide are
> appreciated!
> Thanks,
> kc
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Expanding Urban Ag in San Francisco<http://civileats.com/2012/05/04/expanding-urban-ag-in-san-francisco/>
>
>    - FOOD POLICY <http://civileats.com/category/food-policy/>
>    - GROW YOUR OWN <http://civileats.com/category/grow-your-own/>
>
> May 4th, 2012  By Brie Mazurek
>
> Mary Davis started feeling the squeeze of city life about a year ago. She
> had grown up gardening and spent a stint working on an organic farm while
> attending grad school in Missouri. Now an architect living in San
> Francisco?s Mission District, she longed to reconnect with her gardening
> roots, but her small apartment was lacking in the dirt department. ?There
> was no garden, no outdoors,? she says. ?I really wanted a place with some
> soil.?
>
> She started looking around her neighborhood and fell in love with the
> historic Dearborn Community Garden<http://e2ma.net/go/11024451151/208885534/232943345/34641/goto:http://missionlocal.org/2010/04/from-historic-guerilla-garden-to-ward-of-the-city/>.
> But when she inquired about getting a plot, she was told there was a
> 22-year waiting list.
>
> She signed up nonetheless and continued her search, adding her name to the
> Potrero Hill Community Garden?s list as well, which had a comparatively
> modest seven-year wait. Since then, Davis has moved into a house with a
> shared backyard garden, but she still longs for a plot of her own.
>
> Davis?s experience is not uncommon among would-be gardeners in San
> Francisco. Most of the city?s community gardens have waiting lists of two
> years or more, according to *Public Harvest*<http://e2ma.net/go/11024451151/208885534/232943346/34641/goto:http://www.spur.org/publications/library/report/public-harvest>,
> a new report by San Francisco Urban Planning + Urban Research Association
> (SPUR)<http://e2ma.net/go/11024451151/208885534/232943347/34641/goto:http://www.spur.org/>.
> The most comprehensive report of its kind in recent years, it paints a
> sweeping portrait of the current urban agriculture landscape and presents a
> bold agenda to help San Francisco meet the demands of a burgeoning movement.
>
> Since the dissolution of the San Francisco League of Urban Gardeners
> (SLUG)<http://e2ma.net/go/11024451151/208885534/232943348/34641/goto:http://foundsf.org/index.php?title=San_Francisco%27s_Community_Gardens> in
> 2004, there have been no centralized city-funded efforts to maintain or
> expand urban agriculture. Residents hoping to start new projects face many
> bureaucratic hurdles, since public land and urban agricultural activities
> are managed by multiple agencies, with little coordination. From commercial
> urban farms to rooftop plots and shared gardens, more than two dozen
> private and public urban agriculture projects have sprouted up in the City
> over the last four years as a result of the resurgence of interest in
> gardening. ?We need to start looking to our public land to meet this
> demand,? said SPUR program manager Eli Zigas at a recent press event at
> Michelangelo Playground Community Garden in Nob Hill (pictured below).
>
> While San Francisco Recreation & Parks<http://e2ma.net/go/11024451151/208885534/232943349/34641/goto:http://sfrecpark.org/CommunityGardens.aspx> oversees
> 35 community gardens on public land, those gardens are generally operated
> by volunteers, not staff. ?The gardens are run by gardeners,? says Andrea
> Jadwin, a founding and active member of San Francisco Gardening Resource
> Organization (SFGRO)<http://e2ma.net/go/11024451151/208885534/232943350/34641/goto:http://www.sfgro.org/>,
> which offers support and training for community gardeners throughout the
> city. ?That?s good and that?s bad because some gardens aren?t very well
> run.? Garden managers are often inadequately prepared to deal with issues
> like vandalism or garden members who neglect their plots while waiting
> lists grow. ?If there were an agency helping people run the gardens better,
> it?d be easy to keep them going with minimal budget,? she adds.
>
> According to SPUR?s findings, San Francisco?s urban agriculture program is
> middling compared to other large cities. With an annual operating budget of
> $800,000, or about $6,615 per site, San Francisco spends more than New York
> but far less than Seattle, which invests $11,940 per site.
>
> Taking SPUR?s findings and recommendations to heart, District 3 Supervisor
> David Chiu has proposed new legislation that would create a strategic plan
> and a centralized program to streamline the management of urban
> agricultural projects, either through the city or a city-funded nonprofit.
> [image: Zigas]
>
> The proposed ordinance includes a six-month audit of city-owned building
> rooftops that could be used for urban agriculture, the creation of a
> ?one-stop shop? for individuals and organizations looking to engage in
> agricultural activities, and the establishment of garden resource centers
> that would provide residents with compost, seeds, and tools. By 2014, Chiu
> aims to develop at least 10 new urban agricultural projects on public land
> and reduce waiting lists for plot-based gardens to one year.
>
> Zigas emphasizes the minimal cost of such a program for the returns it
> offers to the city of San Francisco, such as greening the urban landscape
> and reducing stormwater runoff, which in turn reduce public spending on
> landscaping and sewage treatment.
>
> He also notes the benefits of urban agriculture for San Francisco
> residents and the food system at large, connecting city dwellers with the
> miracles and challenges of growing food. ?I think a many gardeners in San
> Francisco have a great appreciation for a fresh tomato because they know
> how hard it is to grow a tomato,? says Zigas. ?There are a lot of people in
> the city who learn about food and how it?s produced through that process.?
>
> Having been a member of White Crane Springs Community Garden in the Sunset
> for nine years, Jadwin has witnessed the benefits that such spaces offer by
> bringing neighbors together.
>
> ?People garden for the same reasons they go to the farmers market,? she
> observes. ?You see your friends and neighbors. You talk about the weather
> and what?s in season. It not only allows people to have a broader
> connection to food, but it also builds community.?
>
>
> Originally published in CUESA<http://civileats.com/2012/05/04/expanding-urban-ag-in-san-francisco/cuesa.org>?s
> newsletter
>
> Kimberly Conley
> @kimberlyland
> 415.519.4367
>
>
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>
>

-- 
Catherine Rauschuber
415.378.7025
c.rauschuber at gmail.com
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