Meeting with Maureen

We braved the rain for a minute or two to meet at the park, but ended up having the meeting at my house! It was a really productive meeting, and here is a summary in the email I sent to the city:

Hi, Maureen,

Thanks again for meeting with me and Tom in regards to the Sycamore Hills Community Garden proposal. I wanted to sum up what was said during the meeting for the benefit of the others not present, as well as to make sure we have everything correct, including the items we are going to follow up. Please let me know if there are any changes (CG=community gardening, SHRA=Sycamore Hills Residents Association):

The CDRP wants to make sure that the garden will be well maintained, and that there will not be any reliance on the city to do so. The City has had poor experiences with CGs in the past, and recently there have been an onslaught on phone calls from new Americans wanting to use the parks for food production. The City wants to avoid any sort of situation like this. Maureen was very pleased to see how strong our RA is and how we have years of proven experience maintaining a pool and collecting fees. She also mentioned that we have to get the insurance (how did I misread that?! in the agreement) but Tom said it can be really cheap, like $13/year.

Amy explained that she has been a part of CG around Columbus for years, and has developed this plan from everything that she has learned. This includes making sure that there is adequate support for a CG in the area, which is why she surveyed 230 houses and found out that 31 households are interested in participating in the garden. Amy also stated that she is taking this partnership with the City with the utmost care because she wants this CG to be so successful that other gardens to be able to follow in the footsteps of SHCG. She also made the case for the fence, raised beds, and hope for a structure to catch rainwater (and like today demonstrated, to have a simple covered area for the park for rain and sun protection).

Tom said the CG will have the SHRA support. This means that if the garden were to fail, a lease agreement will designate SHRA as responsible for any clean up. (Amy is morally never going to let this happen, but it is good to have the support so the city doesn't feel burdened.)

List of To-Dos:

Amy-present to NWCA and get their support, send Maureen the rationale for the structures, continue fundraising, creating community partnerships, and writing grants

Tom-just be awesome like he already is

Maureen-share info with City, and research water taps from garden club