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Indybay Feature

Action Alert: Pack City Council Chambers to Support Front Yard Gardens!

by Dan Bacher
Your support for legislation allowing the growing of fruit and vegetable gardens in front yards is urgently needed on Thursday, Nov. 9 at 12:30 p.m at Sacramento City Hall.
Hi Everyone,

Please help us pack the City Council Chambers with supporters of diverse
front yard gardens on Thursday, November 9 at 12:30 p.m., in the new City
Hall – 915 I Street, 1st floor Council Chambers. We are currently trying
to encourage Sacramento's City Council to adopt legislation which would
allow for the growing of fruit and vegetable gardens in front yards for
Sacramento residents.

The City Council's Law and Legislation Committee
will be reviewing draft ordinance language proposed by the City's Code
Enforcement Division this Thursday and deciding whether or not to approve
sending the language (and issue) forward to the whole City Council for
consideration. We really need as many people as possible at the Council
Chambers in order to let the Law and Leg Committee know this is really a
going concern. Please spread the word and try to make it if you can.
Below is additional information and details of the code and the current
situation. Thanks for your help !!

Kim

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

We are requesting the Law and Legislative Committee and City Council amend
the current code language to allow diverse urban landscapes in front yard
gardens in accordance with safety and health codes, and with no
species-specific restrictions.

We need to strike out subsection (A) (1) (c) of Sacramento's proposed
landscape ordinance 17.68.010.

"c) Vegetable and Fruit Restrictions. No more than twenty (20) percent of
the landscape setback area may be devoted to the growing of vegetables
and/or fruit. This limitation shall not apply to fruit trees. Fruit
and/or vegetable plants shall not exceed four (4) feet in height."

The remaining language supports, instead of restricting, Sacramento’s
ability to meet state, federal, and city sustainability mandates & goals.

Members of the Sacramento City Council Law and
Legislation Committee are:
Lauren Hammond, Chair: Dist 5 # 8087005
lhammond [at] cityofsacramento.org
Steve Cohn: Dist 3 # 808-7003
scohn [at] cityofsacramento.org
Sandy Sheedy: Dist 2 # 808-7002
ssheedy [at] cityofsacramento.org
Robby Waters: Dist 7 # 808-7007
rwaters [at] cityofsacramento.org

Although each member of the Law and Legislation Committee represents a
City Council district, as members of the committee, each represents the
entire
city. Because we are all their constituents, they all must hear from us
now. The committee’s hearing on the proposed front yard garden code is
scheduled for Thursday, November 9th at 12:30pm, at the “new” City Hall –
915 I Street, 1st floor in Council Chambers.

With your support, we can make City Council members aware of this
opportunity to make positive changes for our city, by changing the code
language to support diverse urban front yard gardens. Your input is very
important, please come to the meeting, e-mail or call today.

Thank you,
Sue Jenning at sbeartracks-easacgardens [at] yahoo.com or
Karen Baumann: baumannk [at] surewest.net
Sacramento Citizens for Sustainable Landscapes:
Working to meet Sacramento's sustainability goals through urban gardens

Add Your Comments

Comments (Hide Comments)
by Food Not Lawns?
Why restrict people from growing food plants/trees on their lawns and yard space? Can there be any reasonable threat posed by homeowners and/or tenants growing edible food in their yard?? Or could this be an uptight corporatist (ie., fascist) government's fear of a populist 'Food Not Lawns' uprising??

The only threat posed by growing food near home is to lawn chemical (pesticide) manufacturing corporations like Chemlawn/Trugreen. If people cease putting toxic chemicals on monoculture lawns, the pesticide manufacturers like Chemlawn/Trugreen would actually need to use their skills for something eco-positive, instead of making recipes for-profit toxic pesticides..

Bill Durston, Democratic candidate for the 3rd Congressional district, showed his support for a healthy ecosystem by speaking out against toxic lawn chemicals at the protest of Chemlawn/Trugreen in Sacramento on 10/26..

protest details @;
http://sacramentofordemocracy.org/?q=taxonomy/page/or/81&from=20

Thanks Bill, good luck at the polls!!
http://www.durstonforcongress.org/

This author believes that Chemlawn/Trugreen feels threatened by eco-activists who refuse to use toxic pesticides on their lawns, and books like "Food Not Lawns" are also intimidating to a corporation that justifies it's exsistence by selling toxic chemicals for profit..

more info @;
http://www.refusetousechemlawn.org/

Food Not Lawns is a DIY book about transforming the monotony of petrochemically fertilized monoculture lawns into a biodiverse garden with edible plants of various heights and variety. If people grow food that is adaptable to the valley climate, less water needed for irrigation..

Food Not Lawns book tour coming to Davis Sacramento region Dec 6/7. Here's the full list of tour dates;

"Food Not Lawns National Book Tour Schedule

November 8 Food Not Lawns Benefit show at Sam Bonds in Eugene with special guests the Fishtank Ensemble and the Underscore Orkestra!! 9 pm. $5-$50.

November 13 Modern Times Bookstore, San Francisco, 7:30 pm

November 14 Mount Diablo High School in Concord, CA. All day with science classes.

November 15 at UC Berkeley. Agrarian Women's Lecture Series.
see http://www.agrariana.org for details

November 18 Oregon Tilth Annual Meeting. 2 pm Workshop on urban agriculture with Andy Parker. See http://www.tilth.org for details.

November 20 6-9 pm Seed swap and workshop at Tryon Life Community Farm in SW Portland.

November 21 Workshop at the University of Oregon, EMUin the Walnut Room, 6-9 pm. with the Institute for Contemporary Ethnobotany. See link at left for details.

November 29 Local Food Workshop with Sandor Katz (Wild Fermentation author) at World Cafe in Eugene, 6-9 pm

December 6 booksigning at Avid Reader in Davis, 7:30 pm.

December 6 UC Davis experimental college. Details tba

December 7 Booksigning at Avid Reader in Sacramento, 7:30pm.

December 7 Afternoon workshop at Raphael Garden, Rudolf Steiner College
9200 Fair Oaks Blvd., Fair Oaks CA. Details TBA

December 9 11am-noon Book signing at Common Grounds Home and Garden center, Palo Alto, CA

December 9 1-6pm
Workshop and Seed swap at Hidden Villa in Los Altos Hills
Contact Marc D. Sidel
Community Programs Manager
Hidden Villa 26870 Moody Road
Los Altos Hills, CA 94022
(650)949-9704
communityprograms [at] hiddenvilla.org

December 10 Workshop with Santa Cruz Free School at The Sacred Grove,
924 Soquel Ave. 6-9 pm. Workshop to be followed by a community seed swap and performance with the Underscore Orkestra!

December 12 Berkeley Ecology Center event, 7pm. see http://www.ecologycenter.org for details.

December 13 7pm workshop at City Slicker Farms
737 Henry Street Oakland , CA 94607
510-763-4241

December 14 workshop/seed swap at Alemany farm in SF. details TBA

December 15 SOULutionary event in SF with the Urban Permaculture Guild. 7:30 pm. see http://www.solutioneers.org for details.

January 20-27 through February Central and Southern California

April/May 2007 NE Tour, NYC across the top, through the midwest and into BC. Contact us to help!"

read on @;
http://www.foodnotlawns.com/
We are 100% volunteer and depend on your participation to sustain our efforts!

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