3 ms·

If you are concerned, get involved. It's likely trivially easy for you to get face to face with the person responsible for the plantings, and it's unlikely anyt

by wddkcs 3y ago

If you are concerned, get involved. It's likely trivially easy for you to get face to face with the person responsible for the plantings, and it's unlikely anything will change in your backyard unless you or another concerned citizen does something.

nickserv 3y ago
It's really not "trivially easy" to get in contact when the operation is run by a government or a corporation (even less). At best they "hear you" and "will take it into account", then keep on doing what was planned. At worst they treat you like an idiot or a lunatic. And it's not like the company hired to do the work is going to listen to some random person telling them how to do their job. Only thing I've found works is volunteering for orgs that actually do things right, if you can find one. That or just planting yourself at 2 in the morning ;-)
- hosh 3y ago
  Probably why the idea of r/GuerrillaGardening is getting popular. Leaving that aside, I was reading about an urban permaculture group's experience with working with the city. In their experience, the city they are working with wants to make sure that whatever is done will work with other people as well. (This was Seattle, with a conversion of one part of the park to a perennial food forest)
- wddkcs 3y ago
  It's amazing how common this attitude is, when the opposite is true. From working in U.S. municipalities, I can promise you there are regular monthly or quarterly meetings where these issues and budgets are brought up, specifically to solicit public comment. Beyond open forums, it's so easy to find the name of a park director, and schedule a face to face. They might not be thrilled to field the issue, but they are bound to by their public office. If they don', there are so many ways to force the issue (e.g. go one office above them until someone sees it as politically useful). My concern is that it's easy to be concerned online, but it does nothing but empower government overreach. So much better to translate real concern into effective local action.

by wddkcs 3y ago

nickserv 3y ago

It's really not "trivially easy" to get in contact when the operation is run by a government or a corporation (even less). At best they "hear you" and "will take it into account", then keep on doing what was planned. At worst they treat you like an idiot or a lunatic. And it's not like the company hired to do the work is going to listen to some random person telling them how to do their job. Only thing I've found works is volunteering for orgs that actually do things right, if you can find one. That or just planting yourself at 2 in the morning ;-)

hosh 3y ago
Probably why the idea of r/GuerrillaGardening is getting popular. Leaving that aside, I was reading about an urban permaculture group's experience with working with the city. In their experience, the city they are working with wants to make sure that whatever is done will work with other people as well. (This was Seattle, with a conversion of one part of the park to a perennial food forest)
wddkcs 3y ago
It's amazing how common this attitude is, when the opposite is true. From working in U.S. municipalities, I can promise you there are regular monthly or quarterly meetings where these issues and budgets are brought up, specifically to solicit public comment. Beyond open forums, it's so easy to find the name of a park director, and schedule a face to face. They might not be thrilled to field the issue, but they are bound to by their public office. If they don', there are so many ways to force the issue (e.g. go one office above them until someone sees it as politically useful). My concern is that it's easy to be concerned online, but it does nothing but empower government overreach. So much better to translate real concern into effective local action.