Early last spring, JoAnn Morton, who is both the president of the South End Neighborhood Association and an avid gardener, bought the vacant lot at 121 Fourth Avenue from the Albany County Land Bank. At the same time, AVillage and Radix were working with Cathe Bullwinkle, a NYS Department of Health official who has done wonderful things with Brownfield grants and new gardens in Utica. She was anxious to find similar projects here in Albany, and was working with us on the lead testing projects.
"The Fourth Avenue garden is close to completion,” she reports. "We still have a few beds to fill. I was there working over the weekend and the front garden boxes and arbor look very nice. JoAnn is working with her neighbors to bring people into the garden. We had to make some revisions to the original plans to accommodate a neighbor, but the garden still works. I have two picnic tables and umbrellas ordered for her site to add an area for gardening class or resident relaxation space. We put together a tool package for her site with wheelbarrow.”
A communal garden on Fourth Avenue is a great thing on its own, but especially so now that the Land Bank has three pretty good looking buildings on Fourth Avenue for sale. This can only help bring new home owners to our neighborhood.
Another project on Alexander Street got a late start, but should be under way soon.
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