Toledo area residents
gathered in the McMaster Room of the Main Branch Library
last Thursday evening to hear speakers discuss urban
agriculture laws on behalf of local urban farmer, Thomas
Jackson.
Over the past few years,
Jackson has had a goal of growing organic foods. With about
30 vacant lots throughout the city under his possession, he
set out to fulfill his vision. Unfortunately for those
plans, he has been met with conflict.
Neighbors and the City
have filed complaints about the way in which he tended to
the lots. These action have led to days in court, 30-plus
violations from the city and a $3,000 fine to close the
case.
Jackson’s interest in
growing organic foods started when concerns about his
children’s health arose. After visiting the doctor, it was
recommended that his children adopt healthier eating habits.
In attempt to better their health, Jackson decided to
utilize the lots that he possessed. He started taking
classes and eventually ended up with 13 growing certificates
that gave him greater knowledge of what he was getting into.
To avoid the issue of the
present soil being toxic, Jackson used a method to create
new soil. He had tree companies dump woodchips on the
properties to begin the foundation for his gardens, a
process that many wouldn’t understand. Woodchips break down
into their own organic soil between the time span of one and
two years. To dodge the possibility of contaminating his
food, Jackson decided to start fresh.
The problem that arose
came from the woodchips. To those who complained, they were
deemed a nuisance because of the growing odor and cause of
rodents. “Most people don’t understand that there’s like 150
neighbors that signed a petition that said they loved what
I’m doing. There were less than nine neighbors that were
opposing it and in the past maybe, seven months, half of
those nine are helping me now,” Jackson said.
The turn that Jackson’s
story took was a surprise to many and Thursday night people
had the opportunity to come out and show their support as
well as hear about what type of action was being taken on
Jackson’s behalf.
The evening consisted of
the showing of a short film “Reclaiming the Landscape: Urban
Agriculture in Toledo” produced by Steven Boatman. Followed
by the film were words from
Lucas County Commissioner Pete Gerken, Toledo City Council
Member Sandy Spang, co-chairman of the Lucas County Green
Party Sean Nestor, Lucas County Auditor Anita Lopez and
Jackson himself.
Sean Nestor briefly discussed The Right to Grow Ordinance,
which is a proposal for a law that addresses urban
agriculture issues. Though there are no published details as
of right now, Nestor assured that there would be a completed
draft within the next month.
“Philosophically, we have two things we wanted to make sure
were put through this ordinance. One is that growers are in
the driver’s seat for what is going to happen, and the
second is that we don’t want to make the mistake of passing
a legislation that initially appears to grant a lot of
freedom, but also puts up a lot of barriers,” Nestor said,
“We want to make sure that we are opening doors and not
closing them.”
A team of people consisting of community gardeners, urban
agriculturalists and Advocates for Basic Legal Equality
(ABLE) have worked on identifying problems and solutions to
make sure farmers have the opportunity to flourish and city
governments have a clearer set of directions on what to do,
according to Nestor.
“What we want is, out of this process, is to try to narrow
down problems people have as growers and what other cities
have done to address those problems, that’s as simple as we
need to go,” Nestor said.
Jackson briefly shared some words highlighting his genuine
dedication to the journey he had started.
“I’m the type of person
who holds the mentality that if you’re walking through trash
and your kids are walking through trash, it’s not long
before you start thinking that you’re trash,” Jackson said.
According to the urban
farmer, his project was beyond personal reasons; he wanted
to share his gift with those around him. “I just wanted to
beautify the neighborhood, redevelop the neighborhood,”
Jackson said.
He described the turn that
his work took as “discouraging” and hopes that no-one else
has to go through the problems that he faced throughout the
period of his project. “When you’re doing something right,
there’s going to be a lot of people that hate it,” Jackson
said.
Council Member Spang
shared some encouraging words for Jackson. As an
entrepreneur herself, she viewed him as a kindred spirit –
an urban agricultural entrepreneur. Out of this negative
situation, she wants the community to be able to see a
positive outcome.
“It’s really my hope that
out of this negative situation we’re going to see something
positive which is we’re going to have clear, reasonable
regulations that will allow people to go forward knowing
what’s expected of them,” said Spang.
Jackson believes that his
support system was heaven sent. Throughout this process, he
has had the ability to connect with people who are just as
passionate about what he’s doing as he is. His plans are to
continue moving forward even though he’s faced opposition.
Despite what else he may endure throughout his journey, he
has high faith in God and his support system to get him
through. |