Part I: The Century Old 4th Ward Community Garden @ Lafayette Place and Genesee Avenue

This Century or more old garden got caught up in a political campaign. Does anyone remember Mr. Becote and his horse drawn wagon? He is the earliest caretaker of this spot that anyone can remember.

The photo to the right was taken at Councilman Wayne Hamer's First 4th Ward Town Hall at Community Baptist Church.

Seated on the left is Tim Dacey, Englewood's City Manager. On the right is Deputy Chief of Police, Lawrence Suffern.

What I remember most from this meeting is Mr. E. Kelly's remarks about how the police should get out of their cars in the 4th Ward and actually interact with the youth before just carting them off to jail. We have been promised more meetings. One hopes that the results of such sessions have more positive results.

The next most important thing I remember is Rickie Taylor, the Ward 4, District 2 Committee person's complaint about the garden on the corner of Lafayette Place and Genesee Avenue. He was concerned that the garden looked unsightly at the end of the season and that it was drawing deer out of the woods. It seems that Mr. Taylor had hit a deer while driving and damaged his automobile. He blamed the garden for this misadventure.  

Mayor Frank Huttle III suggested that we should address our concerns to the City Manager and the Deputy Police Chief. I requested that a length of fence be installed by the brook at the end of 3rd street south of the former 3rd Street Bridge site. A Community Garden and seating area is there now. The area is filled with children almost all of the time. They cannot get across the bridge into the park so they play in this area. There is still no fence. It is only about 50 feet or a little more. The danger of children playing and sliding down the treacherous embankment into the brook is still there. There is still no fence, but the garden was razed. I guess that was easier and less expensive.

The picture below demonstrates what these men took away from the meeting. They seem to have held it important to appease the District 2 Committee person who had not discussed this with 4th Ward Residents. He had a valid point that the lot across the street was allowed to grow crazily. It is always unkempt in appearance with loads of poison ivy that sometimes extends out over the sidewalk. Pedestrians are often forced to walk in the street when walking pass this City owned lot in order to avoid getting slapped in the face with poison ivy. It was far easier to just bulldoze the garden pictured below.  It was scraped down with a bulldozer removing topsoil and plants that were carried away from the site. The proper way to put this garden to rest for the winter would have been to turn the soil over. New Jersey is called the "Garden State". Is anyone even remotely interested in how it earned this name?

Where are the work orders for the destruction/work done here?

Note the depth to which the soil has been taken away. Remnants of former vegetation are still visible. There is damage done but nothing that more topsoil and some organic matter would not fix once the garden is tilled in the spring. Itis still something that should not have been done this way. This act showed no respect for the tradition of the garden or for the men who worked it in previous years. It was a callous misuse of power that would have been easily fixed if left alone..

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