Local Self-reliance

For the past several years, the good folks at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance in Washington, D.C. have worked to help urban residents gain greater control over their lives through the use of low-technology, decentralist tools and concepts. We strongly believe that more people (city dwellers and country folk alike) should be exposed to the Institute's efforts ... which is why we're now making this "what's happening where" report by ILSR staffers one of MOTHER's regular features.

Three years ago, New York City spent several million dollars on the rehabilitation of the 147-acre Crotona Park in the South Bronx. Crewmen planted hundreds of trees ... resurfaced basketball courts . . . replaced hoops that had been torn down long before ... and added new facilities, including a swimming pool.

But—within one short year—the new courts were littered with broken glass, the hoops had vanished again, most of the young trees had been uprooted, and the pool was destroyed. Millions of taxpayers' dollars were completely wasted.

A NEW KIND OF PARK

Several blocks north of this urban disaster, a different kind of park was built ... at a cost of only a few hundred dollars. A group called the Community Involvement Program covered a small comer of a vacant lot with topsoil, named it "A Farminteronx" and Invited about 20 residents to raise vegetables on We site. A fence, built by local teenagers, helped the crops grow unharmed all summer. And this year—as more and more area residents want gardens of their own—the group plans to expand the "inner city farm" concept.

There am A least two reasons why one park was ruined, while the other thrives: For one thing, residents themselves planned the community garden, and those people understood that the project wouldn't succeed without strong community support . . . and the cooperation of local teenagers. Also, a security network was organized that included senior citizens who watched the park from their windows ... so small problems never had a chance to become big ones.

THE IDEA SPREADS

Based on this kind of grassroots experience, a new urban parks program has started In the South Bronx that may become an inspiration to other cities throughout the country. During the next year and a half, at least 20 community groups in this ravaged section of New York City will turn 15 vacant and rubblestrewn lots into gardens, parks, and playgrounds ... which local citizens will design, construct, and maintain themselves. The individual neighborhoods have committed almost a million dollars in volunteer labor ("sweat equity") ... and have donated material and tools to match government support. Some of the sites will eventually be converted to land trusts ... which will be owned by non-profit organizations made up of the people who actually use the new facilities.