A community garden providing fresh vegetables in the food desert of Manchester faces removal as the City of Pittsburgh and its redevelopment agency favor a plan to build housing on the site instead.
The city and the Urban Redevelopment Authority have so far refused to renew the lease of the Food for the Soul Community Farm, which spans six vacant lots along Fulton Street, in a dispute demonstrating that land can attract competing interests even amid plenty of abandoned and neglected properties.
Food for the Soul is run by Ebony Evans and a few other gardeners who have helped to turn empty plots of government land into a miniature farm where residents can help cultivate plants or swing by to pick seasonal vegetables. The garden breaks away from more traditional community garden models like one in the nearby Mexican War Streets, where visitors are invited to “stroll and sniff” but not to pick.
The garden sits on the corner of Fulton and Juniata streets across from a basketball court. Wood chips mark paths along the garden between raised beds filled with tomatoes, Swiss chard and other vegetables in season. Bordering the plot are several vacant lots and farther down the block are boarded houses. Evans said the garden grows food for anyone in the area and volunteers tend to the plants…