Urban food gardening is a cruel and destructive idea that is a major cause of homelessness on the part of the liberal elite, especially here in Asheville. Although suburban food gardening, over and near septic tanks and leach fields, is a viable idea, all land served by sewer lines is desperately needed for housing, both to end homelessness and to save fuel by reducing commuting distances.
The climate just can’t tolerate people commuting daily past food production instead of living closer to their jobs, and that’s in addition to homeless people needing to sleep in that space, roof or no roof; plus the difficulties inherent in keeping chemicals out of soils despite urban densities. It’s just a dumb idea and an elitist fixation among “progressives.”
Even mentioning commuting distances is a problem though, if it takes newsprint away from the overwhelming urgency of municipal environmental contraception.
—Alan Ditmore
Leicester
What a weird strawman argument you’ve created with this line:
“a major cause of homelessness on the part of the liberal elite”
Quick, someone call the Gubmint and let them know: we’ve cracked the code on poverty!
I’m poking fun because this is the first time I’ve seen this odd argument.
I suspect the writer has an agenda and is grasping at straws to connect a political ideology he “feels is bad” with homelessness.
So the problem you see is two-fold (I think). The first is that urban gardens create negative environmental impacts by poisoning the soil and forcing people to commute further for their jobs? And a second problem they create is that they maintain scarcity of housing, increasing housing cost & making people homeless? And what you’d rather see is those open spaces have housing built on them so that either people currently commuting from the suburbs can move closer to their jobs or the homeless can afford to rent a place to live? Are you speaking about strictly public land, or are you proposing taking private property for the purpose as well? Are there really that many urban gardens in Asheville? What about positives they provide – gardens are about way more than ‘food supply’?
Interesting ideas overall, but definitely not enough detail in the letter to even start a serious debate – reads more like a chat room rant. As to the overall phraseology, reminds me of a quote from W.C. Fields: “If you can’t dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with BS”
Ditmore indeed.