New park to come

Community gardens do more than provide healthful locally grown food. They promote the development of community and help moderate the effects of climate change.

Maple Community Garden is one of those gardens, founded 25 years ago as one of the pioneer community gardens. With the assistance of the city, we have proven over the years to be good stewards of the earth, pioneering organic urban food production, creating soup kitchen garden beds and beekeepers and maintaining beautiful rest spots for those who pass by to enjoy.

Now this garden and those situated along the Arbutus Corridor are threatened. With less than a month's notice CP Rail has ordered that they all be dismantled.

If you truly aspire to achieving the World's Greenest City, we urge you to support community gardens by entering into meaningful negotiations with Canadian Pacific to develop a sustainable plan for maintaining this precious green space. CP has indicated its willingness to engage in further discussion with the city and we respectfully request that you take the initiative to begin this conversation before the gardens along the corridor are destroyed.

We, as community gardeners, respectfully request that Vancouver City Council move quickly to preserve the Arbutus Corridor and the thriving community gardens that have afforded the neighborhood so much delight over the past 25 years.