Delinelle Park and Garden: Adjectival Transgression

On Tuesday of this week, our St. Henri guerrilla gardeners, Torsten Hermann and Fraser Wilkinson received some promising news from the owner. A man apparently arrived at the lot and introduced himself as the representative for the owner of the property where Torsten, Fraser and six other area residents have started a gardening group. He had some good short-term news for them.

As you may recall from my previous post, the property owner had told Fraser that she was not happy about the sign designating her lot as the Delinelle Community Park and Garden. She also suggested that she might install a fence and build on the site, much to the chagrin of our eight gardeners and the residents on Delinelle Street.

The representative informed Torsten and Fraser that the owner was not upset about her land being used as a green space by the people in the neighbourhood. In fact, she apparently thought the project was very nice. Instead, she had an issue with the adjective "Community" on Emily Wilkinson's handpainted sign and wanted the word removed. The good news was that the owner had no immediate plans for construction.

Torsten and Emily had originally put up the sign to encourage other residents to come and enjoy the green space. Torsten did not want people to assume that because he and Fraser had done the initial clearing and leg work that they had staked a claim to it.

Thursday morning, however, Torsten found their sign in the alley way and contacted Fraser to find out what had happened. On the previous evening, Mr. Weinstein, the property co-owner, had shown up and was angry that the sign did not reflect the change requested. The sign was taken down.

Nevertheless, Delinelle Street residents are happy to have this green space for the rest of the summer, and our eight gardeners are thrilled they will see the fruits of their labour. They are even going ahead with their plans for a harvest shindig.

I just wonder why the owner and representative objected so strongly to the adjective "Community." Does this concern a legal issue involving "acquired rights?" Hmmm....

What do you think reader?

For more on this story:
The Fate of the Delinelle Community Garden and Park
More on Guerrilla-ing in NYC and St. Henri
Trespassers in St. Henri Win City Gardening Contest

Related posts:
Liz Christy Seed Bombs and Some Not So Covert Bombing
More on Guerrilla-ing in NYC and St. Henri
Attention Guerrilla Gardeners: the Liz Christy Seed Bomb (a how-to)
What Exactly is Guerrilla Gardening?
Guerrilla Gardening: Tips for the Novice
Attention Guerrilla Gardeners: the Liz Christy Seed Bomb (a how-to)

2 comments:

iWoo | July 30, 2009 at 3:34 PM

Perhaps while the idea is for the community, and the proprietor may not have any problems with that... the issue is more of a legal one in terms of property tax, etc? The land is still private property, and the sign may seem to imply that (at least that portion) is not.

Heather | July 30, 2009 at 4:43 PM

Hmm...I hadn't considered property tax, and as I am not familiar with property in la belle province, I can only hazard a guess. Thanks for your comment.

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