October 19, 2005

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Palo Alto Online

Gardeners protesting budding fee increase

by Bill D'Agostino

For nearly a decade, Rita Morgin has grown vegetables and flowers in a public plot of land near the Palo Alto Main Library.

The activity has given her respite from a hectic life of raising a teenage son alone and taking care of an ailing mother.

"It just offers me a way to calm down," Morgin said.

But in January, the cost to keep renting her plot is growing from approximately $130 a year to more than $400 a year. Morgin said she can't afford the increase.

The steep rate hike -- from 15 cents per square foot a year to 50 cents per square foot a year -- will affect all 243 gardeners in the city-run Community Garden program. The City Council approved the change last June, as part of the annual budget process, but many of the gardeners only learned about it in recent weeks.

A number of gardeners said last week they were reconsidering their participation in the program.

"I'm going to have to think about whether I really want to do it anymore," said Al Keicher, who's been gardening near the Main Library for approximately 25 years.

Seniors in the program are eligible for a 25 percent discount.

Greg Betts, the city's open space division manager, also pointed out that the program has been heavily subsidized for years.

Last year, for instance, the gardeners' fees only raised $10,500, while water and other "hard costs" like trash removal cost the city more than $30,000, Betts noted. The city employees that run the program cost an additional $50,000.

Like most city services, the Community Garden program is targeted to recover more costs, since city revenues had not been rising to meet exploding salary and benefit costs.

"There's been more and more of a reliance on people to pay their fair share of programs," Betts said.

Fees for most city programs increased this fiscal year, although few faced as severe a proportional hike as the Community Garden program.

Betts defended the city's decision not to notify the gardeners of the proposal before the council approved it.

"There are so many different fees in the Municipal Fee Schedule," Betts said. "It really would be very, very difficult to notify every resident of every fee that might pertain to them."

Gardner Tanya Kucak said she thinks the group should form a board to watch for such fee increases and also become more politically active.

"We're going to need to get organized," she said as she took a break from pruning her tomato plants. Kucak also said the new fee is "totally out of line" compared to similar programs across the country.

Some gardeners said they were planning to attend council meetings and write letters in protest.

"It's a done deal unless we scream and holler," Morgin said. "We're going to scream and holler."

But Maxine Bradford, who has gardened at the Main Library for more than 30 years and is a longtime resident who now lives in Lytton Gardens, said she didn't think complaining would help.

"I'm sure they're not going to listen to me," she said.

However, Mayor Jim Burch said the council is likely to reconsider the increase at a future meeting.

Staff Writer Bill D'Agostino can be e-mailed at bdagostino@paweekly.com.

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