After a long absence from these very pages, it was time to come back and Ponder some more…..

Over the last few years, I have taken it upon myself to try my very best to improve my lot in my wee burgh of P Dot; I may be opening myself up to some humiliating lessons in how the “Real World” works.

One of the ideas I had (along with some support from some Fellow “Crazies” in the Alberni Valley Food Hub, and Alberni Valley Transition Town Society) was to try and develop some Community Gardens for the less fortunate; landless; and just Garden Happy folks.

One would think that was an easily accomplished task, since there’s vacant spots of land all over the place around these here parts…..HA!

Most vacant lots are privately owned, with the owners hoping/expecting to get a hefty mark-up on their investment (One lot was assessed at $85,000 and the owner has it for sale at $850,000 – yup yup yup). Totes ridic, as my Millenial step-kiddo would say.

I then sought a listing of vacant, City-owned land from the Fine Folks at P Dot City Hall (aka The Ivory Tower); that was a joke and a half, with some excuse that “we are currently undertaking an inventory of all of our lands; we expect that to take a few months.”

Being a Postie, I’ve walked every square inch of P Dot’s City Limits (and driven a few Rural Miles); there is no way that any inventory of vacant land owned by the City should take that long, but we mustn’t hurry the Fine Folks, y’know?

It wasn’t until I attended a Director’s Meeting on an unrelated topic that I learned that there was a map of potential Community Garden sites made available to a (now defunct) City Committee. Said Committee, of which certain members of the above-mentioned Groups, were sitting on and, if they had been paying attention, could have provided me with that map months ago. This still sits uneasily with me…but, onward!

Having gone over that map with a very fine-toothed comb, I am very disappointed to see that there is not one single available and immediately useful parcel of land anywhere in the limits of P Dot. Anything that is available needs logging, dredging, infrastructure (water lines), and building in order to be useful.

I am extremely disappointed, but not altogether surprised at this; it seems to be yet another setback in a long line of setbacks when dealing with the City of P Dot.

It may be that in order to create Community Gardens, purchasing a vacant lot or two may be the only feasible way to proceed; I will have to ponder on this further.