La Plaza Cultural board meeting 3-31-19
Garden schedule:
- Fence construction starts April 2ndwith the removal of our remaining mature willow, Krusty, which is hopelessly rotten. RIP.
- Official word is work will go on through June. Green Thumb has promised to speed things up where possible. There are a number of major events contingent on this happening (Great Small Works’ end of Ramadan spaghetti dinner, Loisaida Fest, etc.).
- Meanwhile, DoT will be installing a new sidewalk. It’s unclear how this will impact the permeable sidewalk we were maybe getting through Gardens Rising. The timeline also TBD.
- We will hold an official season opening party to coincide with the summer solstice (June 21), though the garden may be open before then (we hope!). The collection of membership dues will be postponed until we can open the garden.
- We need to coordinate garden access with the contractor. We’re compiling a list of reasons we need access, including watering trees (the trees that were dislocated from the fenceline are dying and need to be watered three times a week), caring for the new batch of bees when they come, watering Prima, making sure the pond pump is running, feeding the turtles, checking the rat boxes (we have at least 20 surrounding the perimeter).
Events
- Our 10thAnnual fire jumping festival was a huge success. We got permission to hold it at La Plaza at the last minute (that day) following confusion over the permitting process (we heard different things from different officials, and it turned out there had been a revision of the rules, but Green Thumb helped expedite the process). For next year, we’ll work on improving the flow of people through the garden (people Instagramming made it less fluid) and getting the permit situation ironed out earlier.
- Gratitude to Fireman’s Garden, which graciously and generously offered to host the event.
- This year, we’ll Matt and Simin are joining Bill and Katie on the Events Committee. They’ll work on smoothing our process for community event requests (Katie triages most personal event requests, like kid birthday parties).
- Marga wants us to have more “curated” community days with all hands on deck and a more structured agenda. Even little things like making tea from the herb garden.
- For the events waitlist:
- The LUNGS Spring Awakening event is April 14. They’re holding a costume workshop to prep for it on April 6.
- Felicia Young is coordinating a kids’ procession for fighting climate change on May 11 and may stage outside the garden.
- Loisaida Fest is May 26.
- Bill’s bike workshop goes all spring/summer/fall.
- Barrier Walls event in July.
- Film festival in summer.
- Marga proposes that we have a poster with upcoming events outside the gate. Maybe we could build a template for easy input.
- There was concern expressed about the new event’s guidelines from Green Thumb and how they could impact us as an events-based garden should we need to get sign-off for every event. Marga says this is a new project from Mara Gittleman, who put together how-tos. There’s a booklet online but they haven’t released official final rules. We need to see some outreach/dialogue with Green Thumb on this.
- We have two signature events per year – Halloween and Chaharshanbe Soori. We need more hands for both. Should we consider hiring people to work the event? We’ve paid stewards in the past but discontinued that. We can also be more organized about directing/training volunteers.
Plots:
- There are approximately 30 plots. The plot letter will go out before the garden open.
Membership:
- We technically have no members right now and we’ll have a shorter season. Simin will send an email to last year’s members updating them on the shortened season and how membership will work this year.
Sustainability:
- The solar pavilion is moving forward through the confusing process slowly but steadily thanks to Jackson’s patient efforts.
- Unclear what’s happening with soil delivery this year, given the construction.
- We’ll need to buy sod for the lawn if we don’t seed. We could try seeding since theoretically the garden will be closed and there won’t be anybody stomping around on there.
- Compost cans need to be changed. It’ll be around $200.
Kitchen
- We really need a kitchen committee. There are issues around the grill, cleaning it up after use and ordering propane for it, getting sign-ups for use. Maybe one option could be to have it serviced weekly in season?
Open policy and etc.
- The rule is that the garden can only be open if there are members present and needs to be closed at sunset except when there are events happening. Do we need to establish a rotation? We’re hopeful that new locks/keys/fences will solve the problem of unauthorized openings.
- A couple of weeks back some middle schoolers were throwing bricks and a planter and stuff in the pond and killed one of the young turtles. Diana chased them off and got pictures of a couple of them.
