Jackson Blasts Urban Farming

[Detroitnerd]

Nice catch. Vacant homes in my book generally mean no residents- as in empty, a shell, no occupants, lack of human habitation. So there really is no displacement of people. From what I gather Bing wants to do is consolidate the City to keep city services such as the police & fire departments from running out to the areas where there's only a few scant residents on a huge plot of land. It's a waste of the city's resources. We just don't have the population density we once had in this land area [[which is quite huge compared to other big cities). The city itself has already shrunk with its residents. Why not pool what remaining resources we have now to a tighter area to better serve what's still viable.

And the land that is gained from the lack of people living there shouldn't be left to go fallow. Why not use it as farm land? When and if Detroit ever gets back on its feet again and we need that land, why shouldn't we sell it off to viable developers [[not squatters waiting to cash in)? While it's always great to have companies and manufacturers building and keeping up an area with viable businesses, it's just not happening here yet. There are no thriving neighborhoods in those areas. We've just got too much land! I think that's the point where Jesse Jackson is missing the point.

Well, I'm opposed to the so-called "right-sizing" plan. But just because I'm opposed to the plan doesn't mean I'm opposed to urban agriculture.

In fact, I'm a big fan of urban agriculture, whether it be small-scale home gardening, community gardens like Georgia Street or some of the more fanciful plans.

But we are not going to realize much savings by cordoning off areas for farming. In fact, I believe it is likely a tool from the Same-Old-Stuff crowd to evict actual people from viable homes and then flip properties -- at great profit -- to big developers.

And the fact that everybody is conflating urban ag and "right-sizing" not only confuses the matter, it shows that the SOS crowd believes it has found a feel-good way to sell the same old intrusive practices of big players: Eminent domain, slum clearance, and urban renewal [[Negro removal).

[DetroitPole]

The other part that bothers me is what the hell does Jackson know about Detroit? Why is he some kind of Detroit expert now? Why the hell should anyone here listen to him? What does he know about our struggles and problems anyway?

I'm also questioning his motives. Is he just being inflammatory to get attention? Because obviously it has worked. He has been in the dustbin of history for a while now - irrelevant, useless, pointless, irritating - and surely he can feel it. So maybe he is being controvertial simply to stay in the news. Either that, or he is just a goddamn stupid ass.

[Jimaz]

If we look at the enormous economic growth [[despite the accompanying problems) that came out of the Industrial Revolution, it might be easier to understand Jackson's message. It's not unreasonable to suppose that reverting from manufacturing back to an agrarian economy would have the opposite economic effect in the long term.

For the short term however, urban farming [[gardening, whatever) is an excellent use of otherwise useless land. Best of all, an urban farm is much easier to convert back to manufacturing in the future than the other way around. It's not as if planting a garden commits that land to stay a garden forever. I don't think anyone intends urban gardening as a permanent solution to Detroit's problems.

[lilpup]

It's not an either/or decision. Even Henry Ford believed it was necessary to keep "one foot in industry, one foot in the soil".

[SWMAP]

Wow lilpup - an excellent quotation and one that speaks so well to this discussion!
Even today, expansive fields owned by Ford in Dearborn are planted with sunflowers. There is a meaning in all that!

[casscorridor]

With up to half of Detroiters out of work or not getting enough work, farming could be a way for individuals or groups to make money. It may not be enough to support one persons income in many cases, but it could supliment it. Produce grown in Detroit could be sold at the hundreds of corner stores and liquor stores that dot the city, where now most only sell junk food. Not to mention that urban farming uses empty lots for a productive use, beautifying the neighborhood while generating healthy food and economic activity if that food is then sold. It also can foster a change in attitute - a renewed sense of community and sense that we can take control over our own lives and communities, that we don't have to be dependant on others to make our world better.

But I do not think it is a silver bullet. Far from it. The potential of the farming itself is limited but it could spark bigger projects, such as co-op grocery stores, or into other industries such as wind turbine manufacturing. The potential for cooperative and participatory projects is far greater than one garden or enterprise.

That is why the most important thing about the gardens is the participation and the act of taking things into our own hands, that we have it within ourselves to run our own lives, that we don't need to rely on big corporations anymore, or on greedy landlords or corrupt politicians, or for that matter on corporations, landlords or politicians at all. That we can live and self-manage our own lives and economy and society.

It is a radical idea, and infectiously dangerous to power elites. We will see what side Jessie Jackson chooses- the 'savage,' 'ruthless majority' with so much untapped, ignored potential or those who try and keep democracy to the 'opulent minority'. Our founding fathers made this very same choice and they did not choose the people, and now we live in a corporatist plutocracy with some civil liberties. But after all, Jacksons own organization is structured like a corporation and he benifits from the status-quo of capitalism and economic exploitation and inequity.

[Hypestyles]

people need to think outside the box for creative uses of available land. City schools should have plots of land to work on with students for credit-- push curriculums in schools stressing agriculture, soil science, botany, forestry, urban planning, etc. Why not have fruit & vegetable farms, why not have forest preserves, why not have some bikes-only paths? Unfortunately, once the more cynical, jaded, and uneducated sorts in local leadership/activism get introduced to ideas like urban farming, shutting down depopulated neighborhoods, and "re-greening" in general, the tendency is to start accusations of suburban land-grab, or "They want to turn Detroit into a Plantation" which adds a totally unnecessary racialized spin to redevelopment efforts. Of course, if one is to look at this through the lens of African-American history, agrarian-based skill sets were common to our ancestors but were generationally lost as the industrialization boom manifested. Maybe this needs to be revisited.

[GOAT]

Fuck him and the car he rode in on [[oops that was stolen).

The question should be what has Jackson ever done for anybody? For that matter what has he done where he didn't benefit himself?

For a person who claims to be the black man's saviour [[and acts like it). He sure didn't want to fess up to his illegittmate child. Fucking parasite who offers nothing to anybody.

I could care less about his views on urban farming [[better than weeds and garbage). I just can't stand the prick.

[Swimmaven]

Well. What a great bunch of posts! I am really happy people are farming the land in Detroit.

Manufacturing is never coming back to the US. Very little is made here any more. Steel mills are gone, most clothing manufacturing is gone and quite a bit of produce comes from China. Scary.

Three cheers for the urban farmers!

[mikeinmotown]

Jackson is an idiot. He's the last person who needs to give advice to my city. Not unless he wants to donate a few million to some Detroit cause. Jackson is nothing but a race bater. Remember this is the guy who said Obama needs his balls cut off when he didn't know the microphone was on.

[casscorridor]

Manufacturing is never coming back to the US. Very little is made here any more. Steel mills are gone, most clothing manufacturing is gone and quite a bit of produce comes from China. Scary.

This is essentialy the problem with our economy. Essentialy the reason why Detroit is in ruins. We were a city dependant on manufacturing and now nothing is manufactured in the US anymore.

But that doesn't mean we can have manufacturing. Shit is still produced... Just not within our borders. We dont live in a post-industrial society at all. More shit is manufactured in the world today than in any other moment in human history!

And we will continue to need stuff. Like cloths. Why can't they be made here rather than in sweat shops? The answer is simple -- more profits made when you pay a worker 1/100th the wage of a worker here in the states. But when the cloths finally make it to market the price is still the same as US made cloths, if not more!!! So its essentiall all about profits.

I think we NEED manufacturing. It has to come back. But not via corporations... they obviously aren't interested. Instead, a new form of economic organization is neccesary- a cooperative and participatory one. An economy from the bottom up. The farms are just the start. Jackson is just stuck in the old days of big corporations being our savior when in reality they are our downfall. The city always favors big corps at the expense of small business, just read the history. Our small business economy is all but totally collapsed even though most jobs are created via small businesses. It is easy to see why corporations are not the answer to our economic problems.

[Detroitnerd]

Good post, CC.

[LeannaM]

While I wish manufacturing would come back, it won't. This country needs to specialize in some other area, or multiple other areas. Even industries on the rise [[such as the financial industry and real estate were) are not impervious to decline. However, as a nation and in individual regions, the sources of income need to be pretty diversified. Medicine seems to be a pretty popular industry now as well as communications. Some food and beverage companies are still pretty big. There has to be a variety of industries, though, and manufacturing itself probably won't be coming back.

Not that urban farms will save a city either. I don't think they hurt it, though. If a neighborhood decides to take on a project like that, then that is wonderful. It's not the answer to urban blight and urban problems. I'm not sure anybody is entirely sure what the answer to that is, though.

[Gistok]

Don't you love how liberals tell people what they should or shouldn't do for a living and how to live their lives?

I always get a chuckle out of nitwits that label a cause "liberal" or "neocon".... it's as though one side or the other is pure evil [[in my opinion, sometimes they both are!!).

Last time I checked it WASN'T the liberals who want to tell women what they can or can't do with their bodies.... nor what scientific text books have to be used by schools... nor what form of evolution to teach... nor forcing them to have prayers in school.

It's time both ends of the spectrum stop telling the large majority in the middle what to do...

[Huggybear]

Allowing [[or not allowing) urban farming is a matter of public policy, and it is completely appropriate to question its benefits against its costs. If you can't make that case, it's all an exercise in passion and branding. And that case should include:

1. A discussion of what additional wealth it will bring into the city.

2. A study of what regulatory problems it will involve [[environmental, property law, tax).

3. An analysis of the impact of perceived vested rights in growing on future development.

4. An inventory of marketable skills such a program would create.

5. An inquiry into the message it sends capital markets about the Detroit workforce.

Let's address those points.

[ragnarok1981]

Of course urban farming is not going to be the replacement for all the industry that Detroit has lost, and that is really not the reason for advocating for it. Detroit is a food desert when it comes to getting decent food that is not heavily processed and containing tons of artificial ingredients. Sure there is Eastern Market on the weekend but that does nothing for people the rest of the week, not to mention that not everyone can easily access the market due to the lack of reliable public transit that could get them there and back home. Urban farming is a way to provide the local communities around a farm site with produce and even some meat options when traditionally all they could access is a local convenience store or god forbid a liquor store. In Milwaukee a man named Will Allen started an organization called growing power [[http://www.growingpower.org/), which worked to end the problem they had with a lack of decent food in the area. He started with just growing veggies but then branched out into aquaculture and raises fish as well. Not only has he helped to provide food for people in the local area but he also gives them jobs.

One argument against urban farming here in Detroit is that the soil is too polluted and who would want to eat anything grown there. Well yes there are areas where there is soil pollution and in those areas the soil needs to be cleaned of those pollutants first. Suggesting that we should just have industry come back would only further damage the local environment and by basing our economy on a single industry we again risk having economic melt down when said industry takes a hit.

Another argument for urban farming is that when you grow your own food or at least know the place where it is coming from you can know that there is quality behind it, and it is better for the environment not just locally but globally as well. While we all might enjoy having grapes in the middle of winter, it is kind of hard to argue that it really makes sense to ship them all the way from Chile and expending all those resources to do that just for a snack. Farming here in Detroit does not have to be a warm weather activity either. Greenhouses can be built to allow us to grow year round and while we may not be able to have those grapes growing there, we still will get healthy food.

An urban farm is not going to provide jobs for everyone here in Detroit and there is no reason that it should either. There is an unfortunate stigma against working on a farm that most urban dwellers have that makes them feel like they have sort of downgraded their way of life and that farm workers are supposed to be like those migrants who typically do it. I myself have a decent sized rooftop garden right in the heart of downtown Detroit and I can personally say that I get a ton of satisfaction from working in the garden and if I could make a living at doing it I would work in a garden or farm year round. A small urban farm might provide a few jobs for people in the local area around that farm, but for most who work on it it would be supplemental income and also they would get a share of what they grow.

I would not advocate for the city to be covered in farms because honestly the idea of doing that is ludicrous at best. The ideal situation is for a patchwork for seasonal community farms and year round greenhouses and aquaculture farms to be built around the city so that the whole area could benefit and not just a few select areas. The final benefit we would all have is that when a group of people get together to created their own urban garden or farm it helps to strengthen the local community. People who might have never known one another when they were next door neighbors might find common ground together and in turn those communities could band together and make the city a better place. The real problem that Detroit faces is not the crime, the unemployment, the pollution, but the lack of community. People are not willing to stand up to fight for their city and make it a better place. Detroit suffers from a severe case of apathy and its citizens are all to content to watch their neighborhoods crumble around them so long as they can scrape by for another day. If you don't believe me go and look around at all the neighborhoods around this city where people are willing to live next to burned out buildings, crack houses, and just general filth. I personally cannot comprehend why anyone would sit back and allow that to happen in their own neighborhood let alone next to their own home. Some may say it is because they are too poor to pay for demolition, well I say go pick up an axe, pick up a hammer, and tear it down yourself [[so long as you do it safely). All our vacant homes and businesses around the city are rapidly decaying and are like a festering tumor that will just continue to eat away at the city until there is nothing left but a few people either living in a roach and rat infested hovel or those who stood up and said not in my community.

Finally I want to address Mr. Jackson. He was at one time a leader in the civil rights movement and I don't think many could argue that he did not help make the country a better place through his work. But with that being said I think his time is long since past. He and others like Rev. Al Sharpton have become more of a detriment to their cause then helping anyone but themselves. When an incident involving african americans occurs they will of course fly into the city and cause a big fuss and get in the media and rant and rave about how their people are being misstreated but they never stick around to see anything gets done to stop that misstreatement from happening again. They are all in it for the attention, the power, and yes the money. Jesse Jackson also made news when he was here because his Cadillac Escalade was stolen. The news should have been asking the question of why was he driving such an expensive vehicle when the people he is advocating for are not even able to afford a car. If he really cares about the community he should take a lesson from the scriptures [[since he is supposed to be a reverand afterall) and use his wealth to benefit others rather than himself. He and others should instead of flying in and making a problem worse should come and live in those communities and use their influence and power to make those places better. Unfortunately I don't think that will ever happen and these so called leaders of the community will continue to use the downtrodden to empower themselves and act like a lampray sucking the life out of our sickened communities.

[true-north]

Jackson is out of touch he does not live anywhere near Detroit. He should spend his time more wisely by enrolling in a Speech Class. Nobody wants to listen to his long winded mumbling.

[maxx]

The article says that Jackson was opposed to Bing's plan to turn lots in Detroit into urban farms because it would displace residents. His main theme was about green energy

"There needs to be security, stability and reconstruction. Everything that has been done in Baghdad could be done here.”

Who can argue with security, stability and reconstruction? And he is probably better prepared to talk about the security and stability in subsistence farming than most posters here. Someone is going to have to do a lot of soil testing to see how much of the city can even be used for human or stock foodstuffs.