Ever since we announced on our blog that the Promise of Peace garden is moving from their current location on E. Grand to a new location in the parking lot across the street from the White Rock United Methodist Church in Little Forest Hills, there’s been a lot of online chatter, as well as a lot of email exchanges. When we asked people to share their opinions, more emails flooded in. For those loyal readers who have kept up with the story on our website, we thought we’d offer a special treat.
We’re rolling out the article, which is set to run in the June issue of the print Advocate magazine, a couple weeks early for our online audiences. The story will comprise three parts: Part 1, which was released online last week, covers the history of the Promise of Peace garden and information about the move. Part 2 covers the controversy with snippets of emails, interviews or comments from either side of the fence. Because it’s impossible to fit everything in the print magazine, we’re also running a Part 3 next week, which will be a compilation of emails and comments we’ve received over the past couple of months. If you have opinions about the garden, please feel free to continue to email us your opinions at bnunn@advocatemag.com, and we will do our best to cover both sides.
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… continued after last week’s post.
Trouble in paradise
During the last days of April, piles of mulch began to be delivered to the parking lot across from the Methodist church. Some of the neighbors were curious, confused and concerned, particularly the neighbors immediately surrounding the lot. Dry put out handmade signs announcing the arrival of the garden, which led some of the neighbors to look up the organization’s website. When they saw pictures and stories about fundraisers, live music and busloads of children, some of them became afraid the Promise of Peace garden was going to be anything but peaceful.
The neighbors directly next to the garden at 9038 Santa Clara, Marj Rash and William Logg III, were particularly upset.
“This is being thrust upon us with no concerns as to how it will impact the area,” Rash says in an email. “Increased traffic and noise. I am not looking forward to fundraising concerts 10 feet from my home office or bedroom window.”
Rash’s sentiments, particularly those about noise and traffic, were echoed by a handful of others in the neighborhood as well.
Roxanne King, another nearby neighbor who recently sold her home due to the garden controversy, sent a letter to Dry saying she is “completely against this plan” and has “no intention of being receptive to this at any point.”
“While you feel this is a great addition to our neighborhood, I couldn’t disagree more,” she writes. “Do not even attempt to lie and say it will be a quiet unobtrusive activity. Do not pretend that people will not park in front of our homes for your garden or that you will not have music, sales events, fundraisers and the like all opening up our homes to further intrusion on a regular basis.”
Nearby neighbor Natalee Morse shared a similar perspective.
“This is a wonderful, quiet neighborhood and we do not want it altered so some woman can do good for underprivileged children,” she says. (Read the full letter next week, as well as in June’s issue of the Lakewood-East Dallas Advocate magazine.)
Many of the upset neighbors expressed feeling helpless about the situation. Rash says she feels it has been “shoved down their throats.”
Some contacted District 9 City Council member Sheffie Kadane, but ultimately there isn’t much, if anything, neighbors can do to stop the garden. According to City Ordinance 28125, community gardens are “permitted by rights in all districts.” Dry just needs to provide the required certificate of occupancy and traffic plan.
Originally, Dry hoped to include the neighbors in site plans for the garden, but after several emails and letters, she canceled the planned meeting. She says that she feels “bullied” by the neighbors and that they aren’t receptive to hearing about her plans for the property.
But some of the neighbors feel the same way about Dry’s garden.
“I can’t believe they can do this to us,” says Morse at 9021 Santa Clara.
Morse wrote a letter that she taped to doors of surrounding neighbors in which she claimed she was “totally astonished and dismayed to come to the conclusion that the reason [for the garden] is actually to prevent the Catholics from parking there.”
The Methodist church parking lot has been used by the members of St. Bernard’s Church and St. Bernard of Clairvaux Catholic School for several years, and associate pastor Mitchell Boone insists WRUMC is not building the garden in a petty attempt to spite the Catholic church. He says they have communicated to the Catholic church that their members are welcome to park in the remaining half of the parking lot. “That lot was just the best place for us to put the garden,” he says.
Tommie Balcom, the principal at St. Bernard of Clairvaux Catholic School, says the school is actually excited about the garden because it plans to encourage students to participate in the gardening and cooking classes. “Our school is looking forward to the garden. We’re ready to jump in there and partner with them,” Balcom says.
Dry takes the partnership as a good sign. “The garden has brought the Catholics and the Methodists together already, and it hasn’t even started,” she says.
As for concerns about noise, Dry insists gardening isn’t a loud activity. “It’s not going to be loud. We don’t even allow running in the garden. To me, a garden is a place to go to quietly observe.” Most of the cooking classes will be done inside, and the fundraising will be done off-site, she says. And, because she won’t be paying $800 in rent every month, she won’t need to raise funds as often. She had hoped to host movie screenings, but she says she’s nixing the idea for now.
After hearing about the conflict, many in the community also have expressed their support for the program.
“Please, please bring this garden to Little Forest Hills,” says neighbor Sarah Wandrey. “One of the best things about this neighborhood is the number of small children with parents who stay at home full-time or part-time. I plan to homeschool my children for the next few years, and this garden would be a fantastic contribution to their educations.”
Neighbor Lark Duncan, a dietitian, wrote to say he is “a firm believer in the power of prevention, especially when it comes to childhood obesity.”
“Moving to the new location in Little Forest Hills is going to increase our opportunities to better serve East Dallas,” he says. “The new facilities will have a classroom for children’s cooking and gardening classes as well as for adults. Studies have shown, and my personal experience, too, that one of the best ways to get children to eat healthy is to have them involved in every process of the food — from seed to table.”
One dad, Jordan Carter, wrote to say he has seen the positive effects of gardening in his own daughter.
“Ever since my 5-year-old daughter has been attending garden club at her school and the Promise of Peace Garden on Saturdays, I have seen a leap in her awareness about what food she eats and how healthy it is,” Carter says.
If it weren’t for the support, Dry says she might have considered retreat. As it stands, Dry plans to move forward with the garden.
“I have to do what’s best for the greater good. I don’t feel like the small number of people should stop something hundreds of people want,” she says.
“I want it to be a model that brings positive engagement and pushing out the negative. Children need to know that when you have a dream, there’s going to be people who try to take you down, and you can’t give up.”
