Weeds all that’s left of community garden on 97 Street bridge
On top of the old railway bridge across 97 Street stands several mounds of dirt. Only months ago, the bridge was home to a community garden tended to by volunteers and passersby.
Starting in the spring of 2012, a community garden project called LIVINGbridge spanned 97 Street between 104 and 105 avenues. In June, the garden was dismantled at the request of the property owner Station Lands Ltd.
Fruit from the garden was free. It also hosted Indigenous ceremonies, a ukulele circle and yoga sessions, said Rebecca Kaiser, a coordinator of Boyle Street Community Services’ inner-city recreation and wellness program Friday. The joint program involving the City of Edmonton, the Bissell Centre and Boyle Street was involved with the garden since 2013.
Staff helped to connect marginalized people on the bridge with community resources, Kaiser said.
“It was a really safe space for people to open up about what they were going through,” Kaiser said. “It was a relaxed, neutral area ... They had ownership over the space even if it doesn’t fit into the conventional sense,” she said.
In 2017, the bridge had 34 volunteers and gardeners that tended to its vegetables, chokecherries and other bushes. Kaiser said it’s unknown how many people came through the garden in program hours.
Kaiser is sad the garden won’t be continued. The plants on the bridge have been moved to other community gardens, leaving the bridge empty.
“Walking by, I feel it’s just a reminder of what people once had and now it’s weeds,” she said.
Mike Saunders, vice-president of Station Lands, said the company ended its agreement with Boyle Street to use the 97 Street bridge due to land-use complaints. Saunders said Station Lands received “several” bylaw infraction tickets for land upkeep.
He did not disclose the amount paid in tickets.
The future of the bridge hasn’t been decided and Station Lands may pave it for bike and pedestrian use or the company may arrange for more thorough landscaping, Saunders said.
Kaiser said Boyle Street agreed the project needed more support and was aware of encampments of individuals facing homelessness.
“We were working toward the goal of gathering that support ... though obviously, we were not moving quickly enough for everyone involved,” she said.