Editors Note:
The link to vote for the $5,000 Grant is here: http://www.iuowawards.com/Projects.aspx#project|105c2bc7-2491-4f58-9336-e9b0696abe29
The Monterey Road Eco-Community Garden in Glendale stands out as a simple yet productive urban renewal living project. Now in its fourth year, the Garden occupies what used to be two vacant parcels in a residential neighborhood just north of the 134 Freeway. Serving over 40 families this project embodies sustainable living, organic gardening, and community organizing.
As the brainchild of the Coalition for a Green Glendale, a community group whose mission is to promote sustainable living in Glendale, the Garden is designed to do just that. They are the first community-run gardens in Glendale and the first in the State of California to use reclaimed water for irrigation. Complete with dozens of compost bins to recycle waste, demonstration gardens to show passersby how they can transform their yards, and promoting an urban agricultural lifestyle where you can grow your own food, the Garden stands out to the community as an opportunity to do something good at an individual and local level.
Today, the Monterey Road Eco-Community Garden wants to initiate another first in Glendale. Pending funding from a grant they are competing for, a bioswale in the parkway will be installed to divert stormwater from the street to instead go into the ground and naturally percolate down, preventing polluted water from entering the Los Angeles River. The Garden will also have rain barrels to capture water from the toolsheds and neighboring roofs, and install rain gardens where small ditches can turn into temporarily holding ponds for stormwater to collect.
If you want to get directly involved in helping the garden, click on the following link and cast your vote for your local Monterey Road Eco-Community Garden Project. You can vote once per day and the project needs to be ranked 1st 2nd or 3rd to win. The grant competition will end on March 15.
http://www.iuowawards.com/Projects.aspx#project|105c2bc7-2491-4f58-9336-e9b0696abe29
Additionally, if you want to be in touch with the Coalition for a Green Glendale to obtain a plot at the Gardens, regarding upcoming volunteer opportunities, free community-wide gardening workshops, and local environmental issues, please contact them Alek Bartrosouf at greenglendale@gmail.com.