Community News, Ideas, & Comments
Sustainability · 16th February 2011
Sherry Wellborn
July 22, 2016, Amazon Neighborhood, Eugene, OR
Three years after major grocery chains Safeway and Albertson's pulled out of inner Eugene for good, Amazon neighbors are cutting the ribbon this Sunday on the third of their consortium of neighbor-owned garden allotments. Amazon Neighborhood has pioneered the concept of joint investment in neighborhood lots, creating specific requirements of investment while avoiding the corporate model.
This third property accomplishes the neighborhood goal of creating a contiguous garden corridor from E. 25th Ave. to E. 26th Ave. along the west side of Harris Street. The group hopes to create a similar corridor just to the south of E. 24th Ave. from Onyx to Agate Streets. So far, the group properties include four rentals, two storage buildings, a small greenhouse, and 10,000 square feet of garden extending from the community garden at the Reach Center, located on the corner of 25th Ave. and Harris, to the just acquired lot at 26th Ave. and Harris.
Garden allotments are not rented in the traditional community garden sense. Any neighbor is welcome to invest either time or money in the project. Large areas are dedicated to fruit trees and bushes and crops such as potatoes, squash, beans, and corn. Smaller areas are cultivated for greens. The group has a flock of layer hens, and hopes to acquire enough property to justify three to four chicken tractors and an on-site processing facility since Oregon’s Department of Agriculture now allows such processing.
All investors receive produce over the year. Older investors are allowed to cash out as they retire, to be replaced by younger investors interested in putting their retirement funds into a project at their doorstep rather than in Wall Street. The government’s 2014 program providing retirement investment incentives in local projects such as this one have helped to make the neighborhood effort viable.
Amazon neighbors have not cornered the neighborhood investment market however. The Friendly Farmers have initiated their own neighborhood investment program and hope to purchase their first lot early next year. So, grocers may be abandoning the inner city, but innovation is replacing them with very locally grown produce.
Three years after major grocery chains Safeway and Albertson's pulled out of inner Eugene for good, Amazon neighbors are cutting the ribbon this Sunday on the third of their consortium of neighbor-owned garden allotments. Amazon Neighborhood has pioneered the concept of joint investment in neighborhood lots, creating specific requirements of investment while avoiding the corporate model.
This third property accomplishes the neighborhood goal of creating a contiguous garden corridor from E. 25th Ave. to E. 26th Ave. along the west side of Harris Street. The group hopes to create a similar corridor just to the south of E. 24th Ave. from Onyx to Agate Streets. So far, the group properties include four rentals, two storage buildings, a small greenhouse, and 10,000 square feet of garden extending from the community garden at the Reach Center, located on the corner of 25th Ave. and Harris, to the just acquired lot at 26th Ave. and Harris.
Garden allotments are not rented in the traditional community garden sense. Any neighbor is welcome to invest either time or money in the project. Large areas are dedicated to fruit trees and bushes and crops such as potatoes, squash, beans, and corn. Smaller areas are cultivated for greens. The group has a flock of layer hens, and hopes to acquire enough property to justify three to four chicken tractors and an on-site processing facility since Oregon’s Department of Agriculture now allows such processing.
All investors receive produce over the year. Older investors are allowed to cash out as they retire, to be replaced by younger investors interested in putting their retirement funds into a project at their doorstep rather than in Wall Street. The government’s 2014 program providing retirement investment incentives in local projects such as this one have helped to make the neighborhood effort viable.
Amazon neighbors have not cornered the neighborhood investment market however. The Friendly Farmers have initiated their own neighborhood investment program and hope to purchase their first lot early next year. So, grocers may be abandoning the inner city, but innovation is replacing them with very locally grown produce.
New garden being created along Harris with a heavy mulch of cardboard, leaves, and manure.