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Maybe Sheila Dixon can give those gifts cards she allegedly stole to the soup kitchen as well. They could use the help more than she needs another fur coat.

This is funny to me. First they redesign the grounds with brutalist landscaping to discourage the hordes of homeless who used to spend the day on the grounds, now they are planting a vegetable garden which would seemingly attract the homeless back to the grounds. And as far as harvesting weekly, my experience with Baltimore rats tells me that they are going to have to come up with a better pest control plan than that. Ah, Baltimore, I miss it.

It might be a trend, but it's certainly not a bad one. The City of Vancouver is starting a similar thing - http://vancouver.ca/ctyclerk/newsreleases2009/NRcommunitygarden.htm

Oh Baltimore, you crazy little town.

Of course it's trendy!

In San Francisco, they had to spend big bucks for security so the bums wouldn't pee in the vegetable garden outside City Hall...

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/10/22/BATG13LUCJ.DTL&hw=victory garden security&sn=003&sc=411

Yeah I'm with Lec. I work 2 blocks from there and I don't see this plan working. It is far to out in the open and, while I hate to be a pessimist, I bet it will be a lot more trouble than it is worth. In Baltimore, this sort of thing needs to be kept behind lock and key, so to speak.

Hmmm...after reading some comments, I am just wondering if it would not be better to make a cash donation to the soup kitchen rather than spending a lot of money and energy cultivating this garden and then "securing" it from the people that would want to steal the vegetables because they have nothing to eat or pee in the garden because they don't have a bathroom of their own. It all just seems counterproductive.

It is also horribly hypocritical of the mayor since she has been indicted on stealing those gift cards that were supposed to go to poor people.

Just sayin'...

It looks nicer than on 'The Wire'. I kinda like the streets of Baltimore.

I think it's a great idea - much better than spending money on annuals and paying the city employees who would normally plant and maintain them (PixP, if you read again you'll see that it will be maintained by volunteers). Plus if homeless people do happen to swipe a pepper or tomato here or there, who cares?! That's who the food is intended for anyway!

Vegetable garden in the middle of the city?
What's next, a cow-milking plant by the mayor's room on the third floor?!