Chicago Urban Farming: Mayor Emanuel Reverses Daley's Course, Plans Expansion Of City Agriculture

In a pointed reversal of his predecessor's policies, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced on Tuesday that he is supporting an ordinance that would allow for a vast expansion of urban farms around the city.

Advocates say such projects have the potential to transform decaying vacant lots into vibrant farms producing healthy, locally-sourced foods that can be sold in neighborhoods where produce is otherwise hard to come by, and providing jobs in economically depressed areas.

Mayor Richard Daley was nominally a proponent of urban farms, and his administration supported an ordinance last winter that would have legalized certain types of agriculture within city limits.

But many farmers argued that the bill would actually choke off urban-farming growth by placing a series of onerous restrictions on how and where the farms could be established.

By contrast, Emanuel's proposal, unveiled at a Tuesday press conference at the Iron Street Farm in Bridgeport, marks a turnaround on almost every major point of contention, according to the Chicago Tribune.

"Mayor Daley told us that people moved to the city to get away from farms, not to have farms in the city," Ken Dunn, who runs the one-acre City Farm in the Cabrini-Green neighborhood, told the Tribune. "He got a lot of mileage out of being the 'Green Mayor,' but he didn't have it in his bones."

The new proposal would increase the maximum size of community gardens to 25,000 square feet, a size that advocates say would help them become viable growing spaces. It would also ease fencing and parking restrictions on some of the larger urban farms, to allow them to operate in a more cost-effective way, the Associated Press reports.

"Our ordinance will deal with the ability of turning a plot like this that was an eyesore into an economic engine in the neighborhood," Emanuel said at Iron Street, according to WBEZ. The site was formerly an abandoned truck depot.

The farm is "creating hundreds of jobs just here, and there’s thousands of sites like this throughout the city,” he said.

Emanuel's measure could be moved through the City Council as soon as September of this year.

Comments

[jrc9876]

09:54 AM on 09/10/2011

Makes me want to move there.

[LiberalnChicago]

11:12 AM on 07/29/2011

I live across the street in the condo building in this picture. I dined on fresh beets and greens last night from this amazing place. Not only does it produce great produce - but it gives us a place as a community to come together. Ialso provides volunteer opportunities for everyone who has an interest in learning about growing, composting and healthy eating.

It is also a beautiful site from the street and my balcony.

[Aesthete]

11:23 AM on 07/28/2011

...an idea whose time has come. I like it.

[Linda D Schlicher]

10:27 AM on 07/28/2011

In this economy I think everyone should be gardening and there should not be any person or organization to prohibit it. For once I approve of what Emanuel is doing. Hope and change was great rhetoric but gardens feed people and improve the look and the pride in a community.

[weedetr]

02:02 AM on 07/28/2011

more farms. means more plants,more fresh oxogen,can't hurt.

[sjcarl]

08:16 PM on 07/27/2011

I'm with Rahm on this.

[grannycrtb]

04:44 PM on 07/27/2011

Finally, a REAL solution to an age old problem! And solving two problems at once! Good for you, Mayor Emanuel! I have lived in Chicago, and it has always been my favorite city.

[Winter Skye]

03:36 PM on 07/27/2011

This is absolutely ASTOUNDING!!!! I have to confess that I was a bit leery of Mayor Rahmbo, but first the protected bike lanes and now boosting the number of urban farms? TOO MUCH!!!!

I have often lamented traveling on the Green Line east towards the Loop and seeing so many vacant lots that span so much territory. They actually resemble bits of farmland, albeit on the scraggly side. To convert this urban blight into productive green spaces would do so many things at once: provide fresh produce at (one would hope) lower prices to an underserved community full of food deserts, create safe and beautiful surroundings which have the power to lift spirits and give children a sense of nature, and give the community some sense of pride and possibly jobs and training! Happy dance!