One might expect that with more than 11 years of experience under its belt, San Francisco’s Quesada Gardens Initiative would now have a much easier time transforming blighted parcels of land into blooming gardens.
The group’s focus is not just on creating gardens, but also on bringing people together to create sustainable change and organize the community. Kevin B. Jones Photography
By Bill Picture
Published: January, 2014
One might expect that with more than 11 years of experience under its belt, San Francisco’s Quesada Gardens Initiative would now have a much easier time transforming blighted parcels of land into blooming gardens. But Executive Director Jeffrey Betcher—who was named a 2013 Environmental Champion last month by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)—says that the nearly all-volunteer organization based in the City’s historically underserved Bayview neighborhood still faces some of the same challenges it did in 2002.
That was when Betcher and a few of his neighbors first began rallying support for the creation of gardens, gathering spaces and playgrounds in an effort to build community and increase safety and the quality of life for area residents while discouraging criminal activity and promoting the benefits of fresh air, exercise and healthy eating. "We’re not getting any pushback from city agencies like we did in the beginning. That’s the biggest change," said Betcher, who had previously worked for many years in the national violence prevention arena.
As unlikely as it may seem, the City wasn’t altogether excited about the idea of residents planting flowers and vegetables on public property. Liability proved to be the City’s major concern, even though the property on those residents’ to-plant list had been neglected for years and already posed fairly serious safety issues in its then-current condition. In fact, the only purpose the properties served was to compound the negative image that San Franciscans, including residents of the Bayview, had of the City’s southeast sector.
"No one had anything good to say about the Bayview because everything being put out there by the media was negative," Betcher said. "Even those of us who lived here struggled to find the positive in all that."
What Betcher and fellow co-founders Annette Young Smith, Shane King, Tom Galante and Linda Pettus witnessed bloom at the organization’s first garden—the formerly trash-strewn median strip on Quesada Avenue that would eventually inspire the group’s name in 2003—was more than just flowers; it was a budding sense of community.
"Suddenly, the neighbors on the block had something positive to talk about," Betcher said. "And people who lived right next to each other but didn’t even know each other suddenly had something in common that they could talk about and get excited about. We could see the change happening right outside our doors, and it happened almost overnight."
City comes a-knockin’
The City not only stopped sweating residents for the potential liabilities that their projects raised, it actually got onboard. With official blessing, Quesada Gardens Initiative has taken the lead on similar projects in surrounding blocks, whose residents invited the group to work its magic on the blight outside their front doors.
That has included several more neighborhood-built and tended gardens, a mural project and the Bridgeview Teaching and Learning Garden—a former hilltop dumping ground transformed with the help of University of San Francisco design students into a food-producing garden where locals can learn about sustainable agriculture, environmentalism and the power of community.
"This is about more than a garden," Betcher said. "Sure, we love a garden—clearly. But this is about bringing people together to create sustainable and just change. The group is a tool for community organizing."
And it’s the grassroots organizing power Quesada Gardens Initiative wields that has City agencies now barking up the organization’s tree for help rallying support at the grassroots level for other projects. "They now understand how important it is to have the buy-in of the neighborhoods," Betcher said. "It’s exciting, and we’d love to help, but we simply don’t have the capacity or the resources."
That brings us to the biggest obstacle standing in the way of Quesada Gardens Initiative—money. Because Betcher’s group can’t depend on cash-strapped government agencies for more than the right to use a piece of land and the occasional glowing review by an agency higher-up in a news piece, they’re forced to rely on private donations. And those dollars are scarce in today’s slow-recovering economy. "I work largely for free," said Betcher. "Most of us do."
To help fund its work, Quesada Gardens Initiative launched a retail website late last month, www.QuesadaGardensGeneralStore.com. For now, visitors can purchase jams and jellies made from fruit that Bayview residents donated from their own backyard trees, alongside Quesada Gardens Initiative tees and totes. Soon though, Betcher says the site will also serve as a showroom for the wares of neighborhood "makers"—from artisans to artists.
The group is also working with AsianWeek Foundation on the City’s very first Asian-themed community garden. Asian and Pacific Islanders now account for one-third of the Bayview’s population. "I’m really excited about this project," Betcher said. "The land is unbuildable. It’s above a Caltrain tunnel and used to be part of a family farm. We’re hoping to launch on the upcoming Lunar New Year."
Betcher says he’s similarly excited about the honors recently bestowed upon him by the EPA. The Environmental Champion Award honors the hard work of individuals and groups working to protect public health and the environment, and support local communities.
"It’s a non-monetary award, you know," he joked. "No, really I’m honored and thrilled. I think it’s emblematic of how communities and the public sector are struggling to figure out how to get things done, and we are succeeding by degrees."
For information about Quesada Gardens Initiative, visit www.quesadagardens.org.
The Quesada Gardens Initiative has been working for more than 11 years to bring high-quality food-producing gardens to the Bayview neighborhood of San Francisco. Kevin B. Jones Photography
Quesada Gardens Initiatives began in 2002 when residents of Quesada Avenue began planting flowers and vegetables on a trash-strewn median-strip that had been neglected for years by the City. Program co-founder Jeffrey Betcher (pictured) says the garden gave residents of the oft maligned neighborhood something positive to talk about and changed the neighborhood almost overnight. Kevin B. Jones Photography
