Last night I got a good glimpse into how government works at the local level and was pleasantly surprised. Henderson Park has acquired some extra land adjacent to the current park and last night was the second meeting with the community to go over options for how to use the new land. There were several representatives from the County, a couple of police officers and a dozen or so local citizens and everyone had a chance to voice their opinions and be heard. I haven’t seen a forum that open since attending a Quaker meeting.

For over a year a few of us have been trying to get the land approved for a community garden. We were concerned at first because of the need of a “master plan” from the County. But one year later, the master plan not only includes the land for the community garden, it includes some parking, a pavilion, playgrounds, walking trails and more. And these ideas came from citizens and it looks well on the path to breaking ground.

Hopefully the next steps will go as well as these initial ones and we will be tilling the ground in a few weeks.

After a few friendly gatherings, several trips to the proposed space, some donated time by professional landscapers and some good advice from a Dekalb County advocate, we finally turned in the proposal (thanks Susan!) for the Henderson Park Community Garden.

We should know something about the official granting of the park space in the next few weeks but in the meantime we will be planting some seeds and starting to accumulate supplies.

There are some 150+ gardens in the Atlanta area but none are currently in Tucker. So we will be the first. With any luck, we will be able to break ground for a spring planting and start building this community project.

Here is a picture of the proposed site:

Here is a picture of the lake and waterfall that are a part of Henderson Park: