El Rio Community Garden, Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2024.
At a community meeting earlier this month, the Menlo Park Neighborhood Association learned that the El Rio Clinic on West Congress Street was considering leveling its community garden in order to make room for an overflow employee parking lot.
Nestled inconspicuously between two houses, the garden is easy to miss, for those driving along Congress Street.
Despite its low profile, the garden holds significant meaning for local residents.
“It’s a place for locals to get together and meet people that they normally wouldn’t have an opportunity to meet,” said Debra Houghton, a neighborhood resident and community gardener. “It’s like entering a secret garden, it’s a retreat for a lot of us and has enriched our lives so much.”
Stephanie Daniel, another neighborhood resident and gardener, echoed Houghton’s sentiments. “One of the things that I love about this garden and the fact that it’s in a neighborhood is that you actually get to meet neighbors that aren’t even associated with the garden,” she said.
VIEW LARGER Menlo Park neighborhood resident and community gardener, Debra Houghton on Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2024, in Tucson, Ariz. Houghton takes care of two garden plots full of herbs and flowers. Houghton tends two plots where she cultivates herbs like rosemary, sage, parsley, as well as green onions, tomatoes, kale, chiltepins, and marigolds. Daniel, meanwhile, is currently wrestling with her wonky irrigation system.
“We needed a kind of a push, we got the push and so now it’s time to make something happen,” Daniel said.
“It was very disheartening the thought that they were going to take out the garden spaces,” Houghton said, describing the mature fig, apple, pomegranate, quince, and grapefruit trees. “Removing food crop trees and food-producing gardens was a real blow to all of us.”
The El Rio Community Garden, situated behind an existing parking lot, is owned and funded by El Rio Health.
VIEW LARGER Stephanie Daniel, Menlo Park neighborhood resident and community gardener who visits the park daily, Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2024, in Tucson, Ariz. However, the center’s need for additional parking has put the garden at risk.
Kylie Walzak, president of the Menlo Park Neighborhood Association explained that the health center is losing access to an overflow parking lot that they currently rent across the street from the Gadsden Company, an urban development firm, behind the Mercado District is located.
Walzak added that the locals understand the increased interest in the area and vacant lots that were once used as temporary parking spots are being developed.
The situation came to light during an August 8 meeting, where the director of facilities for El Rio had notified the public about their potential plan.
VIEW LARGER Flowers growing in the El Rio Community Garden in Menlo Park, Tucson, Ariz., Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2024. “It sounded like a done deal and everybody was just floored because there had been no attempt to contact us prior to that meeting and there was no discussion with us about how we might be able to creatively solve the parking issue and not take away the garden,” Walzak said. “In 2024, that we’re taking, that we’re considering taking away green space that lowers the air temperature, that absorbs stormwater, runoff, that sucks carbon out of the atmosphere. It just seems so backwards and wrong,” Walzak said.
Walzak emphasized that the neighborhood has a significant population of older, low-income residents due to elder housing in the area.
“Organizing around this garden has introduced me to people that live in this neighborhood that I’ve never met before and it’s been really exciting to see that people are organized around an issue like protecting the garden. It has brought people together in ways that I haven’t seen in a long time,” Walzak said.
Recently, the neighborhood association received an email from the director of facilities stating that the plans to remove the garden have been put on hold while more information is gathered and further discussions are held with the neighborhood.
“We’re cautiously optimistic,” Walzak said. “We’re going to take them at their word, but this whole experience has taught us that we could lose this space and I think people are really motivated. I know people are really motivated to care for it better.”
VIEW LARGER A bouquet of flowers and herbs from Debra Houghton's garden on a tree stump in the El Rio Community Garden, Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2024, in Tucson, Ariz. Walzak acknowledged the increased interest in the area but questioned why the neighborhood should bear the burden of accommodating parking for the clinic’s employees.
“We have invested billions of dollars in free transit, streetcar and working to make our streets safer for biking and walking. A lot of people live in Menlo Park and work downtown and they walk, bike, or take transit to get there. Why can’t we ask the same thing of people who work here?” Walzak said.
On Labor Day, Monday, September 2nd, from 6 AM to 10 AM, the neighborhood will be opening up the garden to the community to tackle Bermuda grass and showcase available plots in the garden.
When AZPM asked for comment, El Rio Health responded via email, “Nothing is currently happening and we are continuing to look at ideas to solve our parking problems.”
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