Detroit has has been plagued by the economic downturn more than most cities, and has struggled to recover. However, sometimes gloomy economic conditions breed innovation. That is the focus of Jordan Ballor’s “Let Detroit’s farms flourish” which appeared in the Detroit News.
Ballor explains that residents are putting vacant lots to use by urban farming:
These areas of growth, in the form of cooperatives, community programs and individual plots, represent a significant avenue for the revitalization of the city. The benefits of urban farming are manifold. Otherwise unproductive vacant lots, which have been estimated to number close to 100,000, are put to an economically and socially positive use. Urban farmers learn skills and discipline necessary to have long-term economic success.
For some, urban farming is a necessity, for others, such as the youth, it may be a new opportunity to keep them off the streets; however for everyone partaking, it is form of creativity and responsibility rooted in the Bible:
In these kinds of efforts we see the spark of human creativity and responsibility shine through in the face of adversity. This creativity reflects in a human way the creativity of the divine. The biblical account of creation includes the blessing to humankind, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the Earth and subdue it.” (Genesis 1:28). This blessing has been understood to refer to human cultural work in all kinds of areas, including the cultivation of the land and the raising of crops. We find God’s specific injunction to Adam to reflect this aspect of cultivation quite clearly: “The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.” (Genesis 2:16). And as the Bible begins with human beings caring for a garden, it ends with restored humanity living in a city, the New Jerusalem (Revelations 21).
Unfortunately some Detroit residents are discovering that everyone isn’t encouraging their innovation and desire to farm. City regulations are preventing some from succeeding:
There are perils, of course, and perhaps there are none greater than the political culture of regulation, entitlement and corruption that has marred the city for decades. The city government must not crush this nascent urban gardening movement through superfluous regulation and the instinctive reflex to government control.
This has already happened in the case of Neighbors Building Brightmoor, which maintains gardens on city-owned lots. Reit Schumack, who heads up the group, says that new city regulations will, among other things, prevent him from organizing a youth group as he has done in the past to grow food and sell it at a farmers market. “It’s a beautiful self-sustaining program where 15 kids are busy the entire growing season, make money, learn all kinds of skills, and really, I can’t do this. This is forbidden, what I’m doing,” Schumack recently told Michigan Public Radio.
Let’s hope that Detroit sends a message of hope and encouragement to its residents. In these struggling times, innovation and the entrepreneurial spirit should be encouraged. Detroit’s past has been plagued by a corrupt overregulated political culture. Instead of stifling growth, Detroit should seize upon this opportunity to demonstrate that it is going to take a new path towards creating a political environment that allows it to flourish once again.
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