The Project Schedule i posted included time before the May 14 Board meeting to review the Community Garden Grant Proposal. It may also mean a special meeting of the Board to discuss. Then the May 14 regular Board meeting would be only to approve entirely or make final comments on small items in the Grant Proposal.
No one on the Garden Grant Committee at this time knows the final cost. It may still hit $15k or be way over. We are talking TONS of materials, and construction labor costs thru registered contractors as required. This is not a project that a few neighbors can get together and dig few holes.
Also we are attempting to be as detailed as possible. The By-laws and Garden Type Committee have done their thing, both a great job. The Garden Type Committee had to complete thier work before the design could be made. The design was then approved at a meeting of the Committee. The location of the Garden was also approved by the Committee. We are attempting to make the process for this grant exemplary, not exclusive. The Committee reports to the Board.
The status materials of the Grant have been posted to the website in the Community Pages. These are the same materials as were handed out at the last Neighborhood Association meeting. The cost is still under development. We are also looking at strategies suggested by Neighborhood Services and Parks and Recreation. I met with Mark Richwine yesterday on another matter, and we also talked about this briefly and he made a couple suggestions.
I remember exactly the tree grant issue. I ran the other two tree grants. As a back up plan for a grant, the constraint at the meeting was to find someone to run the grant process. No volunteered.
I hope that everyone in the neighborhood is as excited about the Community Garden as the committee is. It's been quite a bit of work, it's a very complicated grant. The process followed by the Grant Committee, a sub-committee to the Board has been as open as possible. A member of the Board has attended all of the Grant Committee meetings where the three workgroups assembled. (Garden Type, By-laws, Materials and Methods)
It does not make the job any easier for the members of the Garden Committee to be continually barraged with negative comments and attitudes. I would hope that in the future, neighbors would show neighbohs more respect, provide positive support and certainly be more willing to help with the tasks at hand.
In this grant application, it is indeed the meaning of 'Where the shovel meets the dirt.'
