Until several years ago, there were no gardens on Hope
Street. The 2500 block of Hope Street is home to a small
group of families. On one hot day, the
children--black, white, and hispanic--played in the water from a
fire hydrant, while the adults sat on the stoops or in chairs on
the sidewalk watching their children and grandchildren play. In
front of one house, a toddler splashed in a small, plastic pool.
There was shade from newly-planted street trees, and many of
the houses had a side garden.
One garden is easily identified by the wooden
sign carved with the owners' name. Next to the sign is a small wishing
well and a flower border. They added a swimming pool
so their grandchildren could swim when they come to visit.
Another family also has a swimming pool in their garden. Behind the
pool, a mural of a rocky mountain stream fills the wall, painted by their teenaged foster son, from a photograph taken on a family vacation. Flora has the largest garden on Hope
Street. Her house is on the next block and this garden is now
her backyard. She grows vegetables near her house and has made a
sitting area in the part that fronts on Hope Street.
Hope Street is in North Philadelphia. The gardens, curbs,
sidewalks, and street surface are new. In 1984, this block was
like so many others in the neighborhood, with half of the house
lots abandoned and collecting trash. In 1985, Walter Ney, a
resident of Hope Street and a member of the West Kensington
Neighborhood Advisory Council, applied to the Council for funds
to improve the curbs and sidewalks on the block. To qualify for
the funds, Hope Street residents were required to clean up their
block. Residents cleaned up the vacant lots on their block,
installed chain-link fences, and planted gardens. For improving
this previously vacant property, they received the lots for the
cost of the paperwork involved in processing them, a total of
about $40.
Hope Street is now a block of houses and gardens. One
garden is a playground, another --Jardin de la Comunidad--is
tended by hispanic residents. The design of the gardens reflect the
personalities and interests of their owners. In America's
garden, for example, the flowers grow in exuberant profusion,
poking through the fence out onto the sidewalk. The heart of her
garden is filled with vegetables and spices for which America
knows only the Spanish names because she uses them in Puerto
Rican dishes. A scarecrow stands duty, but doesn't keep the
birds out of the vines growing up the side of the house, for
which America is glad. "Birds come in and stay cool in the
leaves. Makes me happy."
In some ways, the whole of Hope Street is like other
community gardens. The street down the center of the block is
like a garden path that also functions as a meeting place. Each
private garden is like an individual plot. Since the boundary of each garden is marked by a
transparent, low fence, the interiors are all visible from the
street. Anyone who steps into this
clearly cared-for block recognizes it as a special territory.
"I never worked in a garden. We didn't have them as a kid,
growing up right in the city. It looks so good, watching things
grow and blossom and even eating vegetables. I just love it."
"Birds come in and stay cool in the
leaves. Makes me happy."
