If people want a garden then please plant one, just don't use my tax dollars to do so.

Phillip, your tax dollars aready go to pay for gardens and such around the city. The vegetable garden actually costs LESS because the seeds were donated and the work is provided by the Master Gardeners. The food from the garden goes to Our Daily Bread. The flowers? To a compost pile, I guess. -- Susan

Letting this vegetable garden demise would be tragic. Having said that, why does it need $204,000?

As I said in my post, the veggie garden is maintained by volunteers from the Master Gardeners program, which is one of perhaps a dozen programs supported by the city's extension service. Most of the $204,000 budget goes for office space, equipment and a salaries.

The veggie garden is essentially "free." Seeds have been donated, watering and some planlting is handled by city workers who would be maintaining City Hall flower beds anyway. It is the Master Gardeners who provide the expertise and much of the physical work. --Susan

Not surprised. Cuts are everywhere and there often is no rhyme or good reason. Guess some of the recouped fundings can be used toward those Sheila D 'do' bills.

Dang, now where is Sheila going to get her free veggies?

In the interest of free speech and because your comment was not COMPLETELY offensive, I am putting it up. But this is a silly remark. -- Susan

I must say that I am growing increasingly disappointed in our (state and federal) government's recent responses to budget issues. From most of the articles I've been reading it seems like we are cutting from all the wrong places and leaving in place most of the wasteful spending. Admittedly, I am far from a politically savvy person. However, I believe ridiculously wasteful spending from our government is pretty widely accepted as fact. I've heard many opinions of those that think if a concerted effort was made to go through finances with a fine toothed comb, billions, if not trillions could be saved in our country, but instead, our representatives continue cutting the few needed and/or productive services we have in place as first options to cut spending. Maybe I am misinformed...maybe "waste" spending irradication has already occurred and money still needs to be cut, but cutting a service that beautifies the city and much more importantly, feeds the poor seems, well...ridiculous.

1 Ton = 2,000 lbs
Cost = $204,000.00
That is a cost of $102.00 per pound???
That is not free, but you could say its a little high per pound. Wouldn't it be cheaper to go to the farmers market and buy the homeless some food for say $1.00 a pound?

Oh for heaven's sake. Read the post before you try to do the math!

If it takes 204k to manage volunteers. You don't cut the program, you cut your overhead. Seriously the gardeners appear to manage themselves. The gardens can stay, you can scrap the other program. This article misinforms readers slightly. The gardeners program appears to be a sub program inside a much wider program. This much wider program looks to be cut. Fine, cut it but leave the gardeners program. Why do you have to cut it all, just to save waste?

The city's contribution to the extension service covers office space, office equipment, some salary, etc for the entire program, not just the volunteers. And the Master Gardeners program is more than just a collection of volunteers. It teaches and works and is supported and insured by the University of Maryland's Extension Service.

Susan, I'm having trouble figuring out where Master Gardeners fits into all of this. Is their service totally funded by the University or does part of the $240,000 + Univ./Fed money go towards the "covered by insurance and other support" ? or is it solely towards the "4-H programs for young people, nutrition education, financial education" and Master Gardeners is just under this Extension Service umbrella?

It isn't easy to understand. The Master Gardeners program does much, much more than the City Hall garden. That represented only about 300 of its 5,500 volunteer hours last year. But MG exist under the Extension Service and the Extension Service exists under the University of Maryland.

No city support, then no UM support and no USDA support. That equals no city extension service. No city extension service? No UM support? No MG. Got it?

This is truly a shame. It's the loss quality of life issues like this that will push Baltimore back to an unpleasant place to live.

And it's not just the loss of the gardens, it's the loss of nutrition education, programs for young people, all of it. I really think our city government is looking in the wrong directions when making cuts.

"Wells explained that though nobody is paying the Master Gardeners a salary or health care benefits, they are covered by insurance and other support from the University of Maryland. Without that support and protection, it isn't likely that would be out there weeding, watering and harvesting for three months."

That's a shame, IMO. What actually motivated them to volunteer in the first place? When you mention insurance, do you mean they were given health benefits in place of compensation... or do you mean that they were merely insured in the case of injury on the site? Because if it was the former I can see that they would need to find other jobs to replace that benefit. If it was the latter, I'd be surprised if that was the sole deciding factor that kept them from the project. I'm not sure what other "support" might have been included (transportation to and from? supplies?) but it seems likely that if the City merely asked, it could find donors willing to cover that support.

While the MG may have BEEN part of the Extension program in the past, it seems unfortunate that, if this section of that program was so beneficial, the MG work cannot be a stand-alone project in the future, managed and funded (if funds are even needed for it alone) in a new and different way.

MG do so much more than the city hall garden. It would be a shame to lose their contributions...for whatever reason. But they aren't just gardeners who randomly show up and do stuff. It is a organized program. Perhaps it should stand alone. But who picks up the check? Right now, the state, the city and the federal government under the USDA, share it. If one bails, the other two withdraw.-- Susan

Things are tough all around. We must cut many costs from the budget. MUST.

If ever there was a program which could be privatized to its volunteers, this is the one.

Arrrgh! There are so many cuts being looked at, but we're holding too many things sacrosanct. I think the extension program is a winner - there are matching funds coming from two different sources, it leverages untold numbers of volunteer hours, it provides a certification that people take pride in, and it makes our city much more beautiful to live and work in. And maybe, if Phillip doesn't want to pay taxes for gardens, he can come and mow the weedy meadows in our parks that will be there instead of community gardens....

"Citizens will gather Wednesday night at 7 p.m"

is this referring to yesterday?

Yes. Last night. You can read about the protest at baltimoresun.com -- Susan

To me, the veg garden at City hall is a symbol for people learning how to eat healthier, and how to grow your own food. It's saying "Look what we can do in these raised beds, imagine what you can grow in your yard!" This and the White House garden really encouraged me to try a veg garden and this will be my second year. These gardens lead by example.

The cooperative extension service is a big deal in other places. I grew up in the county doing 4-H club, and they run 4-H. Baltimore City has 4-H, but it's a shell of what other areas have, and now it's going to be cut. It's a shame, because 4-H is a great youth club, and it's not just for farmers (I wasn't). You can choose projects like photography, sewing, pet care, safety, public speaking, you name it. It's a real confidence builder- better than girl scouts or boy scouts!