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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsCity shuts down preschool's farm stand
So sucks. Solely because they need rules, and they must be followed? How about all these benefits to everyone involved?
City shuts down preschool's farm stand
'Its more than just selling 50 cent peppers. Its connecting families and kids and food and the environment.'
Mary Jo DiLonardo
September 18, 2019, 8:26 a.m.
At Little Ones Learning Center in Forest Park, Georgia, outside of Atlanta, the young students do typical preschool things. They work on spelling and draw interesting creations, but they also get to play and learn in an amazing garden.
The garden originally started as an outdoor learning environment for kids who needed to get out in nature for a little bit.
Eventually parents got involved and the garden truly bloomed. Now kids grow squash, beans, radishes, bell peppers, watermelons and all sorts of greens, while also learning how to compost. Then on the first and third Wednesday of the month, they set up a produce stand where they sell their homegrown fruits and vegetables to parents and people in the community. Farmers from the West Georgia Co-Op also bring produce to help supplement what's offered at the small stand.
snip//
But in early August, the city shut down the farm stand, saying the residential area wasn't zoned for selling produce.
School administrators were surprised when they were asked to close up shop.
"It's like shutting down a kid's lemonade stand," Okunoren-Meadows says. "Nobody does this. It just shouldn't happen."
more...
https://www.mnn.com/food/healthy-eating/stories/city-shuts-down-preschools-farm-stand?fbclid=IwAR1viVo7X8yxlLIrRyNUOb6OOg8UpAKQj9Vh0HSd_PXUvDB_EDdmnjwB0j0
TreasonousBastard
(43,049 posts)down such a worthy endeavor?
This isn't opening a deli or car repair shop-- it's a community garden!
It looks like these kids love doing it and the pictures show it's being done very well. Is the real problem that it's black kids doing it?
babylonsister
(171,050 posts)Yes, this is so mean-spirited, and for what?
TreasonousBastard
(43,049 posts)virgogal
(10,178 posts)local farmers were adding their produce to the stand. The kids could donate to a shelter. It should be shut down.
TreasonousBastard
(43,049 posts)And this is part of a statewide Georgia program:
https://www.cbs46.com/news/bridging-the-farm-to-table-gap-for-kids/video_f47e86e7-653d-522b-8637-057af972f649.html#.Wy62ZHpAvrk.gmail
Hortensis
(58,785 posts)Come on, give it up. Maybe flex those knees and get the feet solidly back on the ground? We all have better things to leap to outrage over. A lot of them.
RhodeIslandOne
(5,042 posts)And "They're just kids!" is not a good defense even against a litigious moron.
TreasonousBastard
(43,049 posts)mentioned in another post, this is part of a Georgia statewide program.
bitterross
(4,066 posts)What's the problem? If the city makes an exception for the center, they have to make an exception for everyone in the neighborhood. That is not feasible.
It doesn't sound at all like a lemonade stand. It sounds far larger and more formal.
Go to the city and apply for a zoning exception.
babylonsister
(171,050 posts)The school is trying to get an exception. Meanwhile, the powers that be are perfectly fine charging for the farm stand to keep functioning. I think it would be lovely if the kids' welfare was considered.
bitterross
(4,066 posts)Did you not notice:
Farmers from the West Georgia Co-Op also bring produce to help supplement what's offered at the small stand.
It has, clearly, become more than kids setting up a small stand to sell from like a little lemonade stand.
What part of teaching children how to be citizens includes breaking the local laws and regulations? Just because they are young and cute doesn't mean the adults don't know better and should not obey the law.
babylonsister
(171,050 posts)And perhaps those farmers are helping the children. Not a lot of money changes hands, so I don't think it's the commercial enterprise you seem to think it is.
Have a nice day.
bitterross
(4,066 posts)Where is the line? When is it no longer okay to say "they're just kids?"
The school seems to be doing the right thing and there is a lesson in that for the kids that you are totally missing. They're going to the city council to see if they can get the laws changed. That's an important lesson the kids should learn. Not "I don't like that rule, so I should be able to break it." Instead, they are learning civics basics every citizen should know. Just as it should be. If you don't like the law, don't break it. Go to city hall/congress/etc. and try to get it changed. That's your right and duty as a citizen.
I don't have a problem at all with them having to learn a civics lesson. It's too bad others think that exceptions need to be granted without anything other than a bunch of people being unhappy. That's not the way this country works.
lpbk2713
(42,751 posts)Many minor violations of the law are at the enforcer's discretion every day.
mopinko
(70,070 posts)these snits are so common in urban farming.
we really need to get our heads out of our asses, and look at what is happening to the planet. stop harassing people trying to do the right thing.
Keg Stand
(64 posts)I think she probably could have let it slide.
"The city argues that if it changes the ordinance, there could be a farm stand on every corner."
Yeah that would be just awful.
brooklynite
(94,483 posts)....on Park Avenue. Because she'd have to look at "vegetables" as she walked by. I believe her suggested alternative was a nice Belgian chocolate shop.
snort
(2,334 posts)serving their students and enhancing education through community interaction sounds like a no brainer.
GeorgeGist
(25,318 posts)most modern cities are capable of doing this.