An Urban Paradise

This past Wednesday I met Elliott, a young man with big dreams. Elliott has founded Urban Paradise, a nonprofit that seeks to turn Long Beach into a garden and in the process promote the arts and help its citizens grow their own food.

Elliott is so inspirational! He has the "vision thing," and I told him that he is the answer to my prayers. For years, I have been wanting to live and work on a permaculture farm, but I have had to admit that, as my health is up and down, I can't commit to days of manual labor. There are days when I just wouldn't be able to, quite literally, hoe my row. But still I yearn for a means by which I can help build community through the self-reliance of growing one's own food. And then along came Elliott.

I attended my first meeting of Urban Paradise yesterday afternoon at the corner of Ocean Boulevard and Pacific Avenue, right in front of the 10' x 40' plot that the city is allowing us to plant with drought-resistant and native vegetation as a test project. If all goes well, Urban Paradise hopes that the city will rethink the huge park that rests atop the main library.

I have lived in Long Beach for 27 years, and this is the first I ever knew of this park. It's huge! The land on which the library sits was bequeathed to the city decades ago on the condition that the land would always be used as a public park. So the city built a park on the roof of the library. Up until 15 years ago, all was fine. Then the roof started leaking, so the city didn't repair the roof, but ordered that the plants in the park not receive any more water. Consequently, most of them died. However, Elliott and Urban Paradise have big ideas about revitalizing the park, making it green again with vegetation that doesn't require watering.

This space is simply amazing. Huge planters. Performance spaces. Walls on which murals might be painted. What was once a fountain. Just think what could be done here: classroom-sponsored gardens that teach children about the earth, concert and performance spaces, places for artists to beautify the walls, projects with the homeless (there are so many in the park on street level) that might encourage them to tend their own rooftop gardens, as has been done in San Francisco.

These are only two of Urban Paradise's ideas. The ones that I am even more excited about are using vacant city land for community gardens and working with Parks & Rec to plant fruit trees in parks rather than non-fruit-bearing trees. That way, food can be simply picked from the branches by the people who frequent the park. What a wonderful, life-affirming idea! And so simple.

I have offered to be Urban Paradise's writer-publicist-proofreader. Perhaps someone out there reading this blog will feel inspired to share his or her talents to make Long Beach into an urban paradise.