Alchemist
S M H A
In
May of 2006 Alchemist CDC held a neighborhood visioning meeting to determine
what Alkali Flat residents felt were priorities in the community. During that
meeting we identified many issues that neighborhood residents were concerned
about; including opportunities for renters to move into home-ownership, access
to healthy foods (especially fresh produce), improving pedestrian and bicycle
access along the commercial 12th street corridor, and new development that
respects and compliments the historic character of the neighborhood.
With the amount of growth currently going on in Alkali Flat, Alchemist CDC felt that they should make efforts to meet some of the more immediate needs of the residents of the neighborhood. Access to healthy, fresh foods was identified as a top priority to the residents of Alkali/Mansion Flat since the closing of Albertson’s in 2005. So, Alchemist started looking into launching an Urban Farm Stand, a model used in other areas of the country to provide access to fresh produce at a low cost to neighborhoods that are unable to sustain a full-scale farmers market. When we came up with the idea for the Urban Farm Stand, a few other things became apparent to us–this would provide us with an opportunity to connect with our community in a welcoming, safe social environment, and we would be able to provide a venue for local small businesses, artists, and other non-profit organizations to connect with their community as well. With the many social problems that we are faced with on a daily basis, providing a safe environment for all community members to connect in on a regular basis is a main concern of a Community Development Corporation.
J.
Neely Johnson Park was decided on as the location of the Urban Farm Stand. J.
Neely Johnson Park was developed out of an old parcel of land that was lying to
waste in the 1970s. During the first wave of redevelopment that went on in
Alkali Flat, the City of Sacramento purchased the parcel of land and turned it
into this small, boulevard-style park. Over the years, drug dealing and vagrancy
had become prevalent in J. Neely Johnson Park just as in much of the rest of the
neighborhood, but since the building of a ten plot community garden in the park,
neighborhood residents have been able to reclaim the space as a safe and
welcoming environment. Alchemist would like to help in furthering this change
while fulfilling a major need of the community.