Catalina Jaramillo, in a piece for WHYY, offered some insight into why the effort to forge an urban agriculture plan for Philadelphia has fallen so far behind schedule. It seems that Soil Generation and Interface Studio LLC, the consultants hired by the city to come up with a plan got bogged down in differences over antiracism.
Last spring, when the pandemic forced the cancellation of the final round of public hearings in a process that was supposed to wrap up last fall, planners vowed to set up an “online engagement process” with updates promised “in the coming weeks.” The updates never came. Instead, Jaramillo reports, the Philadelphia Parks and Recreation department spent five months engaged in a “facilitation process” to help reconcile differences between the consultants.
The urban-ag planning process will resume this year, according to a recently updated city website about the prospective plan, called “Growing from the Roots.” The website says, “Pleased stay tuned for the next round of conversations.”
Jaramillo has done some excellent reporting on urban agriculture in Philadelphia in recent years. Unfortunately, for the urban ag scene in town, this latest piece of hers for WHYY and PlanPhilly will be her last. She announced on her Twitter page that she has accepted a job with Fact Check “to debunk misinformation about COVID-19.”