SILVER SPRING, MD – What makes a great community? Many say it’s the connections between residents.
Kate Herrod, director of Ashoka’s Community Greens, is on a mission to restore a sense of community to neighborhoods across the country by transforming humble spaces like alleys and vacant community lots into shared public spaces, some supporting homes and businesses. Herrod will headline the Planning Department’s ReThink Montgomery weekly speaker series on Thursday, May 20. This week’s topic: “ReThink Ecology”
The nonprofit Community Greens focuses it services to residents at the street-level. In Baltimore, the organization succeeded in convincing city and state leaders about the benefits of greening alleys. Today, thanks to new state legislation and a city ordinance, residents can “green” or gate alleys adjacent to their homes if 80 percent of affected neighbors agree. Since the ordinance passed, Baltimore’s Department of Public Works has heard from residents living on 60 blocks interested in greening their alleys.
Community Greens has worked directly with residents to help them merge their back yards into vibrant, sustainable community spaces. In the Baltimore neighborhood of Patterson Park, residents agreed to help test the shared back yard concept. A group of art students from a nearby college designed the gates, and the city police force lauded the community’s efforts for its public safety benefits, such as offering more eyes on the streets and rapid access to the alleys.
Herrod, who has been directing the Community Greens effort for the last four years, will describe how the transformation process works and the benefits it brings to communities.
Baltimore was the pilot site, but the organization is expanding to other places, such as Sandpoint, Idaho and Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Herrod’s talk is the latest in the 2010 Planning Department speaker series, ReThink Montgomery. With presentations scheduled every week through the spring, the series provides an opportunity for the board, planners and the general public to hear from experts how nine elements of sustainability weave together and pose opportunities for planning great communities.
Continuing education credits (AICP certification maintenance credits) have been approved for planning professionals.
Who:
Kate Herrod, director, Ashoka’s Community Greens
What:
ReThink Montgomery Speaker Series – Ecology
When:
7:30 p.m. Thursday, May 20
Where:
Park and Planning Headquarters auditorium
8787 Georgia Ave., Silver Spring
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