SAN ANTONIO - Yellow crime scene tape has stretched across many areas on the East Side recently because of a rash of shootings. Now neighbors are hoping to spread something else - dirt.
Juan Garcia, president of the
Dignowity Hill Neighborhood Association, is used to digging deep for hope of a better community. He has lived on the East Side for eight years, and hopes a united community springs out of a growing urban garden at he corner of Lamar and Olive Streets.
His group received seed money - a seven thousand dollar grant - from the Green Spaces Alliance to start a garden. There is plenty of califlower, spinach, herbs and other vegatables sprouting. He believes the garden can get people outside together learning about mother nature.
Garcia says healthier living is getting more people interested in urban gardening, and he hopes to teach students at nearby Bowden Elementary how to work the soil in an after-school tuturing project.
The East Side homeowner says this is the second garden his Dignowity Hill group has planted. Many of the vegatables have provided lunch for seniors at the Ella Austin Community Center, right next door.
Garcial believes crime has put the neighborhood is a very negative spotlight. His group is hoping to change that by getting more people involved in beautification projects.
