project leader
Julie G
location
Lawley & Klinger
(Banglatown)
latest update rss
No updates yet.

the project

The corner of Lawley and Klinger is a 100 ft stretch of sidewalk lined by a canopy of trees on one side, and piles of used furniture and yard waste on the other. Sounds great, right? I think I speak for everyone when I say that I’m sick of this garbage! 

Lawley is a busy street in the heart of Banglatown. It’s the street kids take to walk to school, its where many of our neighbors wait for shared rides to work, school, or religious studies, and its a major hot spot for dumping. We would like to build a line of planter boxes to occupy this space so that the dump-ers might leave our corner alone! Made from treated lumber and filled with a mix of flowering perennials and annuals as well as herbs and berries, these planters will offer a shady place to perch while waiting for your ride (shade being a rarity in our part of town) in addition to offering pedestrians a bit of protection from cars racing around the corner. Imagine: instead of soggy mattresses and unruly branch piles, this sidewalk could be lined with cannas, rosemary, and ranunculus! We’ve spoken with neighbors (who are more than thrilled about the idea), we’ve gathered volunteers, now we need to raise the funds. To make this project a reality, we will need about $1,300 to purchase treated lumber, hardware, soil, and plenty of low maintenance plants that will continue to thrive year after year. Any amount can make a difference. Thank you so much for your help in beautifying our neighborhood!

 

 

the steps

 

  • Purchase materials and arrange delivery of soil from Detroit Farm and Garden.
  • Build planters + prep for installation. (1-2 weeks)
  • The Big Day: Clean debris, level off curb, anchor and install planters, fill with soil, plant!
  • Maintenance: Watering, weeding, and general maintainance will be shared amongst neighbors.

why we're doing it

For years, the direct access to the Banglatown neighborhood from the Davison Freeway has made it an easy spot from people to come off the highway and toss all manner of garbage in its alleyways and sidewalk strips. Dumping is incredibly demoralizing for neighbors, as garbage accumulates faster than the city can take it away, and many items are too large to move without a crew. This particular corner at Lawley and Klinger has been a problem for many years, with a broken sidewalk and woodsy overhang. Garbage trucks will not pick up trash left there (since it is at the side, rather than the front of a home) and one piece of trash tends to gather others. Permanent planters on the sidewalk meridian where people dump will make it impossible to get the pile of garbage started.

This project serves a second purpose, which is adding to neighborhood’s rich gardening culture through the creation of a commonly-maintained garden space. Many neighbors in Banglatown garden, from Polish residents growing roses to Bengali neighbors planting squash. However, there are no ungated, totally public gardens as of yet in the neighborhood. This is a great opportunity to build relationships between neighbors and knowledge sharing between skilled gardeners and those just starting out over a shared plot. We hope that this can be the first of a few garden islands in our neighborhood, encouraging more public garden plots (rather than just gated gardens) on dumping grounds.

 

budget

Disbursed budget (5.1.17):

Extra funds will be used for extra plants or a bench. Thank you!



RAISED = $1,479.00
 less ioby Platform Fee  $35.00
less ioby Donation Processing Fee (3%) $42.06
TOTAL TO DISBURSE = $1,401.94

Original Budget:

  • Lumber: $650
  • Hardware: $45
  • Soil: $255
  • Mulch: $50
  • Plants: $300




Project Subtotal =  $1,300
ioby Platform Fee  $35
ioby Donation Processing Fee (3%) $39
Total to Raise on ioby = $1,374
 

 

updates

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photos

This is where photos will go once we build flickr integration

donors

  • Thomas N.
  • Alejandra
  • Erica Schopmeyer
  • Anonymous
  • Katie Barkel and Jonathan Rajewski
  • Anonymous
  • Chido Johnson
  • Shoshanna & Oskar
  • Richard Newman
  • Bix
  • Peggy Zonca
  • Renee Yousefi
  • Elena
  • Anonymous
  • Liz Frankland
  • Anonymous
  • Anonymous
  • Anonymous
  • Cven
  • Mitch & Gina
  • Kate & Mike Kolbrener
  • Anonymous
  • Alex
  • T George