The Root of the Problem

When local residents set up a garden in an open space on Fulton and Stanyan opposite famed Golden Gate Park, they set off a firestorm of controversy that reverberated throughout the urban gardening community. This gardening group did not have the one thing that scores of other community gardens have, and it's not potatoes. The crucial ingredient lacking in this latest attempt at city farming was the legal right to use the land.

The small patch of land adjacent to the apartments on the corner of Fulton and Stanyan is owned by the same out-of-state landlord who also owns the apartment complex. The landlord is not interested in having a community garden on the site, never gave permission to place a garden there, and is actively attempting to have it removed. In the city of San Francisco, the landowner is well within the law to kick the gardeners off the property. Indeed, this is the only regulation on starting a community garden in San Francisco, said Jude Koski of SFGro, a major community gardening organization in the City.

"It would be one thing if it were public land and it weren't being used for anything," said Koski. "But if the owner decides they don't want them [the community gardeners] on that land, that's it."

Koski said his group has offered to broker a deal between the gardeners and the landowner, but such an agreement looks unlikely given the owner's present disposition. Koski said that SFGro is ready and willing to step in if both sides are ready to negotiate, but won't force the issue.

"The site has a lot of question marks," said Koski.

It seems those questions may be answered with a resounding, "No." If the landowner refuses to participate in negotiations, residents at the garden may have to get their vegetables at the local grocery store instead.

Paint the City in Green

From renowned gardens like the Japanese Tea Garden and The San Francisco Botanical Garden to humble backyard plantings, gardens have a long and influential history in San Francisco. One of the most inspiring aspects of the city’s botanical history is the legacy of Victory gardens in San Francisco.

Jesse Drew writes about the significance of these gardens in his article Call Any Vegetable: The Politics of Food in San Francisco in the Reclaiming San Francisco anthology by City Lights Books. According to Drew, “World War II caused a momentary lapse in corporate food production for the consumer market, leading to the popularization of Victory gardens, small home vegetable plots intended to aid the war effort. In San Francisco alone, there were as many a 70,000 such home gardens.” Drew illustrates in his article that the Victory gardens were just one integral piece of a long-term sustainable food production movement in the Bay Area that continues to this day.

After the war, the popularity of these gardens diminished. But, the appetite for organic and locally grown produce has sustained. Drew writes, “San Francisco takes its food seriously. After all, this is the city that has more restaurants per capita than any other city in the United States. In the quest for nutritious food and equitable distribution, thousands of San Franciscans have mobilized to develop creative and alternative ways of procuring this most basic human need.”

One San Francisco Artist/Activist believes that Victory gardens are an alternative we she seriously reconsider. Amy Franceschini, is the winner of the (SFMOMA) San Francisco Museum of Modern Art’s 2006 (SECA) Society for the Encouragement of Contemporary Art, for her garden renewal project, which is on view at the SFMOMA until April 22.

In a recent article on SFGate.com, Franceshini talked about her idea of reinstating the thousands of private and public Victory gardens that were once found in the city. Franceshini added, “that 8 billion tons of food were produced in Victory gardens around the country.” In San Francisco, Victory Gardens were such a success they were even found in places like the front lawn of City Hall and the Strybing Arboretum.
Franceshini is not alone in her quest. Recently, in an unused plot next to the apartment complex on the corner of Stanyan and Fulton Street, residents and citizens have reclaimed the dirt and planted a Victory garden. The 20 by 90ft. plot, has potatoes, fava beans, snap peas, garlic, mustard greens, strawberries, and more. According to the SFGate.com article, “All the open space in San Francisco, including backyards, amounts to a sizable 1,823 acres.” This is one less backyard Franceshini has to worry about.

Gleeson Library - A Storied Journey

The University of San Francisco has a long history of scholarship dating back to the 1800s, but its library, traditionally thought of as the heart of the school, was only built in 1950. The first site occupied by the school that would come to be known as USF was at Market and 5th Street, now occupied by the Westfield Shopping Center. During this early period, the school had no formal library, as the entire institute centered on one school room. The school stayed for five years, after which it moved because of the tax burden imposed on schools and churches.

The new school at Hayes St and Van Ness grew from humble beginnings to become one of the premier centers of learning on the West Coast, said library archivist Father Michael Kotlanger. Kotlanger explained that the old library consisted in large part of donated books, most of which were either science related or spiritual in nature. The books were not located in one central library, but rather in many individual collections organized by subject matter and scattered around the university. At that time, the books were strictly for use at the school, and could not be checked out by students.

As with the rest of the city, 1906 marked a turning point for USF. The massive quake and fire on April 18th, 1906 gutted the school and obliterated nearly everything in it, including all the books collected over the previous half century. The few records that survive from before 1906 were housed in separate locations downtown and in Los Gatos, said Kotlanger. After the tragic events of that day, the school moved to a location near the present day southern entrance to St. Mary's hospital at Hayes and Shrader, a few blocks from its present day location. School officials tried to build up the library's collection after the devastating loss of all its books, but at that time they had to rely on the generosity of donors. The law school opened in 1912, necessitating further book acquisitions, all of which were donated by jurists and legal scholars who had an interest in helping future legal minds.

In 1927, the school moved to its current address at Fulton and Parker. The burgeoning library collection was housed on the fourth floor of Campion Hall, the original university building that served as the entire university for many years. Finally, in 1950, the collection became large enough that university officials agreed a separate library would be both necessary and good for the school. The library is named after Father Richard Gleeson, who spent 46 years in service to the university. Kotlanger said Gleeson died the day it was announced that the library would bare his name.

Under the direction of Father William Monihan, the new library initially housed the relatively small collection from Campion Hall, and had administrative offices and classrooms on the upper floors. This condition was not to last, as Monihan aggressively sought out books for the new library, including many rare books now housed in the Donihue Rare Book Room. These include a fragment of the Gutenberg Bible dating from the 1450s, medieval illuminated manuscripts, the works of Sir Thomas Moore and a collection of letters from the English Catholic novelist and film-writer, Graham Greene. Kotlanger stumbled upon these letters when looking through files in the university's possession. The letters were appraised for $250,000.

As Monihan and his successors continued to build the library's collection, classroom and office space had to move to other locations on campus. In addition to its own collection, Kotlanger said the library once held the extensive personal collection of Adolph Sutro, who was mayor of San Francisco from 1895 until 1897. Space was leased in the library's basement by the Sutro estate until Gleeson library's own collection could no longer be housed solely in the upper floors. The lease was allowed to expire for a nominal rate, and Sutro's collection moved to its current location at San Francisco State University.

In 1997, the library opened the Geschke Learning Resource Center, named after Charles and Nancy Geschke, two university patrons and parents of a former student. The Geschke Center houses the circulation desk, reference stacks, and dozens of computers, both Apple and PC. The center also includes Thacher Gallery, an art exhibition room with rotating exhibits throughout the year. On the east wing of Geschke Center is the Monihan Atrium, a large study area named after the aforementioned Jesuit priest and library director.

The library's collection continues to grow at the rate of 13,000 volumes per year, according to its website, in an effort to maintain its status as a world class center for learning and scholarship. Located at the geographic heart of the university, Gleeson Library truly is at the heart of the school's dedication to learning and service.