The Ecology Center and the Berkeley Food Policy Council support the Berkeley Edible Gardens Initiative (BEGI), a campaign to allow neighbors to sell or trade the surplus edibles they produce in their yards. For more background on how BEGI got started, see this article from a past issue of Terrain. We are pleased to share this update from Sophie Hahn, the Berkeley resident who has spearheaded the effort…
Dear Berkeley Edible Gardens Supporter:
We are writing with good news! We have met with City of Berkeley Planning Staff and it looks like Edible Gardens legislation that we can all support will be coming before the Berkeley Planning Commission at their April 4 meeting and again (before Planning and/or Council) in early May.
The April 4 Berkeley Planning Commission meeting takes place 7:00 pm at City Council Chambers, 2134 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Berkeley. Please mark your calendars to attend this meeting if you can!
We do not have a copy of the exact item that will be proposed, but feel things are moving in a very positive direction. When copies become available we will share them with you.
If you can attend the April 4 Planning Commission meeting that would be great. You can also submit letters of support. Information about where to submit letters will be provided in a future communication. If you signed on as a supporter of the Berkeley Edible Gardens Initiative (“BEGI”) legislation, your name will be submitted with our organization’s letter to the Planning Commission as well.
We will provide more details as they become available – including confirmation of the April 4 date, which is likely but not yet “official”. Thank you for your interest, patience and support. We are very hopeful that current developments will lead to passage – this Spring – of legislation addressing the sale of edibles grown and raised in Berkeley’s residential gardens.
Very Best,
Sophie Hahn
Co-Founder, Berkeley Edible Gardens Initiative
PS – If you have friends who might like to sign up to support BEGI, now is a great time to ask them to join our effort. Send them to www.berkeleyediblegardens.org to add their names to our list of supporters.
