As Polk neighborhood plows ahead, an idea takes root

It's likely too soon to expect folks living around Polk Elementary to completely bury the hatchet after the school-closing saga. Today is the last day of school at Polk, a very tough one, to be sure.

But they are almost ready to plant some tomatoes. And that's a start.

Just 10 weeks ago, school board member Mary Meisterling was among those voting for Polk's closure. Nicole Sales, president of the Mound View Neighborhood Association, was among Polk parents fighting to keep the school open. So when Meisterling walked into the association's April meeting to gauge interest in creating a community garden near Polk, Sales was “shocked.”

“I was really excited about it,” Sales said. “My kids and all their little friends in the neighborhood are so excited. They're like, ‘When are we going to do the garden?'”

“I'm very excited about it,” Meisterling said. “For Jen Hill and Nicole Sales and everybody else to be so gracious and allow me to even come in and bring my idea to the table, has just made me happy.”

Meisterling recruited Matthew 25, a group with a growing community garden track record, to create the Mound View Neighborhood Garden. She's raised most of the bucks needed to make it happen and convinced Coe College to allow the use of some land it owns on B Avenue NE next to Fire Station 3.

On Sunday, June 3, organizers are urging volunteers to help plant the garden from 1 to 5 p.m.

The goal is to get neighborhood residents and kids involved in tending the garden and sharing the fresh produce they harvest. Meisterling said she hopes it can keep parents who joined together to fight for their school organized and committed to the neighborhood.

“I felt responsible for trying to find some way to keep that together,” Meisterling said. “And to show that neighborhood that people do care about them in this community, and that they could still be a neighborhood.”

I'm not suggesting that this project erases the damage done by the Polk closure. Hard feelings still run deep, for good reason. And some of the issues churned up remain to be addressed.

But cultivating and planting are good ways to show that life does go on, and that a change of seasons can bring renewal. Meisterling deserves a lot of credit for taking responsibility for the impact of her vote, and for working to help the neighborhood find a new, positive focus in the aftermath.

“It doesn't change us not having a school,” Sales said. “But it's something to look forward to. I think it will be really good for the neighborhood.”