Community members in Pilsen were ecstatic yesterday after a series of actions aimed at preserving the Cesar Chavez Community Garden (Canalport-Union Garden) gained favorable media coverage, a meeting with 25th Ward Alderman Danny Solis, and an unexpected opportunity to confront the Alderman live on the Telemundo program En Contexto, in a segment titled, “Where will the children play?” Community organizer Cuahutémoc Morfín said, “We did a great job, let us continue to the next step. The objective is to get our garden back, there is a probability considering how the sale took place.” Morfín was referring to a statement made by Alderman Solis on En Contexto. Solis outlined the history of the sale stating, “In 1999 it was publicly announced that it would be sold to Podmajersky.” This was however, only partially true as the original announcement, which was also opposed by community members, was for a plan in which a local church would own part of the land, preserving it as a children’s playground, with Podmajersky owning the remainder. After the church pulled out, the sale went ahead under the radar and in a different form that had been publicized, with the entire parcel being sold to Podmajersky. The possibility of improper procedure allows community members to open a new avenue for resistance.

The day began with residents who park in a dirt lot across from the park finding flyers in their windshields stating in English, “Your vehicle is parked on private property.” The flyer also had puzzling Spanish translation that said, “Your expensive is on private [non-word] do not parking’s you here.” The faux pas and faux Spanish only helped to energize neighbors before the day’s actions began. At 12pm there was a rally and press conference at the garden site where neighbors helped gather up some flowers and plants that had been destroyed the previous week to deliver to Alderman Solis. This was followed by a vocal march, starting at Canalport and Union and continuing all the way to the Alderman’s offices near 24th and Oakley. Chanting “Pilsen’s not for sale,” and “We want more parks, not more parking,” neighbors, community members and members of other community gardens in the city made their way along the main drag in Pilsen, passing out information on the march and recruiting a few more marchers along the way. Many in the crowd carried signs. Some like Ines Castaneda’s of the Pilsen Alliance read, “There’s a rat in our garden.” She explained, “I think it signifies Solis’ relationship with the residents of Pilsen…They’re harsh words but at this point people are frustrated."

The rally was reignited at Solis’ offices when office manager Robert Montaño refused to allow residents entry into the building, stating it was “an office where we do the work of the people,” to which the people outside answered "We are the people!” The rally continued for over two hours before Montaño scheduled meeting between community members and the Alderman, the key demand made by protestors, as Solis had previously been unwilling to meet and had cancelled earlier meetings. The meeting will take place next week and CIMC will post the results.

Neighbors and community residents are still looking for more support in the struggle to keep the garden, as well as against further developer intrusions. Please contact Edgar Ramirez of the Pilsen is Not For Sale campaign at quixote27 (at) gmail.com and Cuahutémoc Morfín at pomorfin (at) hotmail.com.