Miss Dottie (pictured) steward of the Orianna St. lot where her family held gatherings for the neighborhood.
Land Bank moves to evict longtime land stewards
Ever sitting land in the city of Philadelphia is all too common. Side yards, extra parcels, and abandoned investments present prime dumping grounds throughout. Hazardous pests accept open invitations. When those elements are kept at bay, however, is when something meaningful happens.
“We fenced it off, got it all together made it look nice with a garden and everything,” says Dorthea Rogers of the vacant parcels surrounding her home on North Orianna St. “We did it for a long time. No one ever came out from the Land Bank, we mowed the lawn ourselves and everything, we got rid of the rats ourselves,” she continued.
For more than a generation, Rogers (or Ms. Dottie as she is affectionately known) has breathed life into the neighboring lots. Her work of ‘stewarding,’ or taking care of the blighted city-owned land, predated the creation of the Philadelphia Land Bank by decades.
“We had big parties out there. We’d close off the street and we would have parties for the family and neighbors would all come. We had cookouts in the back, on the side. We put pools up for the kids to play with and everything, we had nice times.”
Miss Dottie (pictured) steward of the Orianna St. lot where her family held gatherings for the neighborhood.
Her family’s time spent here for the most part went unbothered, the norm for the majority of these vacant lots. Back in the late 90s, the city moved to incentivize communities to take over the vast amounts of land they have been unable to manage. Selling off lots for $1, allowing residents and community organizations to remove nuisance land in their communities and steady the property values within neighborhoods.
After exhausting herself and spirits trying to acquire the land from the city and not receiving any clear answers, she lost hope of officially claiming it. Over the years, still maintaining the land and keeping it useful.
Fast forward to now, she’s become somewhat of a local legend in neighborhood according to community.
The side yard Rogers was evicted from earlier this year as well as the
neighboring lot her family stewarded for decades.
“Within a two-week span they came and kicked her off her property. And then all of a sudden her 40 years of stewardship were over. They fenced off her lot, cleared it, and put a lock on it.” says Ryan Gittler-Muñiz, of neighboring César Andreu Iglesias Community Garden. Like Roger’s parcels at York and Orianna St., Iglesias Garden faced land insecurity for years dating back to their 2012 birth. Through protracted struggle for land, organizing and rallying for support and a host of donations the nonprofit was able to secure the remainder of their land at the end of last year. Within their network of urban gardens they have sought to reciprocate that support by establishing a land stewards union, the first of its kind in the city.
Complete with a set of demands, like any other union, the Philadelphia Land Stewards Union (PLSU) is seeking:
A moratorium on evicting land stewards from city property.
Restored access for land stewards who have already been evicted
A return for pathways to use city land with permission.
The PLSU formally launched in April. Back in September, the PLSU hosted city councilmembers Quetcy Lozada and Jamie Gauthier along with State Senator Nikil Saval on a tour of the gardens that Rogers, along with two other community members are being evicted from. Both councilmembers Gauthier and Lozada pledged their support to the union’s demands, with Lozada going on to share a written statement on recognizing the importance of land stewardship. But since then, action from the Land Bank has been steady. And Councilwoman Lozada’s district has become a recent battleground for lot seizures.
While the Land Bank did not offer a direct response to our questions surrounding the land evictions, they specified that any unauthorized use of property owned by the Land Bank presents a significant financial risk due to unclaimed insurance liabilities. They also stated that “Property use and disposition in the 7th District is being discussed by the Philadelphia Land Bank, the City and the Councilwoman of that district.”
On Wednesday, Oct. 14 the Philadelphia Land Bank moved to evict long term resident Juan Colon from the neighboring vacant lots and side yards surrounding his home. Like Rogers, Colon has been stewarding the vacant land for decades, maintaining the otherwise abandoned and overgrown city parcels. He has planted fresh produce and utilized the space for his family to gather. As workers at the direction of the Land Bank moved to destroy the plot of land at the rear of Colon’s home, members of the Land Stewards Union and others in the community showed up to prevent the loss of the land.
Colon has spent the last 20+ years living in the Norris Square neighborhood, prior the inception of the Land Bank in 2014. Since the institution has taken over distribution of vacant land in the city, Colon along with other land stewards in the district have put in formal applications to retain ownership of the land. They have also received support from the PLSU.
Land Steward Juan Colon standing by the parcels that the Land Bank razed just moments earlier. Photo credits Lourd.Knows
“I think there’s an agenda for these spaces,” says Mary Redding another steward in the district. “The only lots that have really been affected that I know of are the ones that have stewardship, that people are maintaining. Redding noted that the area is not short of overgrown unkempt city land that is being ignored. “It’s the land bank (property), but its trash, weeds, its not being maintained.”
Redding’s backyard lot is owned on paper by the Land Bank, despite the nearly 40 years it has been maintained as a space for her family she says. She received notice earlier this year that she would be removed from the property.
“If they don’t have a plan for it, in the meantime if we’re keeping them clean and keeping them safe what’s the problem?”
Mary Redding, member of the Philadelphia Land Stewards Union [Photo c/Lourd.Knows]
Redding’s backyard lot in West Kengsinton
Redding along with Colon and Rogers have all been rallied behind by the organizers at the Land Stewards Union. On top of recognizing the need for folks to maintain these spaces so that they do not bring blight, they also advocated for the safety of their community members.
The eviction of Rogers from her lots has left her without the space she cultivated for years, as well as the reinstalled hazards of neglected city property.
Rogers has lost access to her backyard gate due to the tree growth from the Land Bank’s lot. The Land Bank has declined to remediate the tree.
“They closed off my back fence so now I can’t get out.” says Rogers referring to large tree stump the Land Bank has not cut from their property. Since evicting Rogers from the parcel she is now unable to safely exit to her backyard and access her gate in case of emergency.
After the initial action and standoff with the PLSU, the Land Bank returned to the parcels surrounding Colon’s home, demolishing his side yard garden on Nov. 4. While no formal plans have been announced to develop on the land, he remains fearful of losing egress from his home in case of emergency. Councilwoman Lozada’s office could not be reached during the Nov. 4th action according to members of PLSU.
“My passion was not for this at first, but then now I see it’s injustice to some degree,” says Redding. She explains that she is aware the city may come any day to fence off her backyard lot too and begin their process of reclaiming it.
“This is an extension to my home…When I come out, this is what I see, this is where my grandkids be.”
