Foreclosure Garden Foreclosed

Neighbor, artist and master gardener Anne Hars took over the front yard of a foreclosed triplex earlier this year and planted a vegetable garden. The triplex had fallen in to disrepair and had become notorious for housing a bunch of gang members.  The police evicted the gangsters and the building fell into disrepair.

The garden Anne planted in the spring had just begun to bring forth its bounty.

Then, this past week, an unpleasant man showed up claiming to work for Bank of America.

That was the end of the garden.

As Anne put it, “this is how the banks take care of their property…”

Read the whole saga on Anne’s blog, theforeclosuregarden.blogspot.com.

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12 Comments

  1. As much as a ruined garden is heart wrenching, she was trespassing. Now, I completely agree that banks should have protocols in place for somehow maintaining the property. But, as their rules are right now, she was trespassing. And her actions were visibly obvious. So, if she had become hurt or injured, the bank was on the hook. Some states even have rules where a property could be forfeited to another if nothing is done by the owner. The bank wanted to protect itself from liability and protect its property interest. Strangely, that’s accomplished right now by making a house look pretty terrible by ripping out a yard.

    So… better luck next time (and perhaps with approval first?)!

  2. That is not just B of A, this is a company bailed out by our illustrious loser, B of O. What a pity. We are all losers, the corporations are the winners.

  3. And so it goes …
    Governments serve corporations, and liability trumps all because someone might get hurt. Nice country.
    When will we see a return of “squatter’s rights” or “proving up” on a homestead?
    In the mean time, I’m gonna incorporate myself and fall down!

  4. Re Zaney Housewife:
    –I posted this over at the lady’s blog. Seems you could use a dose of perspective as well.–

    I live in Oakland. Thought what you were doing was pretty cool, reclaiming dead space for productivity and life.

    Until I saw that you seem to think it was a good thing that you kept the space “graffiti-free for three months”, like that’s some kind of accomplishment.

    You know, for alot of us who’ve grown up in the hood, graffiti is the only art we see, a rich and vibrant form, with special value because it’s done by locals in our own communities.

    Why would you live in the hood if you wanted it to be the suburbs, clean and polished and pretty? I smell gentrification…

  5. That makes me so sad. The bank should be happy some one was making that house look habitable so the bank might have a chance at reselling it.

  6. In case anyone is reading up on this: try guerrilla gardening. You NEVER enter into the property.

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