PORTLAND, Ore. — A number of gardeners at the Kennedy Community Garden in Northeast Portland are getting frustrated.
They say this year, much of the food they've grown has gone missing. They think homeless people in the area may be responsible and they want the city to do something about it.
But others are taking issue with the idea of placing blame on the homeless.
Wayne VanEgdom is at the garden almost every day to take care of his plants. He and his fellow gardeners rent the plots from the city for $75 a year.
He enjoys doing the hard work. But it’s also why it's been so frustrating for him to find his vegetables missing.
“They've pretty much taken all our tomatoes,” VanEgdom said.
Many of his plants are ruined.
“You see the tomatoes laying all over the ground, I didn't do that. I didn't pull the carrots up like that,” he said.
VanEgdom said usually there's enough produce to give to the food bank, but this year there might not be.
“I've had this plot here for almost 10 years and this is the first year we've had major problems with the homeless stealing food, our produce,” he said.
His comments were distressing for a fellow gardener who was listening in.
“So it's OK if you give it to people who are hungry, but when they come and want it,” began the woman.
“But they don’t want it. They steal it,” VanEgdom interjected.
The woman was worried about placing blame on the homeless.
“What I don't want to do is continue to escalate the problems on people's backs if they are hungry, if they are dealing with addiction, if they are homeless,” she said.
“I'm tired of them stealing my stuff. I'm tired of them breaking into my car. I'm tired of having to call the police because they're outside my car breaking into them. Something needs to be done. Whether they need to build more shelters or food banks or places where they can go to get shelter and stay, something needs to be done,” VanEgdom said.
The heated exchange eventually turned into a dialogue.
“Maybe we need to have more places for them to get food,” suggested VanEgdom. “If they came in and did this to your plot you'd be pissed too.”
“Could a solution be like we go and talk to them and be like hey can we like give you baskets of food,” the woman said.
While the two have different approaches to what’s happening in their garden, they agree that they don't like their stuff being stolen, and they want the city to step in more to help those who need it.
The community garden belongs to Portland Parks and Recreation. The spokesperson said it's hard to determine if the vegetable thefts are due to tourists from the nearby Kennedy School or others, homeless or not, who think the community garden is food for everyone.