Henry David Thoreau, the great 19th century naturalist, wrote “Though I do not believe that a plant will spring up where no seed has been, I have great faith in a seed. Convince me that you have a seed there, and I am prepared to expect wonders.”
May is the month when tiny seeds sprout and the wonders of the natural world, beset by our wintertime images of national fright and ominous threats, permits us to see a hopeful future.
Our evidence rests in the eight spindly tomato plants poking up from small containers next to a large window in our back room. In about 100 days or so, these leggy two-leafed babies will begin to produce cherry tomatoes sweeter than lumps of sugar and baseball sized mounds of red fruit fit for a king’s palate.
By mid-May, if all goes as planned, a few peppers, a row of beans and one or two zucchini and yellow squash will find space to grow and mature in a mosaic of textures and color.
Over the years we have come to realize that our small garden plot in the backyard, tucked in back of our garage, will never be flawless as we hope and that the colorful seed catalog dreams of an abundant harvest of all things deemed edible may not come to pass in the fall.
In a perfect world the days will be filled with sun, there will be just enough rain to nourish the plants and our fence will dismay all four-legged creatures. We always long for the perfect summer garden, knowing that nothing is perfect.
In past years, our dreams of May are too often shunted from a mainline to a spur. Life demands our time. Alas, more often than not, hope must wait its turn as what you want will not happen.
When we plant in the spring we plan for the future.
One size is a misfit
We have often indicated that the map of the area between Interstate 57 and the Bishop Ford highway may appear to the wheelers in Chicago and the dealers in Springfield as similar to an armpit, and is thus deliberately overlooked.
According to the 45-member South Suburban Mayors and Managers Association, the latest slight to these communities is a series of five bills (code named BUILD) working their way through the state legislature. These measures override local planning by imposing a “one size fits all” for housing and zoning across the state, according to the group.
While everyone wants better housing, the SSMMA says this is the wrong way to go about solving the problem.
“These bills preempt local authority,” says Park Forest Village Manager Jon Kindseth, who claims what is good for posh communities such as Barrington and Hinsdale can be detrimental to the hardscrabble communities to the south of Chicago.
Kindseth adds these bills increase population density by allowing building of up to 12 housing units per acre with no requisite for parking, the lack of stormwater legislation and the absence of a second escape route from a house fire which he says “rolls back” life safety needs.
“We need affordable housing,” he says, adding local government needs to be brought to the table.
These bills, Kindseth says, are absurd, and “were put together by developers and Realtors with no building construction background. We need affordable housing and it makes sense to bring local governments to the table.”
The bills do not require developers to build affordable, accessible housing on a statewide basis and the SSMMA says developers have long shunned certain communities in the south suburbs, in Chicago and historically Black and brown communities.
Jerry Shnay is a freelance columnist for the Daily Southtown.
