New development threatens urban garden

By Antonia Zwissler

Politics, plans to move to the valley, and the value of weeds; these conversations blossom around Omri Haiven as he clears plots of the community garden on Quinpool Road. He’s visiting his hometown of Halifax from Vancouver. He wears a hat, but no gloves. Getting his hands dirty is exactly what he wants to be doing. A younger group in their twenties paint signs for their plots. “Charlie has a garen (sic)” and “Margot + Reneé’s Garen (sic)” join “Two peas in a plot.”

Although Haiven won’t be staking any claims, he wants the crops to flourish. In 2017, he was one of the garden’s founders. Now, signs loom on the perimeter of the field, advertising plans for Quinpool Road’s newest apartment complex—St Pats Crossing. It’s named after Haiven’s old high school, St. Patrick’s, which was there from the ’50s until its closure in 2007 and demolition in 2015.