Why This Matters
Located in one of the city’s most diverse neighborhoods, New Roots Community Farm is a key cultural asset that has served as a sanctuary for refugees, many of whom have been able to find grounding there after surviving life-altering violent conflict.
Facing eviction threats amid an ongoing lease dispute, a group of refugees who tend crops at the New Roots Community Farm say they’re taking matters into their own hands.
Last week, the farmers filed paperwork to form a nonprofit. Their goal: Bypass the City Heights Community Development Corp., which operates the farm on land the City of San Diego has said is city-owned, and seek permission to manage the garden themselves.
But this week the City Heights CDC made a move of its own – they told some of those farmers that by 6 p.m. Saturday their presence on the farm would be treated as criminal trespassing.
Located in one of San Diego’s most diverse neighborhoods, the farm is broadly recognized as part of a groundbreaking project that has provided a space for refugees from around the world to build community around diverse farming practices and crops.
But as inewsource reported last month, farmers have raised concerns about the City Heights CDC’s management of the project. And in recent months, they’ve also asked questions about whether the CDC has a legal right to run the farm – such as a lease or permit similar to what the farm’s founding organization executed with the city years ago. Through its attorney, the CDC told inewsource that it is operating in “good standing” with the city, but the nonprofit declined to provide any documents illustrating its right to manage the property.
The tensions came to a head last month when the nonprofit threatened to evict Fatima Abdelrahman, a farmer who often advocates for the community garden and has been featured in past news coverage.
Through fundraising and outside help, farmers submitted the paperwork for the new nonprofit, naming it San Diego New Roots.
Their mission statement reads: “To create an equitable and inclusive and safe environment that can foster relationships among people from across the world to come together and learn how to use public land to learn about agriculture, economic development, financial literacy, entrepreneurship and civic engagement.”
Scott Kelley, a San Diego State University professor who has volunteered at the farm, helped prepare the application, while the Oakland-based Sustainable Economies Law Center has helped set up governing structures and long-term plans for garnering the funds that will be needed to sustain the farm, an organizer working with the farmers said.
The farmers now await confirmation from the state on their paperwork.
But there’s no guarantee that their new nonprofit will lead to managing the farm.
A roughly 2-acre site that’s described as a public right-of-way in city records, the farm was founded and previously operated by the International Rescue Committee. In 2008, the city approved a use permit for the IRC to operate the garden. The IRC managed the farm until transferring responsibilities over to the City Heights CDC in 2020. That’s where things get confusing, and neither the city nor the CDC are answering questions.
In December, the City Heights CDC told inewsource it’s operating the farm in “good standing,” but it has not answered follow up requests for documentation or further explanation.
A city spokesperson did confirm, however, that the city does not have a lease agreement with the CDC and directed inewsource to the CDC for “all questions on the oversight and administration of the community gardens.” The city also pointed inewsource to the city code that explains permits to run community gardens.
The spokesperson also said that “once the lease with the IRC concluded, the City did not move forward with an additional lease as the City is not the underlying fee title holder of this property.”
inewsource has asked the city to explain what that means, especially for any parties looking to manage the farm, and whether the CDC has an active permit or application for one. On Thursday, the city spokesperson declined to respond to those questions and others.
Meanwhile, Abdelrahman continues to use her plot at New Roots, despite being notified that her sublease was “subject to dismissal” by the end of last year for unspecified violations of the garden code of conduct. The CDC has tried to engage her in an “informal mediation,” she says. An attorney writing on their behalf asked the CDC to provide proof it has jurisdiction over the land as a condition of any mediation. The attorney said the CDC did not provide the information and instead, on Jan. 17, told Abdelrahman to turn in her keys this Saturday.
Abdelrahman also has been involved with the formation of the farmers’ nonprofit.
“It’s been very stressful obviously, not knowing what’s gonna happen next,” said Abdelrahman’s daughter, Sahar Abdalla, translating from Arabic for her mother.
Farmers told inewsource the lack of transparency regarding the lease with the city, as well as absence of pertinent information in languages they can understand, is part of what engendered distrust toward management.
Denying all of the farmers’ allegations, the CDC has said it has made every effort to provide materials in needed languages, including attempting to have a conversation with Abdelrahman about the alleged violations with use of a translator. The CDC also said it would only discuss garden matters with sublease holders, not others. Such a move would bar her daughters – her primary translators – from joining those discussions.
With the help of the Tenant Councils of San Diego and graduate students at UC San Diego, farmers have translated inewsource’s article into Arabic, Swahili, Spanish, Thai, and Khmer — all languages spoken at the farm. They also are working on translations in Somali, Kizingua and Masalit, a language spoken in West Darfur.
Ash Kuhnert from the Tenant Councils said that in recent weeks “there’s been a pouring in of support of folks asking how they can help.”
Despite being told they must vacate the farm by Saturday, farmers as of Friday had said they plan to go ahead with a community event this weekend that has been in the works for several weeks. The event planned for this Sunday will bring together farmers and supporters of the newly formed nonprofit. The meeting will be a potluck – a longstanding tradition at the farm.
“Food brings people together,” Abdalla said.
Correction: Jan. 22, 2024
This story has been updated to correct the spelling of Sahar Abdalla’s last name.
