Niagara Falls, New York (WIVB) – A family at Niagara Falls claims that the City Department of Public Affairs destroyed their family garden the day after Easter.
“I suppose we were notified by DPW that we had violations according to the new regulation, we never received anything and they appeared and took all our garden beds,” said Justin Burger. “According to the DPW director, he says they came out, they had a complaint on March 21, they came out on April 3 and then we were marked. An announcement that seemed to have left the stairs on my porch or my door. No one has ever knocked, I guess they have sent a letter; I have never received a letter.”
Burger said that they had hired their home for the last five years and that their garden began after their son brought home to a school for raising sunflowers and then began to grow zucchini, pumpkin, green beans, watermelon and more.
She said she was at work when she received a call from her fiancée that the police and the ministry of public affairs had torn their front yard and removed objects from their backyard.
“I think they fix the hole on the pot or the hanging tree that died there. No, they parked in front of my house and destroyed my garden,” said Kenneth Wayne Johnson, John, who was home at the time. “They just came and took everything before we could do anything.”
Burger said he understands some of the alleged violations.
“They said everything – from the sidewalk to the easement, which we realized that we somehow knew it could happen, but then they said that they were moving logs – we had a bunch of logs that were facing the house – they said it was a violation,” Burger said. “The refrigerator in the backyard they took was a violation because we did not have the doors from the refrigerator, which I could understand. They said that the bricks and blocks of the grill were a danger, they just said danger.”
Still, Burger is devastated. She said they couldn’t restore the garden to the way they keep it “90% of the time”.
“Because we do the garden every year, we are here as early as possible, cleaning and preparing for the new season. We start seedlings in our house and then transfer them to the garden so that our beds were already cleaned, it was just dirt surrounded by the cement barriers,” Burger said. “They have until May to clean holes before we can charge them for our vehicles – why do we have no residents until mid -May to clean our yards?”
The family told them that they were told that they had violated the “pure neighborhood ordinance”, which was adopted at Niagara Falls in September. WIVB News 4 addressed the administrative office of Niagara Falls on Tuesday to check that any of the city would be available to speak or release a statement about this story and claims. The service said no one was available, but plans to release a full time line and a statement about it on Wednesday.
“I understood what they are trying to do, I understand that we definitely have a huge problem with the accumulation of garbage and similar things, but the biggest problems are in the alleys, in the center of the city, I feel that it is over,” Burger said. “I feel like it wasn’t a bunch of junk and junk and pizza boxes and things lying in my yard. It was a garden.”
The family said they were fined $ 2300 for the cost of removing the garden.
“I can’t afford it,” Burger said. “I have it unemployed from a work injury in September at the top of inflation, we cannot afford $ 2300.”
Burger said they had seen great support from the community, along with donations. They also have gofundme to help them pay the fine. They plan to restore the garden.
“I just want to know what the exact rules are before they come and take it again,” Burger said. “Everyone who knows that we do every year that walks and actually lives on our block is very supportive.”
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Hope Winter is a reporter and multimedia journalist who is part of the News 4 team of 2021. See more than her work hereS
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