REMARKS
MOUA's strategy for balancing urban agriculture with other city needs
0:54:24
·
164 sec
Qiana Mickie outlines MOUA's strategy for integrating urban agriculture with other city priorities and addressing multiple needs simultaneously.
- MOUA aims to use urban agriculture as a solution for multiple city needs
- The office is refining urban agriculture criteria to minimize conflicts with other land uses
- MOUA is exploring innovative approaches, such as the agrivoltaics pilot, to maximize land use efficiency
- Mickie emphasizes that housing and urban agriculture can coexist, promoting an intersectional approach to environmental, racial, and economic equity
Qiana Mickie
0:54:24
Okay.
0:54:25
There's a few questions there, and I will try to unpack.
0:54:30
For the one of our priorities for the Office of Urban Agriculture is to identify the both and.
0:54:37
Meaning, how do we use urban agriculture to be a solution for multiple needs that the city is trying to address?
0:54:45
So in terms of looking at city owned property, that is where the underutilized piece comes in.
0:54:53
And this is why it's taking a little bit longer to look at the urban act criteria in order to build that and refine it so we minimize any conflicts.
0:55:02
And ensuring that what we're looking at are not sites that were identified now or later for other uses and needs because the city has multiple.
0:55:12
But we do feel that food is one of those quite, critical elements.
0:55:16
So that's why, our initiatives are focused on looking at land, economic opportunity, community, impact as well as, the intersections of both.
0:55:27
So one of the impetus of the agri agrivolutates pilot was to help address that While we're looking at city owned land, you know, in the current inventory, are we also building other, pilots that can say, look up, not just down?
0:55:44
Are we looking at places that we can grow indoor and and and on rooftops, and all those different ways so we can still grow food, but still address the needs?
0:55:54
Because to us, housing is going to be an issue, but you can have housing and growing.
0:55:59
Yeah.
0:55:59
We can have housing and climate resiliency.
0:56:02
We shouldn't see it as siloed.
0:56:04
We see ourselves as an office that could work into, well and collaborate into agency to help inform how to bring that intersectional environmental, racial, and economic equity lens to work that's already moving at other agencies.
0:56:17
So I think in that way, to answer the question, I don't see our work moving forward to be in conflict.
0:56:24
If anything, it helps support identify how to better utilize land that maybe hasn't, and different ways to meet multiple needs.
0:56:32
But, to speak on executive for executive order 43, we understand, and hear the community's concerns around this executive order.
0:56:45
Currently, as an office of urban agriculture, we haven't heard of any particular plans as of yet, that the city is going to displace gardens as a result.
0:56:54
But again, we feel that growing space is critical.
0:56:57
That's why we're looking at it in different ways, and we're exploring innovative approaches to continue
Alex Paulenoff
0:57:01
to support the
Qiana Mickie
0:57:01
facilitation of urban ag of the facilitation of urban ag of, models in that in the city.
0:57:05
Thank you, chair.
0:57:05
Thank you so much.
0:57:06
I'd like to recognize that we've
