I walked into the open gate at the Santos community garden space with my three-year-old and was asked very politely to leave. Apparently the space is no longer open to the public. Staff mentioned that they are most likely not going to open it up to the public again.
Since the floods it has been too muddy. Before that it was Covid. It seems to me an easy remedy – have a little sign saying ‘please keep off the mud’. They had a similar sign out the front during Covid.
The rest of the space is a built-up deck with tables and chairs, and is an inviting space for little people and big people to have a break. It’s a good place to feed your baby or sit and have lunch, or have a quiet space to recover from a panic attack. It has been a space I have used for the 20 years I’ve lived here, to sit and just be around some trees. I had lunch there every day when I worked there. It seems a shame to cut it off from the public, especially considering that Santos was founded by the people, for the people.
It is these little things that make a town and gives it its heart.
