Open Government, or just Reasonable Government?
It is much more usual for local government to operate from a position of, at best, indifference, or at worst active opposition to unregistered street gardens.
Yarra council, by contrast, had the prescience to totally reverse its negative stance (with the help of some popular opposition to help them change their minds), and to come out in support not merely of a single garden but of guerilla gardens across the municipality.
I've had this story about guerilla gardening sitting open for a while on my computer. What I like about it is that as much as its win for the guerilla gardeners, its also a win for all kinds of civic 'hackers' (like the GovHack'ers). I think it also says that, and speaking from the relative comfort of Australia, that perhaps what we need in this country isn't so much open government in its most radical sense, but just some 'reasonable government' that won't block innovation, experimentation and volunteer action without a really good reason. Then interesting things can happen.
Hat tip to David Gravina.
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