Rats breeding public ire near Lynn gardens

LYNN – Seventy-eight homeowners and neighbors living near Ingalls Elementary School have signed a petition seeking removal of the adjacent public vegetable garden, contending it attracts rats and gang members.But Mayor Judith Flanagan and Health Department Director Mary Ann O’Connor said Friday they believe a less drastic solution may lay in higher fencing, locked gates, nighttime illumination and surveillance cameras, amenities already in place at the Ford Elementary School food garden.The School Committee is mulling whether to renew leasing the Ingalls School garden space to The Food Project, which employs about 45 youths during the growing season. Meanwhile, resident Margarite Puleo, whose Chatham Streeet home abuts the garden, is pressing city officials to take action.Puleo, co-coordinator of Lynn Crime Watch, said the youths hanging out in the garden after dark are members of the Crips, Bloods and other street gangs in the city.”I know gang members when I see them,” she said. “I am just fed up with this. These are poor kids. They go in there to steal food and vandalize things.”Puleo said the purported gang members throw tomatoes at her home, shattering windows.”I have a bill for $488 for 10 windows broken in my home,” she said.The neighborhood advocate has also taken issue with a hay mound in the garden.”A fox lives in there. For three weeks, he was in heaven, fat as hell from eating rats,” Puleo said. “What I have to say is the truth. I don’t have to lie. I’ve been here 43 years and the bottom line is, take out the garden. Get rid of the rats and the gangs for the health and safety and peace of our neighborhood. That’s what I’m saying. That’s what the people who signed the petition are saying.”O’Connor, the local health director, said Boston municipal inspectors walked the neighborhood with Lynn city officials during the summer to assess the situation and make recommendations. Soon after, the Lynn Housing Authority & Neighborhood Development held a dumpster day, allowing area residents to reduce the amount of trash around their homes.”If the garden goes away, will the rats go away? Doubtful,” O’Connor said Friday. “The garden isn’t the only issue down there. Trash plays a big role, which is why after the tour we decided on the dumpster day. There are a lot of abandoned homes in that neighborhood because of the economy. We also began paying more attention to the sewers by increasing the number of traps.”O’Connor said Boston has many community gardens, which serve as sources of nutrition while related activities can be melded into school curriculum.”Gardens are a good thing. In Lynn, the Food Project employs kids, plus there is the nutritional piece and the educational piece. So the Health Department recommends keeping the Ingalls School garden and implementing an integrated pest management program,” she said.Kennedy, who serves as School Committee chairman, said making improvements at the garden adjacent to the Ingalls School at 1 Collins St. Terrace ? including a higher fence, locked gates and outdoor lighting, could significantly reduce the problems.Check out the poll on the main page of the Web site and look for the results in a story in the Item later this week.