PASADENA : Groundbreaking Set on Community Garden

City officials, along with residents of the Villa-Parke area of Pasadena, will break ground Saturday on a community garden on a residential lot that was once plagued by drug and gang activity.

The city is leasing the 5,000-square-foot lot at 555 N. Summit Ave. for $1 a year from its owner, who did not want to be identified. Residents will be able to sign up at the 9 a.m. groundbreaking for 10-by-17-foot plots, which may be used to grow vegetables and flowers, a city official said.

The site of the community garden was once the location of a house plagued by drug and gang activity. The property was fire-bombed in 1985 and the target of arson two year later, officials said. The house was demolished in 1990. Recently, the lot had become a dumping ground for old mattresses and other debris.