Help Andrew Make A Fruit Park

I live in Meriden Connecticut, a poor, dense city of about 59,000 people. It was once a rich factory town, but the high paying factory jobs are long gone, and the crumbling urban core of the city is populated by a lot of low-income people who eat horribly, and suffer from the diseases that follow that.

During my daily runs though the city I see these empty grass-filled lots spread periodically between the two and three-family houses.

They're there because as those houses fall into disrepair, the city ends up buying them up and tearing them down. Now they're just wastelands of grass.

I want to make them oases of fruit.

Some of the lots are less than an acre, but some are almost two.

I've been dreaming about what I could do with them if they were in my hands. Apples, pears, peaches, persimmons, cherries, blueberries, ....maybe even paw paws. Whatever I like (that grows in zone 6a).

Over a year has passed since I first had the idea, but here's the thing- the city won't give one guy permission to work on these lots. You need legitimacy, and today I found it.

I sold the new president of the local Lions Club on my idea for a fruit park. She loves it and agreed to support my proposal. So now I'm going to put together a concrete plan a go before the city council in a month or so and try to sell them on it too.

Here's my thinking. I need to convince them that it will cause them no trouble, but will help the population.

I'll mention how this is a low cost way of providing the population with thousands of dollars of healthy food for practically nothing.

I don't want them to give me, or the lions club, the land, but keep it themselves. I just want permission to plant trees there. I'm only asking for one piece, and if it's successful I can go back and ask for more.

The city has this weird thing about hating trees. Full-sized trees get big and the roots rip up the side walks and the branches take down power lines during storms. They're constantly tearing them down, and so I don't want them to object on these grounds.

So here's my selling point - dwarf and semi dwarf rootstocks for my fruit trees. They only grow to 6-10 ft, and they won't take down any power lines. You can also plant more of the small trees, get more variety, and more fruit per square foot.

Another selling point is that it won't cost the city anything to plant. I'm going to try to get the trees donated. I'm even willing to buy some myself.

The park will be open for picking by all, but I'll get the Lions club to pick the rest and give it to the soup kitchen or other groups that help the needy.

I've got one particular property in mind that is longer than it is wide. I'm thinking maybe it's a little over an acre, but I'll find out for certain from one of my frequently-quoted sources (I work at a newspaper) in the economic development office. So I should know how big exactly soon.

I thinking I would have a path gong down the middle of the property, and surrounding this this I would have some sort of arbor. Growing on these I would have grapes and other climbing fruit.

On the outside edge of the arbours would be berry bushes, and further out I would have perhaps two dozen dwarf fruit trees.

It's a rough plan, but I can change it as needed.

My question is, has anyone attempted anything like this before? I know most of the city councilors because I talk to them for stories pretty often, but I don't know the first thing about soliciting donations from nurseries or making up a proposal.

1) I'm probably going to have to run this by the city's Parks and Recreation Director, so if I had stats on the fact that other parks have fruit trees, that would help. What do I tell them about cleaning up fruit fallen to the ground? I imagine they'll think that it will rot and attract pests. Any advice on what to tell them about tree maintenance appreciated.

2) Do you have a list of fruit trees that grow in zone 6A? Besides the normal apples, peaches, plums, nectarines, and cherries, I was thinking of adding American persimmons, and maybe paw paws, though I've never seen paw paws on dwarf rootstock. I'd love any unusual varieties you might be able to think of.

3) I'm going to have to buy or have donated all of these trees/bushes/vines. Are you aware of any nurseries that might be willing to donate to the project?

If you have some other suggestions, I'd love to hear them too.