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From Potholes to Produce: Ithaca's Community Beautification Brigade Transforms the City

Updated: Feb 15


Ithaca, N.Y. — A novel solution to Ithaca's pothole problem has been found, and it involves a little bit of green. The city's Community Beautification Program and the Beautification Brigade are filling the city's potholes with edible plants, creating what they call "food roadways".


These low-maintenance, sustainable arrangements of edible plants are designed to mimic natural ecosystems and provide a pesticide-free source of food for the city's underserved hungry residents. Comprised mostly of perennial plants, there's no need for tilling, weeding, fertilizing, or irrigation.