Carrboro Commune members to plant garden outside CVS site

Downtown Carrboro will become a little greener after Carrboro Commune members plant medicinal herbs, flowers and vegetables as part of their Guerilla Gardening event on Saturday.

The community event is slated as a peaceful protest against a proposed CVS store at 201 N. Greensboro St. It will take place at 11 a.m. near the CVS site.

“It’s going to be a friendly day,” UNC student and Carrboro Commune member Alanna Davis said about the event, which will include crafts and face painting.

Carrboro Commune members occupied the empty building at the site in early February, which some members said was an act of protest against the proposed CVS.

Davis said she believes the CVS store is not compatible with the Carrboro Vision 2020 plan, which she said is supposed to maintain a walkable downtown.

“If the town is trying to promote biking and walking, why would we need more space for cars?” she said.

At a Carrboro Board of Aldermen meeting on Tuesday, Police Chief Carolyn Hutchison said officers won’t stand by and guard the area, but they will arrest people who trespass on the property.

“Everything will be dependent on the behavior of the people who come to the event,” she said.

CVS developers built a fence at the site in response to February’s protest.

“It’s very obvious that the owners of the property do not want unauthorized people on the property,” Hutchison said.

She said she hopes the police department won’t have to take action.

Davis said they will plant in the space outside the fence and on the land at 203 N. Greensboro St. In a press release, Carrboro Commune said it hopes to transform the adjacent lot into a community resource.

“I believe that we understand what the laws are, and the law enforcement understands what message we’re trying to convey,” Davis said. “The intent of this is certainly not to make it about the police and the interaction with the police.”

Croatan Earth First!, a movement that characterizes itself as committed to action and eco-justice, has partnered with the commune to host the event.

Both groups are showing opposition to the proposed CVS and Monsanto, an international agricultural biotechnology company that specializes in genetically engineered crops. Saturday is a national day of action against Monsanto.

“Part of Carrboro Commune’s mission is to increase awareness of what we eat and where that food comes from and how to find a better system,” Davis said.

Members of the Earth First movement will hold teach-ins about Monsanto practices, medicinal plants and other environmental issues.

“It is very close to the heart of what Carrboro is,” Carrboro Commune member James Wilson said of the event.

Davis said she hopes to get more community members involved in the Carrboro Commune movement.

“We’re going to continue with our mission, and I expect a lot of other like-minded organizations will get involved as well,” she said.

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