My wife holds some position of power in our community garden. I'm not sure what the title of the position is, nor do I know the exact responsibilities. She's usually "dealing" with some garden-related issue: shared hoses and tools, mulch, water, a poison hemlock outbreak, etc. It sounds pretty taxing.
She also has to "deal" with rule-breakers: folks who don't abide by the new social distancing rules, folks who tie things to the fence, folks who don't tend their plot . . . folks who don't respect the ethos of the garden. The community garden is a wonderful institution, and it deserves respect. I'm pretty sure she's got some muscle to help her with this, a lady who is a lawyer by day and a garden enforcer in her spare time.
Last week, my friend (who I will call Jack Woltz for the sake of anonymity) was damn close to getting a violation. Weeds were running rampant in his plot. But instead of issuing Jack a violation, my wife made him an offer he couldn't refuse.
She told him our boys-- who do odd jobs, if anyone is looking to hire them-- would weed his garden for ten dollars an hour. If Jack hired them, the violation would disappear.
Is this racketeering?
It looks like your plot is a little fucked up . . . but I've got a couple guys who can fix that, for the right price . . . and if you need "protection" for your produce-- because it would be a shame if anything happened to those cucumbers-- we could arrange that as well.
Jack wisely paid the boys (and gave them a little extra to curry favor). My boys informed him that there was some poison ivy in his plot as well. The boys weren't equipped to remove that. If he wants that removed, it will cost extra.
As much as my wife loves control and power, and though she wields it effectively, she swears that she's done with this position. She just wants to focus on growing her vegetables and keeping her plot neat. But every time she tries to get out, the garden pulls her back in!
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