Mayor Annise Parker today launched the City Hall Victory Garden at Tranquillity Park. This is the second phase of the Mayor’s local food initiative that will encourage vegetable and rain gardens to be built throughout Houston.

“The City Hall Victory Garden is another opportunity to bring citizens into the city-wide sustainability strategy – to make Houston a greener and healthier place to live and work,” said Mayor Annise Parker. “The City of Houston is leading by example, demonstrating how easy and affordable it can be to build a container garden.”

The Victory Garden will offer Houstonians ideas, resources and information they need to make healthier choices about food consumption and production. In addition, the garden will enhance the quality of urban downtown, not only for residents who are increasingly moving to downtown, but also the staff who work downtown every day.

“In addition to the health, environmental and economic benefits, the vegetable gardens also create a community,” said Mayor Parker. “The Victory Garden will enhance staff work experiences, making Houston a better place to live and work.”

This is an important expansion of Mayor Parker’s local food initiative. The City's first vegetable container garden was built in June 2010 at the Bob Lanier Public Works Building, highlighting local produce and educating Houstonians about the ease of maintaining a vegetable garden in any type of environment.

The Mayor was joined by Fast Food Nation author and film producer Eric Schlosser, who was on hand to celebrate Houston’s promotion of local food. The Mayor’s office was also joined by many organizations and volunteers to build and plant the Victory Garden. Those included the City of Houston Parks and Recreation Department, Public Works and Engineering, Urban Harvest, Keep Houston Beautiful, Asakura Robinson, Fischer Schalles Associates, Texas AgriLife, University of Houston Downtown Environmental Club, HEB, Nature’s Way Resources, San Jacinto Environmental, Thompson and Hanson, and Scotts.