By Michael P. Walsh
Special to the Voice
Mayor Dorinda Borer and state Rep. Treneé McGee were joined by neighbors, city officials and volunteers to dedicate the Imani Community Garden on Aug. 13.
The flower, fruit and vegetable garden is located on city-owned property at the end of Terrace Avenue, past Glade Street next to West Haven Center for Nursing & Rehabilitation.
With dozens of residents looking on, the afternoon ceremony featured a ribbon-cutting and included remarks by Borer, McGee and 5th District Councilman Mackie McMillian, who served as the master of ceremonies.
It was attended by 4th District Councilman Gary Donovan, Planning and Zoning Commission Chairman Christopher M. Suggs, City Engineer Abdul Quadir and former 5th District Councilwoman Robbin Watt Hamilton.
The dedication included opening and closing prayers by McGee’s mother, the Rev. Denya C. McGee, the pastor of Abba’s House International Fellowship in North Branford.
It also included remarks by Damon Davis, who talked about the garden bearing his late sister’s name. His mother, Samuella Marlow, also spoke.
On June 4, 1991, 6-year-old Imani Davis-Marlow was struck and killed by a motor vehicle, just a stone’s throw from the site of the new garden.
Since that difficult time, Davis has had a dream to honor his sister’s name in a way that would leave a legacy and impact the community.
Now, 34 years later, tragedy has turned into joy as the West Haven community dedicates the garden in Imani’s memory.
“This garden is great for the community,” said Davis, who thanked Borer and Ernie Chiarelli, the city’s project coordinator, for shepherding the garden from conception to completion.
“Everybody, come on out, enjoy!” Davis said. “We have an opportunity to do something for ourselves. Let’s build this family and build this community!”
Marlow, choking back tears, then spoke about Imani, saying: “My daughter absolutely loved flowers, so the garden, to me, represents life. Thank you all for your support.”
McMillian said Davis had a vision “to create a nurturing space where the community in which Imani lived can come together and fellowship in a healthy place of healing.”
“The Imani garden is also a place where community members can interact as well as grow healthy, sustainable food that is both nutritious and life-giving,” said McMillian, whose district includes the garden.
During her remarks, Borer thanked Chiarelli for overseeing the garden’s construction and crews from the Department of Public Works for clearing the site and helping to cultivate the area for planting.
The mayor also thanked everyone who played a role in bringing the garden to fruition, including employees of West Haven Center, whose parent company, Essential Healthcare, donated $10,000 to the project.
Borer then presented Davis with a gold-plated shovel with “Imani” in black lettering, which the mayor said she personally created for her love of community gardening and to thank Davis for sharing his story and dream with the city.
“It truly does take a village,” Borer said. “It was an individual with a dream, but everybody in the community came together to make that dream a reality because so many people are going to be benefiting from this community garden for years to come.”
McGee (D-116), presented Davis and his mom with a General Assembly citation dedicating the garden.
“A garden brings the community together,” McGee said. “Statistics show us that it brings people together, that it helps the community revitalize, especially in urban, inner-city communities where people don’t have access to planting, to farming, to agricultural lifestyles.
“It also brings spiritual, emotional and nutritional health to our community.”
Chiarelli said the project started last fall. Work included running a waterline from the street, backfilling the garden with a bed of wood chips and building a shed for gardening tools, he said.
The garden’s centerpiece is the raised corrugated plastic garden beds, which house fresh-grown flowers, fruits and vegetables.
Chiarelli said the monthslong project also included new fencing, lighting and millings for parking.
Applications for garden plots are expected in March 2026 on the Department of Parks and Recreation website at https://westhavenct.myrec.com/info/default.aspx.