TOLEDO - Thomas Jackson wants to grow food on the lots he purchased in his downtown Toledo neighborhood.

He wants to sell that food to restaurants and give it away in his community.

He's trying to solve the so called *food desert* problem, but he's running to opposition.

Jackson owns 21 lots around Milburn Avenue. The ground is frozen and mulch covered now but the rest of the year the lots are green and colorful.

Jackson told 13abc reporter Bill Hormann, "When we bought the lots, there was all kinds of junk trees on the lots, garbage, debris. We cleared them up and we've been cutting these lots for 7-8 years before we did any of this stuff to them."

His dream is to turn more than 2-acres into urban farmland. But he needs to build up the dirt 3-feet, "so that when the vegetables do grow their roots don't grow through the new soil and come in contact with the old soil."

So Jackson is piling mulch on his growing fields but there are problems.

Tyrone Riley, a Toledo city councilman says neighbors are complaining. "The problem is," he says, "the rodents, the insects and the odor."

A handful of neighbors complained about Thomas' project and the city found 30 violations-- like shrubs planted too close to the street.

Ultimately, the housing court ordered Thomas to remove all the mulch from 12 of his lots but Thomas got a judge to stay that order for now.

Riley is sympathetic, to a point. "I think that's great if that's what he intends to do but I did not see any fruits and vegetables."

But neighbor Andrea Meadows is firmly on Thomas' side. She says, "We have yet to smell an odor. We have yet to see a rat."

Andrea sees Thomas as trying to turn something blighted into something good.

She told 13abc, "If they hadn't torn down the lots then it would be littered with trash, people dumping tires, car parts."

Thomas has invested tens of thousands of dollars in this project and he doesnt understand why the city is fighting him.

"I have no idea why they are not trying to go green, he says.

Thomas says removing that mulch would be expensive and would essentially kill his plan to grow food for the neighborhood.

He says the Green Party is trying to develop some ordinances that council could consider to make help make Thomas's vision come true.