By Jim Bloch
“I’m baaaack.”
That’s how urban gardener Julian Ruck announced his return to the city of Port Huron during the public comment section of the regular meeting of the city council June 22.
Ruck, who had been living in Kentucky, did not return to the city by car, bus, train, plane or boat. He walked.
“Late Saturday night, I got off a bus in Detroit about 11 p.m.,” said Ruck, as heard on the recording of the council meeting posted on YouTube. “I walked down to Grand Circus Park and then got on Gratiot, pointed my pretty face northeast, and started walking. I walked 65 miles yesterday from Detroit to here. I got here about midnight, just under 24 hours of walking.”
Ruck said he would establish residency in Port Huron and run for local office in 2028.
“I have to find care for my mother (in Kentucky) to do so,” he said.
Ruck and Port Huron City Manager James Freed are locked in bitter conflict about Ruck’s urban garden on the city’s southside, Polly’s Place South Park, after having feuded for two years over the original Polly’s Place on Lapeer Avenue.
“I would like to point out we still don’t have water there,” said Ruck.
The three-parcel plot is not abandoned, he said.
In April 2024, to settle a two-year battle between the parties, Ruck agreed to sell the two parcels he owned at 1423 Lapeer Ave. and 1023 Miller Street to the city’s Neighborhood Housing Corporation. In exchange, the city would lease Ruck three vacant pieces of land on 27th Street “for the sole purpose of a community garden,” according to the resolution unanimously adopted by the council at the meeting. Ruck agreed to pay $1 per year to lease the parcels for up to 10 years.
“This is a win-win,” said Freed at the time, “both addressing the housing shortage and food insecurity.”
In September 2025, the city terminated the lease, citing a clause that allowed the city to use the land for new housing.
“It’s not abandoned,” Ruck said in June. “We’re still under contract for the next few months.”
The notice apparently gave Ruck a year to vacate the land.
“So, yeah, I’m moving back with a bit of a vengeance,” Ruck said. “Half a decade of my life has been stolen from me.”
Personal protection order
Eleven days before Ruck appeared before the city council, 31st Circuit Court Judge Dan Damman approved City Manager James Freed’s request for a personal protection order against the gardener.
The order was based on allegedly threatening emails that Ruck had sent Freed.
“The gloves are off a**holes,” Ruck wrote to Freed and the city council May 20, according to the Times Herald. “The next time you see me, I’ll be about the business of causing at least as much damage to your lives as you’ve done to mine.”
On June 3, Ruck wrote to Freed: “I guess I’m going to have to move back specifically to ruin your life. Is it really so difficult for you to be a decent human being?”
In a subsequent email, Ruck said: “I’m gonna make sure your wife and kids never forget it either. You’re an embarrassment to them.”
Ruck told Damman that he meant ruining Freed’s reputation and career, not inflicting violence on him or his family.
He appeared July 23 before Judge Damman to challenge the PPO on free speech grounds.
Meanwhile, Freed accused Ruck of violating the order.
Damman will try to sort out the conflicting claims at 1:30 p.m. Sept. 3. If Ruck is found guilty of violating the PPO, he could receive up to 93 days in jail.
Jim Bloch is a freelance writer based in St. Clair, Michigan. Contact him at bloch.jim@gmail.com.
