LUNGS aims to promote and preserve Lower East Side gardens

LUNGS — Loisaida United Neighborhood Gardens — is a new group to, as the flyer shows, "work to promote, protect and preserve gardening and greening on the Lower East Side." First meeting: Saturday afternoon at 1 in the garden at 311 E. Eighth St.

Welcome

The tropics of East Third Street

During this afternoon's storm. Via A Scouting Life.

Learn how to rat-proof your garden tonight

It's spring, and the battleships are in full bloom

At the KenKeleba House Sculpture Garden on East Third Street. Photo by Bobby Williams.

El Jardin del Paraiso, 8:42 a.m., March 13

[At El Jardin del Paraiso on East Fourth Street between Avenue C and D.]

Today in East Village wildlife shots

From EV Grieve Wildlife Correspondent Bobby Williams... At El Jardin del Paraiso community garden on East Fourth Street between Avenue C and D...

Previously.

Inside El Jardín del Paraíso

East Fifth Street between Avenue C and Avenue D. More info on the community garden's history here.

[Photo by Bobby Williams]

InGardens Concert Series this afternoon

First up....

First Street Garden (between First and Second Avenue)
1:30 pm: William Parker's Segments of Light for 15 Bassists
3 pm : Rob Brown, Gerald Cleaver + William Parker
4 pm : Josh Roseman Group - Josh Roseman (trombone), Peter Apfelbaum (bass organ/sax), Jonathan Goldberger (guitar), David Treut (drums)

The whole schedule is here.

New community garden rules lack preservation, permanence

Above, Esperanza Community Garden bulldozed in February 2000 on Seventh Street near Avenue C to make way for the East Village Gardens condo.



Time's Up! has released a statement on the city's new garden rules:

The same week the Parks Department cut down 56 trees to make way for Fashion Week, the City released new garden regulations with almost no notice, no community support, and no commitment to permanently preserve the community gardens. Despite overwhelming community support to preserve our parks and community gardens, the City's new rules fail to protect them, and in fact expose each and every one to transfer and development. New Yorkers love their parks and community gardens and for years have fought to protect them, preserve them and keep them open to the public. These green spaces play a vital role in the mental, physical and emotional health of our City's residents and play an ever increasingly important role in our City's environmentally sustainable future.

Importantly, the new rules violate the City’s 2002 agreement with the Attorney General. The City has ignored the permanent status of 198 gardens and has not done a State Environmental Quality Review of the gardens, both required under the 2002 Settlement Agreement

Under the new rules, you can lose your garden for a myriad of reasons — noise complaints, incidents that occur adjacent to gardens, and or failure to maintain "good standing". Gardens can now go into accelerated default for breaking any city, state or federal rules, or failing to renew their license, or registration.

These new rules police the gardens and chill the community’s ability to hold events. Already, gardens are reluctant to hold events for fear of noise complaints. Under the new rules, you can go into accelerated default for playing guitar and having a beer, yet you can enjoy a glass of wine on the great lawn in Central Park while listening to an orchestra.

The new rules establish a division between gardens in good and bad standing, establishing a mechanism for the hyper-regulation and control of public space. Before these new rules, you just needed a license, now if you do not have one, your garden can be bulldozed.

Read the rest here.

Meanwhile, enjoy the city demolishing various community gardens...

Save our gardens

The East Villager checks in with an editorial on the preservation of our community gardens:

Why must the community gardens continue to be a battleground? Clearly, these green oases have become such integral parts of our communities. They provide so many benefits — to our health and nutrition (cleaning our air, yielding fruits, vegetables and herbs), to our sanity, to our quality of life and the very livability of our neighborhoods. All of that must surely be abundantly clear by now to our mayor and our Parks commissioner.

Read the whole editorial here. Read garden advocate Ben Shepard's piece on the matter on The Huffington Post.

Previously.

Community gardens reminder

From the Time's Up Save Our Gardens Action Group:

The next public event is tomorrow at 11 a.m. at Chelsea Rec Center, 430 W. 25th St. We will convene for our rally at 10:30. There is much planning and coordinating that needs to happen to keep our momentum and success going...

Come to the Planning Meeting tonight at 7 at ABC No Rio. At that meeting, committees will be formed so we can better mobilize and spread out the fun. Please come prepared to sign up for a committee — things are moving very fast!! The Gardens need everyone's participation. The committees suggested thus far are:

1. Fundraising - grant writing - North Star Emergency Grants
2. Media/Press/Social Networking
3. Communications and Fliers
4. Props/Banner/ Art Committee
5. Photos and Video Committee
6. Food/Dumpster Divers Committee.
7. Legal Committee
8. Event Planning

Protecting community gardens: Sunflower Jess climbs a tree and gets arrested

Here's some video of Sunflower Jess getting arrested for climbing a tree in City Hall Park during Time's Up! Harvest Day of Action to Save the Community this morning...



(Here's the press release on the Harvest Day.)

...and here is video of the Paul Revere ride from last Thursday that started in Tompkins Square Park...



Previously on EV Grieve:
Protect our community gardens

Paul Revere ride under way

Organized by Times Up!, a group of 20-30 cyclists have just left Tompkins Square Park for a peaceful ride to help bring awareness to the city's endangered community gardens...




Before things got started, though, the 9th Precienct paid a visit and spoke with organizer Benjamin Shepard ... who said that his wife would kill him if he ended up in central booking tonight...



The cops left them go, but stuck around...

Here's a story on the ride from the Daily News today.


[Photo via the Daily News]

And here's what's at stake.

The developers are coming! The developers are coming!

There are are several upcoming events to help publicize the threat facing community gardens in the East Village and other areas of NYC ... the agreement protecting various gardens from developers expires in September...

So! If you want to get involved, here are some activities planned by Time's Up Save Our Gardens Action Group:

1. Paul Revere Ride "Get Your Horse Head On" Prop-Making Session, tonight at 6, Generation X Garden (Fourth Street between Avenues B and C)

2. Paul Revere Ride -- The Developers Are Coming, Thursday at 7 p.m. -- meet at Tompkins Square Park

3. Save Our Garden Celebration/BBQ -- Saturday, 4 p.m., Generation X Garden (Fourth Street between Avenues B and C)

4. Harvest Day Rally at City Hall (in conjunction with other garden groups' press conference), Monday at 10 or 11 a.m. (exact time and location TBA)

5. Proposed Rules Public Hearing/rally, Aug. 10, 10:30 a.m. rally before 11 public hearing (Tuesday), Chelsea Rec center, 430 W. 25th St.

If you want to speak at this public hearing, then e-mail Laura Velle at Laura.LaVelle@parks.nyc.gov and write, "I intend to make a statement at the August 10Public Hearing on the Parks and HPD Rules for Community Gardens. Please add my name to the list of speakers." Deadline is Aug. 9.

Also! The Daily News is doing a story on the gardens and Paul Revere ride. They will do a photo shoot for the story this morning at 11 at the Generation X Garden. Per the organizers: "If you can dress as Paul Revere (like have a three-corn hat) that's great, but not necessary. Please arrive by 10:45."

CB3 parks overrun by rats; lack toilets

We've been writing about the threat facing community gardens ... the agreement protecting various gardens from developers expires in September...

The matter will be discussed tonight during the full Community Board 3 meeting...

6:30 pm
IS 131 — 100 Hester St. (between Eldridge and Forsyth streets)

Information about the community gardens portion is in CB3 agenda statement ... meanwhile, few other things caught my eye while reading the agenda:

Parks/Recreation/Cultural Affairs/Landmarks

• Community Board 3, like most districts in the City, does not meet the City Planning Commission's guidelines for per capita open space. The open space/population ratio is approximately 0.7 acres per 1000 people. By comparison, the Governor's Open Space Report recommended 2.5 acres per 1000, and New York City averages 1.5 acres. The open space that we do have is not evenly distributed throughout the district. The area west of Avenue A and the Chinatown area lack adequate open space. Compounding this deficiency is the increased use of existing parks by individuals and groups for organized events from both inside and outside the community. Increasingly, groups from outside of our district are using Community Board 3 parks. While we do not seek to exclude outside groups from our parks, we do feel that priority should be given to local groups. ... The Community Board insists on policies that foster the most open use of facilities by residents of the community while respecting safety concerns. Any agreements between Parks and other entities should be brought to Community Board 3 prior to finalization.

• A few community gardens have been transferred to the Parks Department, but at the same time, the fate of many others is still uncertain. For sites not being transferred to the Parks Department, the City should consider transferring them to local community organizations that can maintain the locations as permanent open community space. Once open space is lost to development, it is very unlikely that it will ever be replaced.



• Community Board 3 parks have continued to be overrun with rats year after year. This is aggravated by some specific conditions such as the underground space beneath Peter Cooper Park and the dense grass coverage on the Essex strip at Seward Park. Although the grasses are beautiful visually, they must be replaced so that the park can be better baited and maintained. The Parks Department has only one full time exterminator, which does not allow for adequate baiting. Although many of the Parks staff has been trained to meet the need of more extermination, they do not have the years of experience and expertise that comes with experience. More full time experienced extermination and staff to maintain and clean the parks is necessary to protect the health and public safety of the community. Until it has enough staff to adequately deal with the problem, Parks should work with the Health Department for regular and frequent baiting.

• Parks also needs improved procedures for park event permits. Community groups complain that information and approvals are not communicated in a timely manner. The Community Board has suggested that small, non-recurring events, such as school end-of-year parties and similar events, be handled in an expedited manner. A birthday party for 3-year olds may not necessitate review by Parks.

• Toilets in Community Board 3 parks and playgrounds are badly needed. There are several locations of which the Parks Department is already aware, but some of the longest standing needs are the toilets in Luther Gulick Park, Corlears Hook Park, and Sol Lain Parks. The lack of functioning toilets in this park is exacerbated by its proximity to the East River Park amphitheatre. The numerous concerts in the amphitheatre and the continuing overflow of pedestrians through Corlears during concert season suggests that Parks make this a higher priority. Since 2008, Parks has not yet advised CB3 of any progress concerning toilets.

Reminders tonight: Community Garden Planning Meeting

Time: 7 PM
Location: ABC No Rio, 156 Rivington St., between Clinton and Suffolk Streets, First Floor
Summary: The community gardens are up for review again and we need to come up with some strategies to save them.



From the meeting notice:

Throughout Times Up's! long history, we have always been educating the city about the benefits of community gardens. Our volunteers and supporters have continuously been involved with protecting, saving, maintaining and creating new ones.

Years ago, Time's Up! and the More Gardens coalition were working together diligently to protect gardens. In an important campaign at the Esperanza Community Garden on 7th Street, we were involved in a two month, 24 hour encampment, complete with lock downs, a working press team, and a legal team.

When the city decided to destroy the Esperanza Community Garden with backing from Donald Capoccia, a serial garden killer, on February 15th, 2000, Time's Up! and More Gardens had helped assemble over 100 people inside the garden. Dozens were locked to cement blocks and decorative towers.

In addition to the lock downs, garden activists sought the help of Attorney General Eliot Spitzer to save the garden. As the garden was being threatened, the activists working with Spitzer rushed this case to Justice Richard D. Huttner of State Supreme Court in Brooklyn. As Huttner was ruling, the city went ahead anyway and demolished Esperanza Gardens.

With news of the destruction reaching court, Huttner awarded temporary restraining orders and his ruling blocked the city from moving against 174 lots until the court was to meet again in a month. Although we lost the Esperanza Garden, the campaign was successful as we heightened the awareness and importance to save all of the gardens that were on the citys auctioning block. The number of lots that received restraining orders was increased to up to 200 more with the 2002 Spitzer Agreement.

Unfortunately, this temporary restraining order is up for review this year. Lets work together with the community and protect these gardens for good!

And here is a news release on the matter.

Save our community gardens from bulldozers and condos

Also, please note there has been a change in location for the Aug. 10 citywide meeting on the topic:

Attend the public hearing on the proposed rules on Aug. 10 at Chelsea Recreation Center at 430 W. 25th St. at 11 a.m., and speak in favor of protection for community gardens. If you would like to testify, then please notify Associate Counsel, Laura LaVelle, via telephone at 212-360-1335 or e-mail at laura.lavelle@parks.nyc.gov by Aug. 9.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Protect our community gardens

Protect our community gardens

Below is a list of steps to take NOW in the fight to save our gardens:

1.Call and write your City Council member and tell him/her to "permanently preserve our community gardens by passing a law designating our community gardens as parkland." For complete City Council Member contact information go here.

2. Attend the Aug. 10 Public Hearing of the Department of Parks & Recreation and Department of Housing Preservation and Development's Proposed Rules governing Green Thumb Community Gardens at the Chelsea Recreation Center. Time to be announced soon. Check out the Parks Department's website for hearing details.

Here's the New York Times article discussing these proposed
rules.

3. Hand out the Save Our Gardens flier: download here.

4. Spread the word. Ask your friends, family and everyone who enjoys our gardens take each of the above steps.

SPREAD THE WORD.