Thursday, August 5, 2010

Community Gardeners Fear New Rules - Protest At City Hall

A chard-wielding community gardener, Yonette Fleming, protests proposed city gardening rules outside City Hall.
Community gardener, Yonette Fleming, protested proposed city gardening rules outside City Hall yesterday.
(Photo: Keith Bedford for The New York Times)

City-Wide

Members of a citywide community garden group and the City Council speaker,Christine C. Quinn ,called upon the Bloomberg administration on Wednesday to help make permanent hundreds of community gardens scattered across the city, according to the New York Times.

About 75 members of the group, called the New York City Community Garden Coalition, gathered on the steps of City Hall, some waving signs, others holding aloft beets, bunches of carrots, eggplants and ears of corn. They said that rules recently drafted by the Department of Parks and Recreation and theDepartment of Housing Preservation and Development did not offer enough protection to some 300 city-owned gardens spread across the five boroughs.

City officials vigorously disagreed, saying the rules proposed by the agencies were meant to benefit the gardens, but added that the language in those rules could perhaps be adjusted to assuage concerns.

Ms. Quinn and Melissa Mark-Viverito, a councilwoman representing districts in Upper Manhattan and the South Bronx, joined the gardeners.

“We are here today to say that we want our community gardens to become a permanent part of New York City,” Ms. Quinn told the crowd. “We want to end garden existence in a state of limbo.”

Both Ms. Quinn and Karen Washington, the president of the garden coalition, praised the city for its willingness to have an open discussion about the future of the gardens.

“However,’’ Ms. Washington said, “the consensus of our coalition membership is that the proposed rules and regulations don’t go far enough in protecting and creating more community gardens.”

Read More: 

New York Times City Room - August 4, 2010 - By Colin Moynihan

The Wall Street  Journal - August 5, 2010 - By Melanie Grayce West

MSNBC - August 4, 2010 - By Maria Eugenia Miranda 

Am NY - August 4, 2010 - By Heather Haddon

A Walk In The Park - August 2, 2010  

New York Times - August 1, 2010  - By Colin Moynihan

1 comment:

  1. Please visit the Red Gate Community Garden flickr page. Our problems with this issue are as sordid as they get. Please support us.
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/mouseybrowns/sets/72157623923607650/

    ReplyDelete