Garden Preservation Update! April 24, 1998 On April 24, 1998 Mayor Rudolph Giuliani ordered the cancellation of all the leases on 741 GreenThumb community gardens in all five NYC boroughs --he then requested transfer of the land to the department of Housing,Preservation andDevelopment (HPD), according to a fax memorandum issued by HPD. This mandate immediately threatens almost all of the nearly 800 community gardens citywide with destruction for development plans. The City Land Committee may approve the transfer as soon as May 8th. The Mayor is trying to destroy over 90 acres -and perhaps as high as 200 acres - of green space, an area two to four times as large as the 52 acre Brooklyn Botanical Garden. As half of the 776 gardens were already targeted for development in Mayor's mandate of 1996, the new mandate now targets every garden throughout New York City! This leaves only a handful of non-Green Thumb gardens and the 32 community gardens which have either been transferred into parks already or purchased by land trusts. The immediate transfer of 741 gardens to HPD for housing and commercial development is an outrage, when there are 14,000 truly vacant lots that can be used for housing without targeting the gardens. There are 30,000 community gardeners in New York City and 1/2 million residents who directly benefit and use the gardens. It makes little sense to destroy the efforts of New York City's community minded volunteers who transformed the City's neglect that left a wasteland in the 1970's, into thriving oases of nature, culture, and positive community life! The City has failed to acknowledge after 20 years, that these gardens have become more than temporary use of vacant land. These gardens have transformed neighborhoods riddled with abandoned buildings and neglected rubble-strewn vacant lots that had become dens of crime, drugs, and toxic waste. People worked together out of their own volunteer initiative to improve their neighborhood, planting trees, flowers and vegetable gardens. Over the past quarter of a century these gardens have also grown into more than needed green open space, they have become living multi-cultural community centers bringing people from diverse backgrounds together in neighborhoods that are often divided racially and culturally. As the City slashes the budget for social services and cultural programs, these gardens are providing millions of dollars worth of services free of cost to the city. IMPORTANT GARDEN EMERGENCY EVENTS TO ATTEND: Monday May 4, RALLY PRESS CONFERENCE 11:30 am City Hall Steps called by Council Member Tom Duane Mon, May 4, 8:30 PM. Garden Crisis Coverage, Manhattan Cable Channel 34, Treebranch-on-Air. Wednesday May 6, 6-8pm RALLY- Giuliani attending awards ceremony event City Museum of New York, 103rd and Fifth Friday May 8, 6-8pm Leica Gallery, 670 Broadway Gallery opening of Mayor Giuliani's favorite photos of New York City. Bring photos/signs of your gardens!!! Sunday May 24, 10am-6pm 8th Annual Rites of Spring: Procession to Save Our Gardens, Lower East Side, NYC starts: 10am Forsyth Street Garden Club (Forsyth bet. Broome and Delancy) Call (212) 777-7969 to volunteer and for complete route and schedule WRITE * CALL* FAX * YOUR LOCAL AND CITY ELECTED OFFICIALS Letters in support of the NYC community gardens should be sent to: PLEASE ALSO SEND/FAX COPIES OF LETTERS TO: New York City Coalition for the Preservation of Gardens 638 East Sixth Street, 3rd floor New York, NY 10009 Tel: (212) 777-7969 Fax: (212) 505-7303 KEY CITY-WIDE OFFICIALS: MAYOR RUDOLPH GIULIANI City Hall New York, NY 10007 T: 212/788-3000 Fax: 212/406-3587 DEPUTY MAYOR RANDY MASTRO T: (212) 788-3137 Fax (212) 788-3142 Hon Richard T. Roberts Commissioner Housing Preservation and Development 100 Gold Street New York, NY 10038 T: 212/863-6100 Fax (212) 267-2565 Ms. Mary Bolton Commissioner of Planning and Policy, Housing Preservation & Development 100 Gold Street, New York, NY 10038 T: 212/863-8492 Fax: 212/863-8504 Mr. Peter Vallone City Council, Speaker 250 Broadway, New York, NY 10007 T: 212/788-7210 Fax: 212/788-7207 Subject: Re: PETITION IN SUPPORT OF NYC'S GARDENS Date: Mon, 15 Feb 1999 19:15:25 -0500 From: myla Thank you so much for your support of NYC gardens! The response has been so overwhelming that the petition site has been moved from its original address to a web site that can support the high volume of respondants. With 14,000 empty, buildable lots in New York City and only 750 community gardens, Mayor Giuliani plans to auction off over 120 thriving community gardens in May. This is one of several auctions in which gardens have been targeted. These gardens, many of them decades old, were established with the city's blessing on abandoned and vacant lots that had often been centers of drug and crime activity. New York City's gardens are known across the country. They are studied in our nation's schools. Their disappearance would mark not only a tragedy for the city, but would set a dangerous precedent for other cities across the country whose garden programs are struggling to survive. The Mayor thinks only a small minority care about the gardens. If he were made aware of the large numbers of people, not only in New York but across the nation, who care about this issue, he will be forced to reconsider his policies. If you would like to lend your support to this cause, please visit http://www.ethepeople.com/ to add your name to a national petition in support of NYC's gardens and forward this message to all the people you know who might also like to lend their support.