Community Gardens vs Housing - Large Loss in the Bronx

H* A*

Comrades:

An update. 

Happy gardening,
Adam Honigman

> -----Original Message-----
> From:	cybergardens@treebranch.com [SMTP:cybergardens@treebranch.com]
> Sent:	Friday, December 15, 2000 9:42 AM
> Subject:	
> 
> From dave.lutz  Fri, 15 Dec 2000 09:42:35 -0500 remote from TREEBRANCH.COM
> From: dave.lutz@TREEBRANCH.COM (Dave Lutz)
> Subject: CYBERGARDENS: Officials Back Housing Over Bronx Gardens
> Date: Fri, 15 Dec 2000 09:40:06 -0500
> To: cybergardens@treebranch.com (CYBERGARDENS Mailing List)
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> ------------------------------------------------------------
> News from the CYBERGARDENS mailing list 
> (cybergardens@treebranch.com)
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> This message was originally addressed to DAVE LUTZ 
> and was forwarded to you by DAVE LUTZ 
>  
>  
> >  
>  
> >  
> >  
> >  December 15, 2000 
> > Officials Back Housing Over Bronx Gardens 
> > By BARBARA STEWART 
> > The City Council Land Use Committee voted yesterday to bulldoze 10
> community  
> > gardens on city-owned land in the South Bronx, including one that  
> > neighborhood residents planted 33 years ago, to build 204 apartments for
> 
> > moderate-income homeowners. 
> >  
> > But supporters of the gardens, including Council members and South Bronx
> 
> > gardeners, expressed optimism about saving the gardens when the issue
> comes  
> > before the Finance Committee and the City Council on Tuesday.  
> >  
> > And several Council members vowed to push forward a bill that would
> require a  
> > thorough review of each of the more than 600 community gardens on
> city-owned  
> > lots before they could be sold or closed. 
> >  
> > But the two housing projects that will replace the 10 gardens were
> approved  
> > by a wide margin. The lack of housing for moderate-income families in
> the  
> > South Bronx is "a crisis," said Councilwoman June M. Eisland of the
> Bronx,  
> > expressing a feeling that others echoed.  
> >  
> > "We're having to choose between one good program and another good
> program,"  
> > Ms. Eisland said. "But we need moderately priced housing and can't let
> 204  
> > homes be lost." 
> >  
> > After yesterday's meeting, South Bronx residents, including many
> retirees who  
> > have been traveling to City Hall monthly for two years to try to save
> their  
> > gardens, spoke of the land, sounding rueful but unsurprised at the vote.
> They  
> > listed the tomatoes, corn and eggplant they had grown, and described the
> 
> > neighborhood schoolchildren who had had their first experiences with  
> > gardening, and their discovery that vegetables originate from seeds
> planted  
> > in the ground, not from cans on supermarket shelves. 
> >  
> > "We have hundreds of people coming in and out of the gardens every nice
> day,"  
> > said Verna Lee Judge, 82, after recounting the months she and others
> spent  
> > clearing a garbage- strewn vacant lot in 1967. The lot, on Caldwell
> Avenue,  
> > was eventually turned into Franklin Memorial Garden, the Bronx's oldest
> 
> > community garden, which once won a city award as the most beautiful in
> New  
> > York. "The children socialize," Ms. Judge said. "The seniors socialize
> and  
> > knit. It's a haven, really a haven." 
> >  
> > All agreed that the larger issue was forcing the city, especially the
> Housing  
> > Preservation and Development Department, to provide open, green space in
> its  
> > housing projects. 
> >  
> > The choice before the Land Use Committee yesterday exemplified the
> difficulty  
> > of choosing between badly needed housing and the green space that
> contributes  
> > to quality of life, all the Council members said.  
> >  
> > "It's either gardens and no housing or housing and no gardens," said  
> > Councilman A. Gifford Miller of Manhattan. "It's a false choice. We need
> both  
> > housing and open space. H.P.D. doesn't want to protect any gardens."  
> >  
> > Carol Abrams, a spokeswoman for the housing preservation department,
> said  
> > that it "includes permanent open space in as many developments as
> possible." 
> >  
> > "We have playgrounds, gardens, yards and lawns," she said. "We add trees
> 
> > whenever possible." 
> >  
> > "There's an enormous demand," she added, "for homeownership housing." 
> >  
> > The community gardens bill would provide a way of evaluating each garden
> when  
> > the city decides that the lot should be sold or cleared. The review
> would  
> > look at the number of gardeners and visitors, the garden's quality and
> its  
> > overall importance to the neighborhood. 
> >  
> > Supporters of the bill say it would allow a logical, coordinated way to
> 
> > approach competing issues: how to save the gardens, many of which are 10
> or  
> > 20 years old, and how to provide much-needed housing. The review would
> also  
> > provide mitigation, requiring the city to provide open green space to
> replace  
> > that which it sells or bulldozes. 
> >  
> >  
>  
>  
> 
> --- CYBERGARDENS
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