At least 15 community gardens on city-owned property could be bulldozed to make way for new buildings under the de Blasio administration's affordable housing plan, community advocates said.
The Department of Housing Preservation and Development published a list this week of city-owned sites that housing developers can apply to build on, shocking those who tend to and enjoy the green spaces.
Developers were asked to submit proposals for nearly 180 sites — which could include rentals for families earning nearly $140,000 a year and paying $3,000 in rent — by Feb. 19.
John McBride, one of the residents who helped Morningside Heights' Electric Ladybug Garden get off the ground, was surprised Thursday when he found the city had already padlocked his block's space.
"We were just getting ready to start planting for the spring and now it's padlocked," said McBride, 46, who was part of a two-year labor-intensive effort to clear rubble from the vacant lot on his West 111th Street block and replace it with clean topsoil from the Parks Department's Green Thumb this summer.
McBride said he understood the de Blasio administration's "huge commitment to housing," but he didn't understand why the city was targeting lots with flourishing gardens when it owned other parcels of land that were sitting truly fallow.
Of more than 1,000 HPD-owned vacant lots, approximately 74 have community gardens, according to research from 596 Acres, the nonprofit that helped provide technical support to transform Electric Ladybug.
18 comments:
McBride said he understood the de Blasio administration's "huge commitment to housing," but he didn't understand why the city was targeting lots with flourishing gardens when it owned other parcels of land that were sitting truly fallow.
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Who does DeBlasio think he is? Bloomturd???????
Great more buildings going up to house more illegals! !
He is a Liberal. Intent matters more than results.
McBride said he understood the de Blasio administration's "huge commitment to housing," but he didn't understand why the city was targeting lots with flourishing gardens when it owned other parcels of land that were sitting truly fallow.
McBride, in your probable progressive smug self-assurance that voted in dopeBlazio, you're now seeing the chickens come home to roost and whitewashing your obvious NIMBY attitude. Enjoy your property tax hike and your "universal pre-K," you effing moron.
Some, if not many, community gardens were created as temporary uses on vacant land until housing or commercial was viable. Are these from among those?
Community Garden Spaces? Enough of this farce. If you can sell the property and get some property tax income do it!!!!
If they want to keep the garden let them pay the property tax on the space.
The Libtards can move out of their rent controlled apartments and start a garden in the suburbs! Don't forget the Topsy Turvy Tomato's!!!!!
Do as I say, not what I do.
Wow! Who knew both Libtards and Republidopes hated community gardens!
Community gardens are a good thing for everyone. Participants in the garden get nutritious food out of it that aren't paid for by WIC or food stamps. It adds greenspace to many neighborhoods that are sorely lacking any. The greenspace adds some oxygen to our environment, as well as light in densely built areas. It gives the community a sense of ownership and pride that carries over into how they treat the buildings they live in, and others' homes.
I truly can't believe anyone thinks community gardens are a bad thing. No wonder we're doomed.
When reports come out showing that most of them are contaminated, it makes people less likely to support them.
Developers were asked to submit proposals for nearly 180 sites — which could include rentals for families earning nearly $140,000 a year and paying $3,000 in rent
these stories seem to be getting about what defines affordability when it comes to the blaz's plan to help the poor.why does a family making 140 grand a year need help from the city to get an apartment?
and these stories never write about the needs of single people without kids and the majority of people with kids who make minimum wage or just above it and the cost of these apartments for them.
It only buttresses the argument(well mine) that our local papers and websites are just p.r. spinners for the real estate industry and board of n.y.
JQ said... I agree with you. Why do people earning $140,000 need help with housing ? What about the people who earn between $35-$70,000 ?
"Anonymous said...
Wow! Who knew both Libtards and Republidopes hated community gardens!
Community gardens are a good thing for everyone. Participants in the garden get nutritious food out of it that aren't paid for by WIC or food stamps. It adds greenspace to many neighborhoods that are sorely lacking any. The greenspace adds some oxygen to our environment, as well as light in densely built areas. It gives the community a sense of ownership and pride that carries over into how they treat the buildings they live in, and others' homes.
I truly can't believe anyone thinks community gardens are a bad thing. No wonder we're doomed."
I love community space, but enough of the free ride. Another charity. If you want a place to plant flowers and grow vegetables, PAY YOUR WAY. Stop looking for handouts from others. It's time to call an end to the free rides.
But of course, mon ami, the way Billy sees it is that it is underutilized real estate. No second term for De Blah Blah!
If Chrissy Quinn had not run for mayor De Blasio would have never won. I, like most, voted against Quinn.
If Chrissy Quinn had not run for mayor De Blasio would have never won. I, like most, voted against Quinn.
Ummmm....thanks?
Community gardens and green spaces are great; the problem is they have to have the support of the community in order to exist. You can plant the prettiest garden, but if the community is not willing to take responsibility for it, it won't last long. I don't mean we have to be a bunch of amateur botanists, but people can at least pick up a plastic bag or can from the garden when they're walking by. I'm disgusted and saddened by the state of the tiny little community garden on Weoodside and 72nd. Last spring/summer, someone went to the trouble of planting a beautiful garden in what was a vacant patch of grass. I never met this fellow myself; I just heard about him from neighbors. He would come by every couple days to water and tend the garden, and by the end of the summer there were tomatoes (which were free for the community to pick) and beautiful plants. He stopped coming round in the Fall for whatever reason, and almost immediately the garden fell to ruins. I'm not talking about plants dying due to the temp change, but just DISGUSTING amounts of litter. It is so pathetic. I only have time to clean up the garden once a week (each clean-up takes at least an hour, that's how much crap people leave in it).
Yes I know I'm going way off on a tangent here and probably sound insane, but "community garden" is a very sensitive topic for me, seeing as I spent the past Saturday morning picking cans and bottles and plastic bags and wrappers and cig butts and other much nastier items out of my local community garden. Even though some kind soul had gone to so much trouble to create this garden for us, our response was a hearty "F you- we'd rather have a pile of garbage."
Of course he does. Community gardens are built, maintained, and staffed by volunteers.
The city cant have that. Any good regime knows that they have no use for people who do things on their own. Everyone needs to be a slave to the system to maintain their power.
Either it has to be controlled by the parks department (the city) or it will be used for housing (rents paid for by the city).
Full control.
Some community gardens are good and well-maintained, some are total eyesores. I live in East Harlem, we have some lovely ones (one on 111th between Lex and Third that's beautiful, another on Lex and...102nd?) and some that are just embarrassing. Plastic crap stuck in the ground, trash and litter, chairs and other junk cluttering up the garden.
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