A cocuzza grows in Whitestone

 

Cottage on roof has gotta go: DOB

From the NY Post:

Puchkoff, head of the real estate development firm DP Associates, converted the building from a warehouse into 14 luxury co-op apartments.

But when the Buildings Department inspector visited the rooftop last year, he determined that Puchkoff’s current certificate of occupancy does not allow the cabin or surrounding garden.

He was fined $1,200 and told to apply for a new certificate of occupancy.

A city administrative law judge tossed the fine in April, but then the Buildings Department had it reinstated on appeal in September.

So Puchkoff sued the agency to have his little slice of country comfort in the Big Apple declared legal.

His attorney, Richard Lobel, said the fine was based on a bogus complaint. He added that the DOB even signed off on the project twice, most recently in 1999.

I really wanted this to be legit because I think that's cool as hell, but there don't seem to be any permits issued for that structure.

Another parking pad turned garden!

From Cleanup Jamaica Queens:

Here is a somewhat bright spot in Jamaica. The apartment building at 88-23 170th which for years was using the sidewalk and side of the building for illegal parking spaces while no one did anything about it (till Sgt Cedillo and The Untouchables from the 103rd precinct stepped in) has made a complete turnaround.

Instead of a shitty-looking illegal parking space which destroyed all of the grass and just made a mess of this area, it has instead been transformed into a garden with a variety of vegetables and complete with a white picket fence. Nice, something that rarely is seen in these neck of the woods because the powers to be allow people here to do whatever the hell they want without consequences.

Kudos to Sgt. Cedillo and The Untouchable for enforcing the law, a round of applause for the owner of the building (shitty that is is) for putting something desirable in this spot and a big fuck you to the elected leaders and community board #12 for constantly doing so little with these types of issues that go on all over Jamaica.

A happy ending in North Flushing

Dear Queens Crapper,

Instead of complaining, there is some very good news to share about a recent story about illegal parking in North Flushing. I am very happy to report that after an inspection by the Department of Buildings, the homeowners have removed the paver stones covering the green space in front of their home where cars were being parked illegally. In addition, the homeowners have planted a very lovely garden in front of their home. I am attaching “Before” and “After” photos.

We want to thank the homeowners at 165-12 Crocheron Avenue for being good neighbors and removing the illegally parked cars in front of their home. Their new garden has made the neighborhood even more beautiful for everyone. We especially want to thank the Department of Buildings and Councilmember Vallone’s office for their diligence and support in resolving this problem in North Flushing. Grateful homeowner in Broadway-Flushing.

Thank you,

-Maria

Forest Hills apartment complex has seen better days

Horticulturally challenged apartment building 67-70 Yellowstone Blvd. [the Ethan Allen], between 67th Drive and 68th Avenue, previously mentioned in Queens Crap with regard to cemented-over tree pits on both sides of the building, seems to be continuing in the same vein with its recently installed “Keep Off the Grass” signs. It looks as though they’ve [kind of] planted some sad shrubs, complete with tags attached, in the dusty and trash-strewn soil. We don’t seem to detect any “grass” on these areas, nor has the property had more than some tufts for years thanks to its neglected state. The signs have left many a pedestrian scratching their heads and taking photos, as have the cemented tree pits. We’re wondering who’s directing this pathetic “beautification” project.

The entire property, complete with beverage containers, discarded fruit, cigarette butts, dog waste and other gems, remains a blighted disgrace, in harsh contrast to its surroundings. Rocky debris covers all would-be "lawn" areas, most likely the result of a poorly executed 2013 facade project. [Neighboring buildings were treated to dust, dirt, and trash and garbage as a result of unsupervised masonry workers dining al fresco.] And while it's one of the few buildings in the area with a spacious yard, it's been allowed to deteriorate into a decaying and graffiti-covered embarrassment, with broken benches, crumbling concrete, a non-level, tarred surface with filled-in cracks on display, and tarred-over tree roots attempting to free themselves. [Torturing trees seems to be a motif at this address.] There’s a not-surprising notice regarding rat bait on the yard fence.

67-70 Yellowstone workers make a very loud, almost daily show of blowing leaves around but, apparently, not doing much else. What’s evident to all passersby seems to escape their notice. Deflated helium balloons have remained snagged in low-hanging tree branches for months, while other detritus has rotted in place for even longer periods. Broken windows adorn the property at cellar level on all sides. Cable wires, dead and alive, snake past apartment windows and fire escapes. A stroll up to the entrance reveals gaping fissures in the concrete path, cracked, rusted lamp bases, and an arrangement of cracked and broken bricks badly in need of replacement as a “step” at the entry. Dirty street-level screen doors and entrance areas don't exactly call out, "Great building, fill out an application."

The property didn't even have a legal sidewalk on the 68th Avenue side until last year. [The tree pits were cemented over as part of the "facade renovation."]

And now comes the 67-70 Yellowstone Blvd. version of landscaping. The owners seems to think that putting up a few signs, when they obviously couldn't care less about the condition of the property themselves, is the key to discouraging bad behavior. Signs might be effective if everything about the property didn’t currently suggest: “Abandon all hope, ye who enter here."

A shout-out to the owners and crew of this disaster area for pretending not to notice that almost every other building in Forest Hills offers an example of what basic property maintenance looks like, not to mention beautification, and it ain't this. If we do find any clean, healthy grass or even some genuine soil at 67-70 Yellowstone, we’ll be sure to "Keep Off."

- Forest Hills Wanderer

LIC having trouble sustaining public-private partnership

From LIC Post:

The non-profit group that has been doing much of the gardening and landscape work at Gantry Plaza State Park for the past 15 years is in serious decline.

The group’s membership continues to dwindle as its long-serving volunteers grow old and newer residents failed to join. Membership has halved since its inception and if current trends continue the organization will soon no longer exist.

Nevertheless, next month the Friends of Gantry will be celebrating its 15th anniversary at Riverview Restaurant (details below). The organizers hope that the event will help them recruit new members and raise funds.

The group, in its heyday, was formed shortly after the state completed the first phase of Gantry Plaza State Park in 1998, which at that point was just a little over 2 1/2 acres in size, a fifth of the size of what it is today.

Today, the group has about 30-members, which consists of about 10 core members.

And this is Julissa Ferreras's bright idea to fix up Flushing Meadows?

Staking a claim to community garden

From the Wall Street Journal:

Despite its serene setting and rows of flowers and vegetables, a community garden in Flushing, Queens, has turned into a battlefield.

Violent fights, death threats and shouting matches, sometimes involving fistfuls of dirt, have become routine at Evergreen Community Garden, leading to volunteer guards at the entrance and police patrols. And almost all of the tangles involve elderly Korean gardeners, officials and witnesses say.

The disputes grew out of the city Parks & Recreation Department's decision last year to take control of the 5-acre garden from a Korean-American senior citizens' group, which had transformed the trash-filled public space into a working garden back in the early 1980s.

A fight broke out at a news conference by elderly Korean gardeners upset that New York City took control of their park in Flushing, Queens. Mellad “Sam” Massoud, a member of the Evergreen Community Garden who supports the city’s control of the park, is seen shouting in the video because he was upset that the news conference was taking place. He was injured in the fight and spent three days in a nearby hospital. He said he was "simply reacting to the situation,” adding, "The fighting has gotten bad and we need to stop.”

The parks department—which contends the seniors' group had been improperly selling produce from the city-owned plot and excluding outsiders—turned control of the park over to its GreenThumb network of community gardens and installed a manager last year.

But the older gardeners are still trying to reclaim the land, at times by drastic means.

A year ago, the garden's 75-year-old former manager clutched a lighter and container of gasoline, threatening to light himself on fire if he didn't get his old job back, city officials said. The incident prompted a police hostage negotiation team to respond and two nearby schools to be locked down.

Then earlier this summer, 100 gardeners signed a petition saying they feared for their safety around one of the garden's new managers—and one person took out a restraining order against him, according to court documents. That manager now has a gardening schedule, set by city GreenThumb officials, so he doesn't violate the court order.

Parks officials say they are trying to keep the peace at the garden, located in Kissena Corridor Park.

Turning beauty to blight on SI

From SI Live:

The builder of the controversial Port Richmond “skinny house” has taken ownership of an even smaller property in Midland Beach and clear-cut it, with no apparent future plans to build.

For more than 40 years, an undeveloped parcel of land at the corner of Adams and Haven avenues — next to Mark and Carol Meyer’s home in Midland Beach — was a blossoming, tree-lined garden.

“I had cancer, and it helped me to be in the garden,” Mrs. Meyer said.

The property is 15.5 feet wide by 75 feet long, according to city tax maps. It has changed hands at least four times, but because of its size, nothing was ever built there.

“For 42 years it was empty, and I used it,” Mrs. Meyer said. “People were throwing stuff all over, and I made it beautiful. And [the developer] just chopped everything down. I don’t know for what.”

The couple had inquired about purchasing the land in the past, but they were assured by the city Department of Buildings that nobody would ever want it because there isn’t much anyone could do with it, Meyer said.

After Cee-Jay Real Estate Development Corp. bought the land, the parcel was cleared of all foliage.

Last week, the new owner had the tiny parcel clear-cut, removing about 40 trees nearly 40 years old, which Mrs. Meyer had planted.

Now the Meyers look out on a muddy patch of land.

Sadly, I look at the "blame-the-victim" comments on the site and see a familiar line: "They should have bought the property when they had the chance." Rather, the City shouldn't allow the utterly ridiculous practice of building too-skinny houses, and we wouldn't have to worry about who owns the property. It actually already doesn't allow houses on narrow parcels. But this developer will no doubt go to the BSA and get approval, just as he did last time. If it wasn't already a slam dunk that he will get such approval, he wouldn't have purchased the property to begin with, and the little forest that the cancer survivor planted would still be there.

Someone's stealing garden plants in Sunnyside

From Sunnyside Post:

Terry Murphy, a resident of 47th Street, said thieves have stolen his plants on three occasions since he moved to a house between Skillman and 43rd Avenues in March.

The most recent incident occurred Sunday night when a large “Sum and Substance Hosta” was stolen from his front yard. The plant, a garden giant known for its glossy, heart-shaped leaves, averages 30 inches tall and 60 inches wide. Murphy estimated that his weighed at least 25 pounds.

“It’s a very bizarre kind of thing to steal,” he said.

How do their gardens grow?

One guy grows figs in Astoria...
and another grows squash in Howard Beach. Backyard gardening is awesome.

Keeping a garden green in Jackson Heights

From the Wall Street Journal:

The sprawling garden enclosed by the 14 stately buildings of Hawthorne Court in Jackson Heights is an inviting oasis of greenery.

Just don't step on the grass.

"Residents and guests are asked to refrain from walking on the lawn and the planted areas surrounding the Center Circle and either end of the Garden," the co-op's official garden rules say.

The grass-walking ban has pitted some long-time residents against a newer generation of young families attracted by the large, historic co-ops—and their coveted gardens. "More park, less slope," read some old housing ads, in reference to Park Slope, Brooklyn.

The question of whether walking should be permitted or not has proved not so simple to answer, digressing into debates on parenting, political persuasions and ultimately, control.

While similar rules and sometimes struggles occur in other private green spaces across the city—from Forest Hills in Queens to Gramercy Park in Manhattan—nowhere are such battles more pitched than in Jackson Heights because of the concentration and size of the gardens and the scarcity of public green space.

Erasing Bloomblight in Brooklyn

Miss Heather noticed that someone took an empty Bloomblighted lot on Metropolitan Avenue in Brooklyn and turned it into a garden, with the permission of the owner.

Community gardens protection to expire next year

From City Limits:

With the termination looming next year of a legal agreement protecting community gardens across New York City, gardeners are working to formulate strategies for how to ensure that neighborhood green spots continue to flourish.

They’re eager to avoid the pain of uprooting suffered by gardeners like Tom Goodridge, who helped to create a garden at P.S. 76 in Harlem in the early 90s. Dubbed the Garden of Love, it replaced a trash-strewn vacant lot in the kind of transformation being repeated in hundreds of other spaces across the city. But on Nov. 2, 1998, bulldozers plowed without warning through the garden’s fence, flowers and grove of mulberry trees. Along with 40 other newly flattened gardens, it was slated by the city for development into affordable housing.

Goodridge and his school community mourned their magical refuge. “I think it’s wrong to raise children without trees to climb and mudpies to make,” he said. Especially when two years after it was razed, all that the city had erected in its place was a sign announcing that affordable housing would be built.

Now, a vocal cohort of community gardeners across New York City worries that a similar fate could befall their own sanctuaries. A legal settlement that protects some of the city’s green spaces is set to expire in Sept. 2010, with no new safeguards to take its place.

That has advocates debating issues like whether new City Council legislation would be the best path toward longer-term garden preservation – or whether various new routes toward guarding the gardens actually come with more pitfalls than real protection.

Community gardens in New York City come in all shapes and sizes, as any observant pedestrian has noticed – but people may not realize that they fall under a variety of jurisdictions, too. Two owners of garden land are the Department of Parks and Recreation and the Department of Housing Preservation and Development, and it is 51 lots owned by HPD – 23 of which are being used as gardens, according to department spokeswoman Catie Marshall – that are potentially threatened by the settlement’s sunset in September.

There are also some gardens under Department of Transportation jurisdiction that could be slated for development, said Edie Stone, the director of Green Thumb which is a part of the parks department. Community gardeners can register their land with GreenThumb – which claims to be the country’s largest municipally-run gardening program – to receive financial and logistical support.

By Stone’s calculation, about 11 active gardens across the Bronx, Brooklyn and Manhattan could be directly threatened by development once the settlement expires.

How a Ridgewood resident's garden grows

From the Forum West:

On a block of classical brownstone residences dating back to 1903, Eufemia Patron has set quite the example for gardening enthusiasts and observers alike at her home on 68th Road in Ridgewood. With the enthusiastic approval of her landlord Luis Tello, three summers ago, she started the garden with petunias, balsam, zinnia and yellow lilies, among others.

She remembers her house in Mindinao, the Philippines, and the big garden with twelve birds thriving in the tropical climate there. “I thought it would be impossible to have a beautiful garden in New York City,” she mused, “but with an on-going investment between $200 and $300, my garden blossomed. I use the same soil season after season - from April through November – and give care, attention and ten-minute daily watering.”

And Patron definitely gets a positive reaction from people passing the house and stopping by to admire her garden. “Every day people stop, look at my garden and smile and that makes me so happy.”

Passersby are not the only ones pleased with Patrons green thumb. Landlord Tello is pleased to have such a creative tenant. “I drive her to Home Depot to get the flowers, plants and other supplies for the front and back gardens,” he declared. “She maintains everything in such good condition. I encourage her to keep gardening.”

A garden grows at Rikers

From the Daily News:

At Rikers Island, where 14,000 inmates live, the planting gets underway in the spring and cycles through the summer into the fall. The gardens yield an impressive assortment of fresh produce, most of which is donated to City Harvest. In fact, this year the agency trucked away 18,000 pounds of fresh vegetables, all of which will be go to soup kitchens and food pantries.

The program at the jail, officially known as the farm and horticulture program, is directed by Carrolle Banfield. She’s in charge of securing the plots of land, taking patches wherever she can find them. She then arranges for the soil to be turned over with a tractor, and supervises the inmates as they work. At any given time, about 15 inmates who are considered low-risk work in the program. The compost, Banfield notes, is made from recyclable garbage at Rikers, and no artificial pesticides are used.

From Garden of Eden to Tar Beach

From the NY Times:

Long before green roofs were hot, long before Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg declared his goal to plant one million trees across the five boroughs, Mr. Goldstein was doing his part to green New York with his 2,500-square-foot aerie atop the ninth floor.

Until now, Mr. Goldstein’s garden has been governed mostly by the quick-changing whims of the seasons. This week, his birch tree is losing its leaves, and his apple tree has been bearing sweet, mild fruit. The seasons may be intractable masters, but Mr. Goldstein, now 71, has come to expect their tyranny. Much harder to accept: that a piece of paper pinned to a door should govern the fate of the small ecosystem that he considers an extension of his home.

In July, Mr. Goldstein, who runs a merchandising business from a small, sunny office mounted on his roof, found a troubling notice from the City Buildings Department on his building’s front door. From a roof nearby, the notice read, visual inspection revealed “small housing structures built on top of this roof,” along with other concerns, including “foliage resembling a small forest.” The building was not code-compliant, the notice went on to say, and the owner would be required to provide an engineering report documenting the structural soundness of the roof.

Then Mr. Goldstein received a letter in the mail, dated Aug. 28, from the bank that bought the building when its previous owner went bankrupt. The bank was terminating his lease to the roof. He would have until the end of September to deconstruct Eden and return the roof to its natural state: black tar, the kudzu of urban surfaces everywhere.

A garden grows in Glendale

From the Times Ledger:

Members of the United Talmudic Seminary at 74-10 88th St. joined with members of the Greater Ridgewood Youth Council, the Glendale Kiwanis and Community Board 5 to break ground on a new community garden in an unused corner of the Jewish school’s property.

“We want to be good neighbors,” Rabbi Berl Katz said of the agreement to let the groups use the land. “So far we don’t have any use for it. If the neighbors want to use it, why not?”

The 2,000-square-foot parcel of land where the garden will grow currently contains mounds of loose gravel, weeds and a sign belonging to the old Monarch Knitting Machinery Corp., which closed down before 2004, when the yeshiva took over the property.

The collaboration marked an improvement in relations between the yeshiva and civic groups in the neighborhood. In 2006, after a fight over whether the yeshiva could open a 100-room motel alongside the seminary, the city awarded a certificate of occupancy for just the school. In turn, the Glendale Civic Association filed a lawsuit against the city Department of Buildings alleging the agency was negligent in performing inspections and enforcing building code at the property.

The queens of Queens gardening

From the Daily News:

...Queens - arguably the leafiest of the five boroughs - has been conspicuously lacking a gardening blog, until recently.

"I think people in Queens are interested in gardening, but don't know where to look," said Jen Rock, 24, co-author of Kate and Jen's Urban Garden - a blog dedicated to the art of urban gardening in the borough.

Since March, Rock and her friend Kate Taylor have been detailing the progress of their gardens in Astoria from compost to harvest at gardeningqueens.com. The two became friends while studying at NYU.

A few of [Rock's] more unusual crops are catnip, poha berries and shiso. She also grows an assortment of other fruits and vegetables on the rooftop of her apartment building on Steinway St.

Taylor's garden is in her backyard on 35th St.

Both have been gardening in the city for about two years and found themselves exchanging tips, and at times competing.

"Gardening isn't just a fad," Taylor said. "It is a return to the things that our mothers and fathers taught us - the things that the old folks in Astoria have been doing for ages."

Rock and Taylor have blogged about their interactions with both older Astorians on their own blocks and with young kids.

"[It's] like a ripple effect," said Taylor, whose garden has become a conversation piece with the most unlikely of people. "What other basis would I have to strike up a conversation with my 80-year-old neighbor?" she asked.

Now, she trades her basil for her neighbor's figs.

Her octogenarian neighbor may not share Taylor's Internet savvy, but their common love of gardening has created a bridge between generations that rarely mingle in the city.

"Older New Yorkers keep to themselves and the younger transplants just look right past them," she said. "But gardening is something we can all share."

Kid has a really big head (of cabbage)

I don't know what it is about Staten Islanders growing such huge cabbages, but this latest monster-sized veg to make the news was cultivated by a 9-year old.

The great Rego Park garden giveaway!

Dear Queens Crap,

I like the blog, its one of the few that covers Queens. I was raised in Queens and I've planted a Forest Garden(basically growing a forest where everything is edible) on my old lawn in Rego Park. I'm keeping a record of it on my blog, NYC Forest Garden. Thought you might be interested. I would like to give plants away and seeds as they come from my garden.

All the best,
Casey Tang