El Sitio Feliz (The Happy Place) in East Harlem (©photo by Jeff Deasy)

A team of long time gardeners, parents, teachers, activists, legal counsel and staff with elected officials in New York have crafted legislation to preserve community gardens in New York City and issued a call for public support to get their NYC Garden Law passed.

According to GreenThumb of the NYC Department of Parks and Recreation, over 100 community gardens in NYC are now privately owned as part of a Land Trust. But since a survey jointly conducted by the nonprofit GrowNYC and Green Thumb in 2009-2010 said there are nearly 500 community gardens in New York City, many remain vulnerable to destruction and development for far less green purposes.

As Isabel, a gardener in the Bronx, put it, “Our gardens are getting bulldozed one by one. Our children and elders, everyone needs these green spaces. Our City Council can do it. Please help.”

The struggle to preserve New York City's community gardens has been ongoing for decades. Many have been saved from destruction at the 11th hour following grassroots efforts to save them. In 1999, Bette Midler, founder of the New York Restoration Project, saved 114 community gardens from commercial development and established the New York Garden Trust to ensure these precious resources survived in perpetuity.

To learn more about the proposed legislation, go to: NYC Garden Law

About the New York Restoration Project

New York Restoration Project (NYRP) is a non-profit organization dedicated to transforming open space in underserved communities to create a greener, more sustainable New York City. In partnership with the City of New York, NYRP is also leading MillionTreesNYC – an initiative to plant and care for one million new trees throughout New York City’s five boroughs by 2017.

To view a prior post related to the topic, go to: Bring Back the Victory Gardens!

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