Threat to New York City's 741 Green Thumb Community Gardens

Lawrence F. London, Jr. (london@sunsite.unc.edu)
Sat, 2 May 1998 23:38:37 -0400 (EDT)

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http://sunSITE.unc.edu/london InterGarden
london@sunSITE.unc.edu llondon@bellsouth.net

>>>-----Original Message-----
>>>From: gardens@cybergal.com <gardens@cybergal.com>
>>>To: The Mighty Email Army <gardens@cybergal.com>
>>>Date: Thursday, April 30, 1998 3:20 PM
>>>Subject: URGENT URGENT URGENT URGENT

>>>>Dear Garden Defenders: I have outrageous news. The Giuliani Administration
>>>>has moved to ELIMINATE all 741 Green Thumb community gardens in the city.
>>>>More details below, but first, AN EMPHATIC AND URGENT CALL TO ACTION:

>>>>Rudy Giuliani wants to destroy EVERY GARDEN IN THE CITY -- to sacrifice
>>>>these precious community-controlled spaces to the whims of private greed.
>>>To express your outrage, CALL AND FAX the following numbers, beginning
>>>>immediately, at the highest possible level of intensity!!!!! (This list
>>>will be expanded soon.)

>>>>DEPUTY MAYOR RANDY MASTRO
>>>>Phone (212) 788-3137
>>>>fax (212) 788-3142

>>>>HPD COMMISSIONER RICHARD ROBERTS
>>>>phone (212) 863-6100
>>>>fax (212) 267-2565

>>>>HPD SITE SELECTION, MARY BOLTON
>>>>phone (212) 863-8492
>>>>fax (212) 863-8504

>>>>As events progress over the coming days, I will update you frequently.
>>>>Here's more of what we know now, brought to you by the LESC Garden Group's
>>>>David Crane:

>>>>On Friday, April 24, Mary Bolton, Assistant Commissioner for Planning and
>>>>Policy at the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and
>>>>Development (HPD) faxed a request to the members of the City Land
>>>Committee, requesting "emergency holds" on the 741 city-owned lots
>>>>leased to community gardeners under the Green Thumb program.

>>>>The City Land Council could approve HPD's request as soon as Friday, May
>>>>8th, an action that would effectively end New York City's community
>>>>gardening program.

>>>>If this plan goes through, the 741 Green Thumb gardens throughout the city
>>>>would lose all legitimacy in the eyes of the Giuliani Administration. This
>>>>could mean a variety of things. At a minimum, it reduces all community
>>>>gardens to squatting status, like the Chico Mendez Mural Garden (bulldozed
>>>>12/30/97) or the Umbrella Garden (sold at auction 3/19/98). At the worst,
>>>>the City forcibly evicts gardeners from the land. Somewhere in the middle
>>>is the certain loss of the "transfer to Parks" option, established a
>>>few months ago in response to community pressure, which offered the
>>>best hope to date for preserving large numbers of the 400 community
>>>gardens originally slated for destruction.

>>>>More information soon -- Leslie

>>>>PLEASE DISTRIBUTE THIS CALL TO ACTION AS WIDELY AS POSSIBLE. The Mighty
>>>>Email Army is a project of the Lower East Side Collective
>>>>(http://home.earthlink.net/~aliceme/lesc). Send info, feedback, and the
>>>>addresses of new recruits to me at gardens@cybergal.com.

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