NEW YORK CITY
COMMUNITY GARDENS COALITION
New York City Community Gardens Coalition is a non-profit organization incorporated in 1998. Our mission is to promote the preservation,
creation, and empowerment of community gardens through education, advocacy, and grassroots organizing.
Monthly Meetings In our monthly meetings we discuss ways to strengthen the Coalition, meet challenges, and network with fellow NYC community gardeners, gardening groups, and greening organizations. We invite you to join us!
Contact Us NYCCGC 232 East 11th Street, New York, NY 10003
Telephone + Fax: (888) 311-3993
Email: nyccgcinfo@yahoo.com
MONTHLY MEETING
HOT BUTTON ISSUE
Next meeting:
Thursday June 18, 2009
6:30 - 8:30pm
East New York Farms
613 New Lots Avenue, Brooklyn
(map)
Mass transit: #3 train to Van Siclen, Brooklyn (allow appx. 1hr travel time from midtown Manhattan)
http://www.hopstop.com/
As growing season is well upon us and the gardens are lush and bountiful, the NYCCGC will be holding its monthly meetings in different community gardens around the city for the summer months. In case of rain, the meeting will be moved to a local community center near the garden. We are doing this to bring the Coalition to different neighborhoods across the city and give gardeners in these neighborhoods the opportunity to attend the meetings and get acquainted with our work. It is a great opportunity for gardeners to see other gardens and meet other gardeners. We hope you WILL join us!
We are very excited to hold this months' meeting at East New York Farms! Come learn about this amazing urban farm that is doing great things for its community.
The NYCCGC just completed a "visioning retreat" at Hawthorne Valley Farm in upstate New York and we are eager to share the outcome with you and give you a full report.
There is an important hearing regarding community gardens at the City Council on June 24th and it's very important that you attend - and bring written testimonies! The Garden Agreement expires next year and we need to strategize to continue to protect them. Instructions will be given at the meeting.
AGENDA FOR THE MEETING:
Introductions
Membership
Legislation Committee updates:
- End of the Gardeners Settlement/2010,
Updates re: Resolutions at City Council, petitions
Community Garden Hearing June 24 at the City Council planning & strategy
Report from NYCCGC’s Board Visioning Retreat
Grants
Threatened gardens
Community Garden/Urban Farming Olympics
Neighborhood Coalitions Reports
JOIN US AT CITY HALL WEDNESDAY JUNE 24 @ 10AM
FOR AN IMPORTANT CITY COUNCIL HEARING ON THE FUTURE OF OUR GARDENS!
We urgently need all gardeners and garden supporters to bring your voices and letters of concern to a public hearing sponsored by City Council's Committee on Parks and Recreation at City Hall and speak up for the preservation of all community gardens! We need as many people as possible to attend to prove our political (voting) power - so bring friends and forward this message far and wide!
If you are a Parks or a city-operated GreenThumb community garden and think you are safe, THINK AGAIN!
Your garden is not safe, as the Attorney General's agreement that 'saved' us in 2002 is set to expire in 2010 with NO OTHER legislation yet in place to protect us!
The hearing will focus on the future of community gardens in NYC and specifically Resolution #1890, which calls upon the City to map all GreenThumb community gardens in NYC as parkland, thereby giving them stronger protections for the future!
NYC City Council Hearing on Community Gardens
Wednesday June 24th @ 10:00am
Committee Room @ City Hall
Getting there: City Hall is located in City Hall Park. (map) You can enter the plaza from either the west side of the park at Broadway and Murray Street or the east side at Park Row.By Subway: #4, #5, #6 trains to City Hall/Brooklyn Bridge; #2, #3 trains to Park Place; W, R trains to City Hall; C, A trains to Chambers Street By Bus: M15 to City Hall/Park Row
Please bring: ID to enter City Hall and 20 copies (double-sided) of your prepared testimony as to why your garden - and all gardens - should be made permanent (if you need help to make copies, please call us - the most important thing is for you to BE THERE!).
Also bring: Youth from your garden (now that school is out - their stories are very powerful), your garden's scrapbook, pictures, and banners. Our representatives need to understand the deep importance of the community gardens.
If you cannot make the meeting, but want to submit testimony, you can mail or fax it by June 24th to:
Gary Altman, Legislative Council
Council of the City of New York
250 Broadway 15th Floor, New York NY 10007
Att: Community Gardens Hearing - June 24, 2009
Fax: (212) 442-6420 (Attn: Gary Altman)
Spread the word! By printing and/or emailing this PDF/flyer!
Additional reading:
New York City Council Resolution No. 1890
Read the 2002 Attorney General's agreement currently protecting New York City's community gardens (PDF)
NYCCGC's 9 Recommendations for Legislation to Protect Our Community Gardens:
| 1. | Strengthening language from the State Attorney General's agreement to protect the rights of community gardens. |
| 2. | All remaining Housing Preservation Department which can be developed as community gardens or housing to become permanent GreenThumb Parks Department gardens. |
| 3. | All GreenThumb Parks Department gardens become mapped as State Parks and/or made fully protected in perpetuity. |
| 4. | Any vacant properties (in neighborhoods with less than the 2.5 acres of open space per 1000 persons standard) available or becoming available through city agencies must first be offered to the community as permanent community gardens. |
| 5. | Funds to be made available to purchase lots especially in neighborhoods with less than the 2.5 acres of open space per 1000 persons to create new community gardens – this may be a city budget set aside from 1% of building and development taxes. |
| 6. | Community gardeners would have lead participation and the final decision on new plans for their site across all city agencies. |
| 7. | Any community garden that becomes abandoned or receives multiple violations be reported to NYCCGC or a similar advisory group. In time, if no group is identified to care for the garden, it must be offered for other open space uses before other options are explored. |
| 8. | More Parks Department land be made available to community garden groups. |
| 9. | Any new development site with substantial city funding or land originally owned by city agencies will include community gardens as a mandated public open space. |
New York City Community Gardens Coalition
232 East 11th Street New York NY 10003
Tel + Fax 888.311.3993