Petition fi led to save local gardens
Gardens include Friends of Brook Park, Garden of Happiness and others
BY JASON COHEN
As community gardens have few
legal protections and many struggle
to survive in the face of competing
land interests, like construction and
development projects, a petition was
fi led last month to save them.
On Nov. 18, the New York City
Community Garden Coalition (NYCCGC),
environmental law organization
Earthjustice, and 52 allied
groups submitted From the Ground
Up: A Petition to Protect New York
City’s Community Gardens, requesting
protections for the city’s community
gardens through Critical Environmental
Area designation under
the NY State and City Environmental
Quality Review Act (SEQRA).
SEQRA regulations authorize
agencies to designate specifi c areas as
CEAs if they exhibit at least one of the
following characteristics: a benefi t to
human health, a natural setting, agricultural,
social, cultural, historic,
recreational or educational values or
ecological or hydrological values that
may be negatively affected by disturbances.
President of the NYC Community Garden Coalition, Raymond Figueroa, Jr. at Brook Park.
Photo courtesy of Sorangel Liriano
Currently, there is only one CEA
in New York City: Jamaica Bay in
Queens.
Among the community gardens
featured in the petition are Friends of
Brook Park at 494 E 141st St., Garden
of Happiness at 2144F Prospect Ave.,
Morning Glory Community Garden
at 1219 Hoe Ave. and Rainbow Garden
of Life and Health at 757 Melrose
Ave.
“For our diverse communities
throughout the city, the heart and
soul of this petition is to be found in
our community gardens,” said Bronx
native and president of the NYC Community
Garden Coalition, Raymond
Figueroa, Jr.
“Our community gardens are oases
for the soul as well as the body
— and they are needed now in these
times of crisis more than ever before.
That’s what this petition is all about
— the respect for our Mother Earth
and the preservation of our community
gardens and of all our life-affi rming
relationships — social, ecological,
cultural, terrestrial and spiritual.”
The petition makes three legal requests:
City agencies with jurisdiction
over 40 community gardens identifi
ed in the petition designate those
city-owned gardens as CEAs under
SEQRA within six months following
the submission of the petition, or by
May 18, 2021.
Within 12 months following the submission
of the petition or by Nov. 18,
2021, the Department of Parks and Recreation’s
GreenThumb Program conduct an
assessment of all remaining community
gardens on city-owned land and confi rm,
in consultation with community gardeners,
that these gardens meet the regulatory
criteria for CEA designation.
Within 12 months following the submission
of the petition, or by Nov. 18,
2021, city agencies designate as CEAs
all gardens within their respective jurisdictions
that meet the regulatory
criteria for CEA designation, based on
GreenThumb’s assessment, in consultation
and coordination with community
gardeners.
Figueroa, who runs an urban youth
farm at Friends of Brook Park in Mott
Haven for formerly incarcerated youths,
explained that community gardens help
combat public health disparities by expanding
access to fresh fruits and vegetables,
provide educational programming
and reduce crime.
While he has had this program for a
decade, Figueroa knows fi rsthand about
how community gardens are treated as
he had a youth farm initiative in Harlem
defunded. He hopes the city realizes they
are more than just fl owers and plants.
“This petition is all about how
members of the community and stakeholders
can have greater agency over
development and number of community
gardens,” he said. “It’s about residents
taking responsibility for the
community.”
SIRECI
Family Dental
Your Neighborhood Dentist Since 1983
GENERAL DENTISTRY
SPECIALTY CARE
����������������������������������������������������������������������������������
����������������������������������������������������������������������������������
������������������������������������������ ��
�� ����������������������������
������������������������������������������������
��������������������������������������������������������
����������������
��������������������������������
��������������������������������������������
����������������������������������������������������
��������������������
����������������������������������������������
FREE
CONSULTATIONS
COME VISIT US
IN OUR NEW
MODERN OFFICE
C A R I N G A F F O R D A B L E P A I N L E S S
2861 BRUCKNER BLVD. | 718-829-0455
BRONX TIMES R 42 EPORTER, DECEMBER 4-10, 2020 BTR
Photo courtesy of Jeenah Moon
Photo courtesy of Jeenah Moon
Photo courtesy of Sorangel Liriano