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2 COURIER LIFE, MAY 8-14, 2020
Brooklyn parks manage
Green spaces seeing infl ux in visitors
BY ROSE ADAMS
Park stewards reopened
the gardens at Floyd Bennett
Field on May 2 to hundreds
of elated green thumbs — reversing
a decision from the
previous week that closed the
gardens in order to store outof
commission MTA buses.
“It’s phenomenal,” said
Adriann Musson. “I don’t
have words to describe the
relief people were feeling.”
The reopening came
fi ve days after the National
Parks Service shut down
Floyd Bennett Field to store
around 160 MTA buses that
are out of use because of a reduction
in service during the
COVID-19 pandemic.
The closure of the Floyd
Bennett Gardens — one of
the largest community gardens
on the East Coast —
infuriated the 430 local gardeners,
who blasted the park
offi cials for prioritizing idle
buses over residents, and argued
that the gardens are
not close to the bus-storage
area.
“We’re a tiny drop in the
Parks Services’ responsibilities
and everything that
they do. But I’ve been gardening
there for 27 years,” said
Musson on April 30. “This is
a part of my life, and you’re
ripping it out for buses?”
The gardens’ closure
sparked immediate public
backlash. Gardeners wrote
angry letters to the National
Parks Service and Mayor Bill
de Blasio — who said he was
Park offi cials reopened Floyd
Bennett Gardens on May 2.
Floyd Bennett Gardens Association
“not happy” with the federal
agency’s decision.
“You know, I have to believe
there are other alternatives,”
said Hizzoner at an
April 29 press conference.
Following gardeners’
protests, parks offi cials fi -
nally caved — allowing precertifi
ed gardeners to enter
the premises after passing a
park police checkpoint.
“We’ve had two very good
days,” Musson said. “Park
police cooperated with us.
We’ve had no problems.”
But while the gardens
have reopened, the rest of
the 1,000-plus-acre park will
remain closed to the public
while the MTA uses the
space as a makeshift bus depot
— indefi nitely sealing off
southern Brooklyn’s largest
public park just as cooped-up
Brooklynites begin searching
for open space.
Trees, fl owers, and wildlife have begun to bloom at the Brooklyn Botanic
Garden — despite no visitors allowed inside the arboretum.
Photos courtesy of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden
Gardeners allowed back
to Floyd Bennett Field
after weeklong closure
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