Gregory Heller

Leading up to the December 1997 demolition of four community gardens for the construction of Del Este Village, the movement became increasingly organized. Those demolitions galvanized a large group of garden preservation activists citywide who are fighting the city’s attempts to sell off community gardens. In the days leading up to the May 14, 1999 city auction of 114 gardens, the movement received generous public support from the news media and non-profit organizations including the Trust for Public Land (TPL) and the New York Restoration Project (NYRP). In a controversial eleventh hour deal, the NYRP offered the city $2.4 million for the 114 properties, despite the objection of many garden supporters who oppose on principle the concept of buying properties from the city. The TPL is in the process of creating local land trusts for each of the five boroughs to oversee community gardens and work towards permanent preservation of these open spaces. In the eleven months since the deal, some “saved� gardens deemed to have less “promise� have been taken back by the city and sold for auction.
Even with an outpouring of public support, including that of elected city and state politicians, the Giuliani administration maintains a policy of selling community gardens at auction. The State Attorney General, Elliot Spitzer, is also working towards garden preservation in the courts. He has brought a law suit under a state law that requires approval by the state legislature before any park land can be sold. The contention is that Green Thumb Gardens are parkland. To bolster this case, the “Samson Bill� is under consideration in the state senate to designate all community gardens, Green Thumb or not, as parkland. The City Council is working also working on legislation to preserve gardens. Numerous other groups have filed suite on other grounds including civil rights violations. The courts have acted favorably towards gardens but the administration has appealed many rulings and gardens have been demolished while their fate is still being determined. On February 14, 2000, Esperanza Garden was demolished by BFC to make way for a mostly high rent project.