Greenest Block: And the Winner Is...
[nggallery id=”23424″ template=galleryview] Resident gardeners and elected officials gathered on this year’s Greenest Block in Brooklyn yesterday — 8th Street between 8th Avenue and the Park. This was Park Slope’s first time taking the gold medal (which was actually a rhododendron seedling) in the contest’s 14-year history; past winners have included East New York and…
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Resident gardeners and elected officials gathered on this year’s Greenest Block in Brooklyn yesterday — 8th Street between 8th Avenue and the Park. This was Park Slope’s first time taking the gold medal (which was actually a rhododendron seedling) in the contest’s 14-year history; past winners have included East New York and Crown Heights, so it’s not only the tony neighborhoods that win what Marilyn Gelber of the Independence Community Foundation called a “friendly but fierce beauty contest.” This year’s commercial winner was Bond Street between Atlantic and Pacific, but the 8th Street folks were fully committed; they even hosted “wine and mulch” nights to entice residents to participate. Brooklyn Botanic Garden folks offered a hint for those of you entering next year: take good care of your street trees. The healthy London Planes hanging over 8th Street helped them snag the prize.
Park Slope/Boerum Hill Have Greenest Blocks [Gothamist]
Slope’s 8th Street Is Greenest Block [GL]
11217: Yes, the north side of Berkeley Place between 7th and 8th is especially gorgeous. Anyone who has the chance to walk that way should check it out.
NeoGrec: People get crazy with this. You are right. Then again, people steal things from my barrels, pull flowers off the plants and use my barrels as garbage cans all the time. Everyone who tries something, contest or not, has to deal with the stupidity of human beings.
Side note: I love that someone was growing corn in the tree pit near 6th and President.
Love seeing tomatoes being grown on the street. We’ve done this ourselves in a pot on the stoop coz our backyard is too shady. Ooh, they were sweet.
Btw, 11233, I have heard in past years of zealous gardeners sabotaging front yards and tree pits on competing blocks. Hopefully that didn’t happen this year.
Forgot to add …
Anyone can get involved with this, even if your block doesn’t enter the contest. When I was a (bitter) renter, I put window boxes outside my street-facing windows. The owner of the building love it and made my upstairs neighbors put some in their windows too. (It was a nice way to get back at some very noisy upstairs neighbors by making them responsible for something.) Once in a blue moon I go past my old abode and the window boxes are still there.
Good point about a nose clip, bxgrl.
Does any block that participates really lose in this contest?
This really is a wonderful contest and it is great that is gets so much press.
That’s a great picture!
11:55 … weeelllll, kinda’ … how many of the yuppies were there yesterday at 11am (or whenever they took the picture)? Most had just finished their first mocha-frappe-chino-berry-latte at their desks.
Still, PSlope is much more diverse than the haters would have us all believe. Congratulations to the block.
Great point, Park Sloper!
That crowd looks like a veritable rainbow of human diversity, if you ask me!
And look…not a million babies, either!
Hey, look at that neighborhood picture: gives the lie to folks who claim that Park Slope is all white yupsters and bankers, eh?