Community Gardens vs. Affordable Housing: What's Better for City-Owned Sites?
Last week, the Mayor announced that nine city-owned community garden sites — four of them in Brooklyn — would be developed for affordable housing. Local gardeners affected by the decision are upset about the loss of land they’ve lovingly tended for years — and the implications of a plan that values housing above public green space….
Last week, the Mayor announced that nine city-owned community garden sites — four of them in Brooklyn — would be developed for affordable housing.
Local gardeners affected by the decision are upset about the loss of land they’ve lovingly tended for years — and the implications of a plan that values housing above public green space.
Where do you stand on this thorny issue?
What the City wants
Waaaay more affordable housing. We’re in the midst of a housing crisis that won’t fix itself. The city owns this land and believes it would be better used as housing.
What Community Gardeners want
To keep the cabbage patch. Some of the gardeners argue they’ve turned the vacant lots into lush neighborhood hubs that are necessary to their communities.
Five Facts
- The city plans to build 800 units of affordable housing at just nine selected garden sites (that number is way down from the hundreds of sites they were considering last January)
- Another 34 city-owned community gardens will be preserved and officially included in the Parks Department’s community garden program
- The city has promised to create new (possibly smaller) garden spaces within a quarter of a mile of the developed sites
- There are currently about 600 community gardens throughout New York City, but only half are protected by the Parks Department from development
- The four Brooklyn sites include A Small Green Patch in Boerum Hill, New Harvest Garden in Bed Stuy, Van Sicklen Warwick garden in Brownsville, and a site in Coney Island near Mermaid Avenue.
What do you think? Is the urgent need for affordable housing clearly the more pressing issue? Or are these community gardens essential to maintaining a neighborhood’s quality of life?
Garden are homes #youthgardens #communitygardens #dontberudy #hpdlist pic.twitter.com/1RZzM5x7Yn
— NYC Foodscape (@nycfoodscape) February 10, 2015
What do u want? Comm. Gardens & Affrdable Hsg! #dontberudy @galeabrewer @BrianKavanaghNY @bradhoylman @MarkLevineNYC pic.twitter.com/rEgxTNX8A0 — Rosie Mendez (@RosieMendez) February 10, 2015
[Source: Politico]
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The new arrivals call them community gardens while the rest of us call them empty lots. Homes once stood on those lots and many of us aee delighted as hell to see houses instead of daffodils spring.