Thought You Missed Your Chance to Defend Community Gardens in NYC?

Reclaiming Urban Space Ain’t Just A Historical Museum in the Lower East Side (Well, OK, It’s That Too…)

Children’s Magical Garden, 2014

by Panagioti / Earth First! Newswire

“Three decades ago, New Yorker Jose Torres helped his mother Alicia and other neighborhood volunteers turn a rubble filled lot on 7th street in Manhattan’s East Village into a community garden. Esperanza Garden became a symbol of the neighborhood and a much-loved community space.
But in 2001, city bulldozers arrived to dismantle the garden. They were met by gardeners, some of whom had chained themselves inside a huge wire and canvas watchtower constructed in the shape of a frog. The incident was the latest battle between then-mayor Rudolph Guiliani and community activists over the use of abandoned city owned property. Jose’s diary documents the fight to save Esperanza Garden.” source

It was around 15 years ago that I first set foot in a community garden in New York City, while traveling with some friends across the US. I’m not sure which one it was, but I’m pretty sure it was located somewhere between where we were eating lunch with the Hare Krishnas in Tompkins Square and where we were building barricades at the threatened squat we’d slept in.

I was 18 years old and awestruck. One of the things that blew my mind was that I recognized some of the people I has met, from thousands of miles away. They had been out at the redwood treesits I took part in the previous year. I quickly realized that these folks who were running in Earth First! circles for a few years longer than me has figured out a pretty good routine. They spent logging season defending old growth forests on the west coast, and the rest of the year defending their squats and gardens in NYC, oh and chasing mass mobilizations in between. (RIP Brad Will and Matt Power.)

I’ve passed through The City a dozen times since then, and it was never quite the same experience again (which could have as easily been me as it was New York). Most noticeably, despite decades of pitched battles in the streets, so many of the squats had given way to demolition and yuppie re-development. But on the other hand, many of the gardens held out.

After visiting the Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space (MoRUS) for the first time one morning last week, the memories were fresh in my mind. But, honestly, the experience had my stomach churning with discomfort. Was it really that long ago that there is a museum?! Even though it wasn’t MoRUS‘ intention to portray things that way, it was hard to not feel it… At least, until I wandered up on the Childrens’ Magical Garden.

There was Aresh, co-founder of More Gardens!, with a tent pitched in a 24-hour garden watch to make sure there wouldn’t be another incursion onto the land. At least not without a fight. I mean there was literally a tree climbing work shop in session, while kids seesawed (one of them being my own), mulberries dropped, and I began writing part of this story in my head.

I told Aresh so.  And told him that I would like to help rally support from around the country via the EF! Newswire, when the time was right. Instead of a call to defend the garden, I got an invitation to attend the Summer Solstice party. The machines were at bay, and we could enjoy the mulberries and seesaw in relative peace (you know, minus the traffic and sirens, etc) for the moment. The lawsuit against they filed against the developers and speculators earlier in the year, claiming “adverse possession” over the threatened parcel, was keeping the fight tied up in court, with an actual shot at victory for the land and the community who have used the garden for dozens of years. (check out the sweet video.)

And today also happens to be the last day of a fund raising campaign to support their educational programs.

So, while they time for a rowdy defense of the garden may well still be soon in coming, for the meantime I thought a glimpse of More Gardens! inspiring-as-hell early history would be in order.

• 1999: More Gardens! is formed in response to short-sighted plans to develop over 700 verdant NYC community gardens when 14,000 vacant lots existed. They asked for permanence and for creating more gardens. They participated in outreach, legal action, civil disobedience and colorful protests at City Hall, preserving all 113 gardens put on auction into Trust for Public Land and New York Restoration Project.
• 1999-2000: More Gardens! brings national attention to the other 500 endangered gardens, with a 6 month encampment in Esperanza Community Garden in the Lower East Sida.
• 2001: More Gardens! created a 25,000-strong people’s referendum, culminating in the successful settlement of a lawsuit brought by the Attorney General against the City of New York, permanently preserving 198 additional community gardens…

Find out more about More Gardens! here

And if you need an excuse to come to NYC and check out the garden, how about the UN climate talks in Sept?

Or if you are gonna be here sooner, come check out the EF! Direct Action Manual event at The Base, on July 27th.