Dear Friends of Carrie McCracken TRUCE Community Garden:
You’ve heard that the City could decide to evict our gardeners and garden at any time. Now the City is proposing new rules that offer fewer protections to all gardens on City property. Take a moment now to call 311 to express yourself about urban gardens and ask for rules that give gardens the respect they deserve. The public hearing will be August 10th. This is the best time to make your voice heard.
More information is below from: http://www.nyccgc.org/
July 22, 2010
Dear Community Gardeners and Garden Supporters:
As you may have heard, the New York City Administration recently published “Proposed Rules” for community gardens under the jurisdiction of the Department of Parks and Recreation (Green Thumb/Parks) and the Department of Housing Preservation & Development (HPD). The City claims that these rules are an adequate replacement for the 2002 Memorandum of Agreement (“Community Gardens Agreement”) between the New York State Attorney General and the Bloomberg Administration that has been protecting community gardens for the past 8 years – and which will be expiring this September.
NYCCGC is firmly in opposition to these Proposed Rules because they threaten all gardens on City property with development and do not offer the same protections as the 2002 Community Gardens Agreement.
We ask that you, along with your community gardening group, affiliated coalitions, neighbors, supporters, and organizations, stand with us in opposing these rules and demanding rules that permanently preserve existing community gardens and allow pathways for creating more gardens in the future.
TAKE ACTION!
Please plan to attend the public hearing for comments on the Proposed Rules on community gardens under Parks and HPD jurisdiction to be held on Tuesday August 10, 2010, 11:00am, at the Chelsea Recreation Center located at 430 West 25th Street, New York, New York 10010. Information on how to register your intention to testify as well as how to comment on these rules in writing, online, or by mail is available on our website (www.NYCCGC.org) and at the end of this letter.
Suggestions for points to make in your testimony and written comments:
1. The Proposed Parks Rules must state that all gardens in good standing will remain as community gardens.
2. The Proposed HPD Rules must include a process for community gardens in good standing to be transferred to Parks.
3. The Proposed Parks/HPD Rules threaten community gardens because they do not extend the protections established in the 2002 “Community Gardens Agreement”.
4. Rather than preserving community gardens, the Proposed Parks/HPD Rules assume all gardens are subject to development.
5. The City Administration needs to recognize community-controlled green spaces and provide long-term solutions for making community gardens permanent.
6. The Rules need to provide processes and procedures for creating new gardens and urban farms.
Most of all we recommend that you tell the story of your community garden and why it is special to you, your family, and your community in your comments at the hearing and in writing.
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On our website you can find links to the Proposed Rules to read them and download them for yourself, updates on our mobilization efforts, and dates of upcoming information sessions in neighborhoods across the City. Please contact us if you want to help with these efforts.
No matter whether your community garden is Green Thumb/Parks, HPD, NYRP, or Land Trust – even if you don’t garden at all but want to support NYC’s community gardens – a threat to even one garden is a threat to all gardens! The time to stand together for all community gardens is NOW.
We look forward to standing with you in solidarity for our gardens on Tuesday, August 10th!
Yours in Solidarity with all Community Gardens,
NYCCGC
Further information on testifying and commenting on the Proposed Rules:
Notice of your intention to testify on either proposed rule should be registered with Ms. Laura LeVelle: call (212) 360-1335, email laura.lavelle@parks.nyc.gov, or send a letter to her: Department of Parks and Recreation, The Arsenal, Central Park, 830 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10065. You must register to speak by August 9, 2010.
Written comments regarding the Proposed Parks Rules should be sent to: General Counsel, Mr. Alessandro G. Olivieri, Department of Parks and Recreation, The Arsenal, Central Park, 830 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10065.
Written comments regarding the Proposed HPD Rules should be sent to Mary-Lynne Rifenburgh, 100 Gold Street, Room 5Q-2, New York 10038.
You can also directly comment online on either rules through the City’s website (http://www.nyc.gov/html/nycrules), or by calling 311 on or before August 10, 2010.
NYCCGC recommends that you should comment on both rules.
