Join us at the Rally to Protect Community Gardens! City Hall Monday, August 19 at 10am.
New York City is threatening to throw gardeners out of community gardens!
Since 1978, community gardeners and GreenThumb have enjoyed a very fruitful relationship. Gardeners have voluntarily given their time, labor, and money to be stewards of the City’s property so that the entire community can benefit from these much-needed green spaces.
In April, community gardeners were given a new four-year license agreement that substantially changes that relationship.
Under the new license, GreenThumb becomes an enforcement agency rather than a garden-friendly helpmate. This new license imposes new regulations, restrictions, and obligations on garden groups.
It was written by lawyers with no sense of the historical and cultural significance of the gardens and their communities. Now we are being told that we are being allowed to garden on city property and if we don’t like the new license we don’t have to garden.
Gardeners have voiced great concerns. At a Town Hall in May, gardeners voted unanimously to not sign the license. In the past 40 years there has never been widespread opposition to garden licenses.
We have tried to negotiate changes to the license; we want to continue to work toward a better license. But the City is threatening garden groups with a lockout. We have grave concerns about these items in the new license:
There are three sets of regulations that gardens are required to follow, these regulations are inconsistent, contradictory, and confusing.
Liability issues remain unresolved. The term “Licensee” in the agreement is not defined, what does it mean for the person signing the license on behalf of their community garden?
Gardens are required to hold two free public events a year but must obtain written permission far in advance from GreenThumb to hold these events.
Many of the new rules will be impossible to effectively enforce given the size of GreenThumb’s staff. This can only lead to arbitrary, discriminatory enforcement. Gardens will be lost because of developers’ greed not garden infractions.
They are kicking us out of their own gardens? I DON’T THINK SO!!
Join us Monday, August 19 at 10am on the City Hall steps.
Wear your flowers in your hair! Vegetables welcome!
Contact info@lungsnyc.org or go to www.lungsnyc.org
lungsnyc.org
The 8th Annual LUNGS HARVEST ARTS FESTIVAL Posted on July 25, 2019 by admin The Lungs Harvest Arts Festival 2019 will run for nine days, from Saturday, September 14 to Sunday, September 22. It will feature many local artists and many new artists. Please contact us if you are interested in performing...
Good News from LUNGS: We are very happy that GreenThumb has extended the license agreement deadline to September 20. We hope to continue negotiating in good faith. We all love our gardens and want to continue to have a good relationship with GreenThumb and the Parks Department. In light of the new deadline we are canceling the Rally scheduled for Monday at City Hall.
Gardens bring people of all backgrounds together to cultivate beauty and friendship!
NYC Mayor's Office of Immigrant Affairs
550+ GreenThumb gardens across NYC produce 500,000 lbs. of food annually and improve our air quality, biodiversity, and well–being. Many are managed by immigrants, who literally breathe new life into our city through the green spaces they've cultivated and share with fellow New Yorkers. #OpenGardenDayNYC
Saturday August 10th, Domino Tournament. GreenThumb and the Clinton (LES) Community Garden is hosting a Domino Tournament at 10:00am-3:00pm at 171 Stanton Street (corner of Stanton and Clinton)
More Info: We’re bringing it back! This free domino tournament is open to players of all ages, rating, and strength. There will be conuses including an award ceremony for the tournament participants. Stop by and learn how to host future tournament events in your garden!
Este taller se ofrecerá con traducción al español. This workshop will be offered with Spanish translation. ¡Lo traemos de vuelta! El torneo gratuito de dominó está abierto a jugadores de todas las edades, clasificación y fuerza. Se otorgarán premios, incluyendo una ceremonia de premiación para los participantes. ¡Visítenos y aprenda a organizar futuros torneos en su jardín!
