Event Advisory
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contacts:
Benjamin Shepard – 917.586.7952, press@times-up.org
Barbara Ross – 917.494.8164
Harvest Day offering to draw attention to the City’s new proposed rules that would eliminate the protective status and endanger hundreds of community gardens
Time’s Up! Harvest Day Offering to Save the Community Gardens
Monday August 2, 2010
Starts at 10:30 am, Fountain City Hall Park
New York, NY (August 2, 2010) – Monday, August 2nd at 10:30 am, garden supporters from Time’s Up!, a direct action environmental group, will deliver garden vegetables from endangered community gardens to City Council Members and Mayor Bloomberg at City Hall. This symbolic offering will draw attention to the new rules being drafted by the City that allows gardens to be legally transferred to development, risking hundreds of gardens being bulldozed. These rules replace the 2002 Preservation Agreement, expiring 9/17/2010, that have allowed gardens throughout the city to thrive over the last decade.
“Contrary to the City’s statements, the proposed rules are not identical to the 2002 settlement agreement, which required the City to do a State Environmental Quality Review of the gardens before bulldozing and required the City to preserve 198 gardens under the Parks Department or land trusts. The proposed rules would violate this agreement and open all the remaining gardens to development,” explained garden activist Susan Howard. “Since the agreement was reached in 2002, the City has destroyed over 130 gardens. Department of Housing Preservation and Development has moved all gardens under their stewardship to development, with only 20 remaining now pending development.”
“We need to preserve what’s left of our green space, and find ways to cultivate more. Not impose rules which would destroy what’s left of them!” said Times Up! volunteer Benjamin Shepard.
“This is an opportunity for Bloomberg and the City Council to demonstrate they appreciate green space as a resource for global cooling and community development,” explained Times Up! Director Bill DiPaola.
“the Bulldozers are Coming“
