August
1994
Precarious
Jewels Among the Ruins: The Community Gardens of the Lower
East Side
By Elizabeth Kemler
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The myriad community gardens of the Lower East Side
are not merely pleasant to look at, offering inhalations of floral scents
for passersby, they are the evolving expressions of a community committed
to the restoration of natural beauty and cultural integrity to the neighborhood.
Once garbage-strewn empty lots, they are now treasure troves of weeping
willows, flowers, vegetable gardens and artwork. From within the tender
folds of this fractious, disconsolate society have emerged such collaborative
creations as the masterfully-crafted, sky-high community garbage sculpture
shadowing the sidewalk in front of the 6th and B garden.
The average city resident lives in relative complacency, having long
been subjected to the proliferation of the hard-drug culture making
its presence known on the corners and in the crevices of nearly every
local block. This necessitates the sort of largescale changes the gardens
address using a variety of cultural and arts programs, performances,
art exhibitions, educational workshops, video documentaries, and community
assistance projects.
Proponents of the effort toward social and environmental change, Earth
Celebrations was founded in 1990 as a non-profit organization devoted
to the education of communities on issues of environmental and social
relevance. Earth Celebrations is one of many forces inspiring the evolution
of gardens.
The efforts of founder, festival artist, and community organizer Felicia
Young have gone a long way towards increasing local awareness of urban
ecology, and designating community members to further essential progress
and preservation. Some of her projects include Ecofest in 1989; the
Festival to Save McCarren Pool in Greenpoint, Brooklyn in 1990; and
most recently, the creation of The Rites of Spring; Procession to Save
Our Gardens — four years old this May. Young is the voice of a
community rife with artistic ingenuity, enmeshed in a diverse cultural
history, and it is with her organizational ability and artistic inspiration,
along with the help of numerous volunteer organizers and assistants,
that that voice has come to be heard. In a recent interview she said:
"The gardens are a place where people who would otherwise have
no reason to, now come together to create an ecotopia.. an urban improvisation
that could be used as a model for urban planning in the future."
Art that serves ecology, community and social awareness, is the intent,
and has been the function of such projects as Earth Celebrations’
annual Rites of Spring pageant. The pageant is filled with giant puppets,
mobile structures and costumed characters, spread throughout the sixty
local gardens over the course of twelve hours — with theater,
ceremonies, and mythic dramas offered at each.
Much to the dismay of community members, however, the Rites of Spring
celebration has taken on greater implications as the threat to the life
of the gardensgrows. Since its inception in 1991 the festival has attracted
wide media coverage, eventually encouraging the support of Manhattan
Borough President Ruth Messenger. She announced at last year’s
festival her investment for the permanent preservation of the El Jardin
Paradiso garden on East Fourth Street with funds for the Trust for Public
Land.
In an effort to raise money for the production of the festival and raise
awareness of the gardens’ plight, Earth Celebrations sponsored
a benefit dance party in a loft space donated by the Stella Adler Conservatory
of Acting. As would be expected at such an affair, the mood was festive,
with music and costumed dancers filling with room. The attendance was
as impressive as it was diverse, bringing in an unprecedented six thousand
dollars for the cause. When asked what drew him to the event, one village
resident offered: "We are surrounded by harshness in this city,
the gardens are a vital means of relief which must be preserved."(That
sentiment will take on cinematic proportions this summer with the Green
Oasis project, a documentary film depicting the role the gardens have
played in the community, with specific attention given to the Rites
of Spring festival and the debate over use of public lands).
Though the work of Earth Celebrations and local members has inspired
these efforts on behalf of the gardens, the fact remains that the city
is able to revoke the leases of any one of the gardens — for subsequent
development — with no more than thirty days notice. As the leases
are renewed on a yearly basis, the gardens exist under the persistent
threat of destruction.
These local oases serve as necessary respites from an often oppressive
urban environment. They have the potential to divert children away from
the consistent temptation and influence of drugs and crime, improve
the quality of life for local citizens, and perhaps eventually bring
about by example a city-wide movement toward rehabilitation. These larger
ideals, however, do not seem as great a concern as does the potential
profit to be made by the sales of city-owned land. Such was the case
when the garden that once embellished a decrepit Forsyth Street was
demolished in favor of a 180-unit housing project.
As I amble past the flowers reaching their blooming heads towards the
fence around Avenue D’s "Green Oasis" -— one of
many gardens which could soon become jewels of the past — I wonder
whether we will ever close the chasm in our society’s consciousness
through which such beauty has been allowed to slip.
If you would like to become involved in one of Earth Celebrations’
projects, or would just like more information on garden activities,
Felicia Young encourages people to contact her. Her number is (212)
727-8283.
Elizabeth Kemler is Assistant Producer of On the Line on WNYC radio
and an environmental activist.
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