May
1997
Green
Guerillas: Fighting Urban Blight and the Closure of Comunnity
Gardens
By Constance Lynn Cornell |
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In 1973, Liz Christy began
a group called the Green Guerillas to help New York City residents
create community gardens. Initially, the group was a small community
greening project whose members planted boxes in various windows
around the Lower East Side in Manhattan. The group's first community
garden was a reclaimed vacant, rubble-strewn lot now known as
the Liz Christy Bowery Houston garden. Since then, the Green
Guerillas have helped create numerous community gardens below
14th Street on the East side of Manhattan. Using "guerilla" tactics,
volunteers have made it possible to grow food in the inner city.
Neglected or donated plants, fruit trees and tools, as well as
compostable materials, are collected by the Green Guerillas and
distributed to community members who want to start an urban garden.
Nearly 25 years on, the Guerillas -- with
a staff of five and a group of community volunteers -- no longer
create any new gardens, but improve some of the thousand or so
New York City gardens that already exist. They provide urban
gardeners with thousands of donated plants and horticultural
consultations, and help with planting, potting, weeding, watering
and mulching garden spaces. The Green Guerillas assist community
gardens to establish effective composting operations and present
workshops to teach youth about tree and plant care, pruning,
composting, garden design and garden photography. Guerillas have
planted deciduous Boston Ivy on 15 buildings; this ivy helps
filter air pollution, produces oxygen and cools buildings during
hot summer months. They also offer internships and youth education
services.
The future of New York City's community gardens is unclear because many
are being targeted for housing development. For example, the Campus Road
urban garden in Brooklyn has just been sold. The new owners will plow
over sunflowers, wildflowers and vegetables in order to build three two-story
housing units. Before the garden came into being, the empty lot was (mis)used
as a dump. Toby Sanchez, the main organizer for the garden, wrote a letter
to the owners of the property, Ponce de Leon Federal Savings and Loan
bank, telling its president that by leaving the lot abandoned the bank
was "contributing to slums and blight." Within days the president of
the bank met Toby at the lot -- which was overgrown with weeds and
strewn with garbage -- and immediately granted her permission to organize
residents to establish the garden.
The loss of Brooklyn's Campus Road garden will be a detriment to the
community, where residents have become accustomed to its beauty. Once
again, neighbors will have to be concerned about the safety of their
children as they pass the lot and will miss the opportunity to become
more self-sufficient by growing food.
Presently, 300 gardens are threatened by the development of low-income
housing. Three gardens that the Green Guerillas identify as beacons in
neighborhoods too often filled with rubble and poverty are located in
Harlem: the Five Star Block Association, Garden of Golden Lions and Souls
in Motion. The Green Guerillas are trying to save these lots by working
with local gardeners in efforts to save the green spaces through public
awareness campaigns. Many local gardeners are organizing with other communities
to build strong gardening groups. These groups, in turn, educate their
elected officials about the importance of these open spaces to community
well-being. "Gardeners are good people," says Phil Tietz of Green Guerillas.
Community gardens draw people together from different cultures, many
who may have farmed in their homelands. In many cultures, education is
the product of a person's intimate relationship with the community and
the environment. Children learn from grandparents, family and friends,
and from the natural world. Likewise, the community garden serves as
a venue for passing on vital knowledge to young gardeners.
The Green Guerillas desperately need citizen participation to save City
gardens. The group suggests joining a volunteer team in a local community
garden; they are always in need of assistance. Or if you prefer, visit
these garden lots as often as possible -- officials will notice the popularity
of these spaces and gardeners will appreciate the attention to and approval
of their hard work. Individuals may also write letters to local politicians
to support these gardens or get involved in community preservation projects,
such as rallies, workshops and meetings. Finally, you may opt to become
a member of the Green Guerillas by donating a small sum of money in return
for a quarterly newsletter and the satisfaction of contributing to the
welfare and beautification of New York City.
Additional reporting by Julie Hughes. For information
on the Green Guerillas contact: 625 Broadway, 2nd Floor, New York
City 10012. Tel.: 212-674-8124.
Green Guerillas Manifesto
Joe Eisman, the Community Organizer for the Green
Guerillas, has developed concepts the Guerillas would like to see
become central to local governmental policy on open spaces in New
York City.
First, a sensible planning policy is desperately needed to promote both
housing and open spaces. The Green Guerillas accept the need for low-income
housing; however, they feel that housing and open spaces are inherently
linked in boosting morale in impoverished areas. Secondly, the group
calls for methods that involve the entire community in planning processes.
Individuals should be included in decisions made in their own neighborhoods.
Thirdly, and perhaps most importantly, the Green Guerillas hope to get
new mechanisms adopted to provide permanent status for community gardens
and open spaces. For example, rather than the current one-year leases
granted to the gardens, leases should be in 10- or 15-year spans. Or,
ideally, more gardens should be granted permanent parkland status --
thus being owned and protected by the City. -- C. L. C.
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