Protest Over City's Demolition of Community Garden

Yesterday, activists attempted to block the construction crews from razing a community garden in Harlem. The city has been planning to remove the Nueva Esperanza Garden at 110th and Fifth Avenue and replace it with a new building for the Museum of African Art. But critics question whether it's really a museum or a guise for new condominiums. There are supposed to be 115 luxury units in the building, and Times Up writes the museum part "has no collections and will house a few small rooms for lectures."

Volunteers have actually been living at the garden for the a year, preparing for an eventual showdown. The garden's president, Anthony Bowman, told Metro, "Before the garden, this was a dump. This was a crack street that nobody walked down. This garden stabilized the community. That's why developers are coming. Now the city is giving the land to developers." And the Green Gorillas' Hannah Riseley-White tells amNew York that the city has lost almost 100 community gardens to development since the 1990s, and of the 60 gardens currently under threat, 20 are in East Harlem.

As for what happened yesterday, here's Times' Up on the siege and next steps:

The siege by developers on the Nueva Esperanza Garden on E 110th street is now over, for now. The standoff did not escalate as expected and no arrests were made, though many of the flower and vegetable beds were destroyed by heavy pickup trucks driving all over the garden. The Gardeners were allowed to get their personal effects, but their casita was destroyed and those encamping in the garden were thrown out. The developers have set up their own encampment in the garden with security guards and a trailer. One gardener climbed a tree, but came down when a meeting with Scott Stringer and the gardeners was promised. Many supporters responded to our call, press, and elected officials too. Thanks especially to Bill Perkins, State Senator for showing up. An injunction is being filed tomorrow morning in the courts and other legal processes are in the works. Attend the Harlem United Gardeners Meeting in City Council Member Melissa Mark-Viverito's office on East 116th Street tomorrow evening. More information is also at www.moregardens.org

The museum's new building was announced in February, when Mayor Bloomberg said, "Now at last, the Museum will have an extraordinary new venue on Museum Mile that will allow it to vastly expand its reach and service to New Yorkers and visitors from around the world. This stunning new facility will also serve as a new cultural gateway to Harlem."

Photograph by Philipp Rassmann for Time's Up on Flickr, which has a set from the standoff

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By Jen Chung in News on April 4, 2007 9:58 AM

Comments [rss]

stripe

The real story on this finally comes out this week

http://www.villagevoice.com/2010-01-05/news/bloomberg-and-thompson-the-really-odd-couple/1

Still Not Amused

Hey !!! Cultural enrichment is a good thing ! *snickers*

LN

Meeting of HUG (Harlem United Gardens)

WHEN: Wednesday- April the 4th, 2007 - 6.00pm

WHERE: 105 East 116th Street, (between Park and Lexington Avenues) East Harlem (Councilmember Melisa Mark-Viverito office)

Updates on many of the developments on the HUG community gardens - Nueva Esperanza Encampment, (Cinco de Mayo)

Reunión de los Jardines Unidos del Harlem Miércoles 4 de Abril, 2007 - 6.00pm

105 Este, Calle 116 (entre las Avenidas Park y Lexington)

Actualización de muchos de los planes de desarrollo en los Jardines Comunitarios - del Harlem Campamento en “Nueva Esperanza” (Cinco de Mayo)

Man in the Streets

The Community Board was manipulated into allowing housing to the Museum by some of the then elected officials. The museum snuck in the condos after the initial agreements. HOWEVER...Bulldoze the damn thing, SERIOUSLY. East Harlem needs green spaces, it seriously does but this garden add no value to the community at large. Many of these gardens in East Harlem are BS "Casitas" that serve only as hang outs for people drinking and playing dominoes. They tend to be run downed lots that are more rats nests than gardens.

Typically the hispters will see this as something to hang their self-righteous hats on, but the areas needs homes more than "Gardens", it needs Trees other anti-pollution solutions, not rats nests.

not a museum

anonymass,

INDEED!!!! glad to see someone (and i know there are more out there) is aware of that conundrum. one of the biggest problems is how museums are accepted as being such important cultural institutions when they simply are tools for the wealthy and powerful who, through multi-million dollar donations and endowments plus political maneuvering, etc. dictate society's view of art, science, history, etc, etc., and in this case HOUISNG! just having a museum does not make the luxury housing project any less palatable. plus, WTF is this museum.... it barely exists except as a tool......

as many would agree, the true culture, art, gardens, public space, etc. that deserves recognition and support can all be found on the streets - not enclosed in glass cases where one has to pay admission to view, read, ogle it, etc.

this joke isn't funny anymore

"There are supposed to be 115 luxury units in the building, and Times Up writes the museum part "has no collections and will house a few small rooms for lectures.""

as the adage goes: "don't piss on my leg and tell me it's raining." this is another example of how far our city caters to development interests at the expense of it's residents.