Hello, I am a student at Edinburgh University, Scotland and am writting my dissertation at the moment. I am researching community gardens in NYC and the function that they have within the community. I was wondering if anyone would mind me asking them questions about the topic?
Thank you in advance, James ******************************************************************** Dear James, About thirty years ago, there was a visiting scholar from Edinburgh University, named Jack ( I never learned his surname) who helped us move rubble in a few Lower East Side garden sites, and tutored kids in Math at a local church. If I recall, he was studying something like macroeconomics at NYU. Who knows, he might be an academic, a billionaire or a multi-national arms trader today. However, when we knew him, Jack was a great guy. Consider this, please, as payback. Best regards, Adam Honigman VP DeWitt Clinton Park Conservancy, Gardener, Clinton Community Garden & Liz Christy Gardens For your dissertation: 1) For starters, please feel free to contact Richard Reynolds of the UK Guerrilla gardeners -http://www.guerrillagardening.org/. He did a number of interviews with NYC gardeners, and while he might be using the stuff for a project of his, I have no problem with you using the transcript of the interview I gave him for his archives - please ask him nicely, and give him "props" as we say in NYC , in your dissertation. 2) I would strongly suggest that you go to the website of the American Community Gardening Association (http://communitygarden.org/) and read it with care. Please make yourself a strong pot of tea (or other favorite caffeinated beverage) and take the trouble to read every single page, to give you a sense of how community gardening in Canada and the United States is similar to, but differs, in subtle ways from the European Allotment programmes. For the serious researcher: The community garden studies on this link page are required reading: http://communitygarden.org/links.php#Studies 3) Probably the best early book on Boston's Community Gardens in the early years is by Boston University's Sam Bass Warner, Jr's. "To Dwell is To Garden", Boston, Northwestern University Press, 1987, (ISBN: 1-55553-007-9) 4) The best written, one volume treatment of community gardening remains, Jobb, J. (1979). The Complete Book of Community Gardening. New York: William Morrow and Co. Every time I get the bug to write one, I just pick Jobb's book and realize that even after 23 years, it's hard to beat for historical context and down to earth, practical advice. Because this book is so good, it's usually missing from most public libraries (i.e., "Steal this Book!" ) I obtained my copy from Amazon. 5) Another fine cg book A Handbook of Community Gardening By Boston Urban Gardeners - Edited By Susan Naimark Charles Scribner's Sons - New York 1982 SB457.3.H26 635 81-23302 ISBN 0-684-17466-9 AACR2 6) This is the Amazon link to "Grace from the Garden : Changing the World One Garden at a Time" by Debra Landwehr Engle which you must read, as it has in-depth pieces on community gardens and the people who make them happen from all over the USA. A Rodale Publication, is in print. (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1579546854/102-9894196-7707321?v=glance ) 7) Malve von Hassel's "The Struggle for Eden: Community Gardens in New York" by Malve von Hassell, Bergin & Garvey; Greenwood Publishing Group. 2002" which was reviewed in a 2004 issue of "HortIdeas." Von Hassell's other book, , "Homesteading in NYC, 1978-1993: The Divided Heart of Loisaida" Bergin & Garvey 1999 ISBN: 0-89789-651-3 provides a good cultural background on the lower east side neighborhood. .You should be able to find both books at a good University library or the Greenwood Publications website http://www.greenwood.com , searching under author. 8) Laura Lawson's "City Bountiful: A Century of Community Gardening in America," University of California Press, 2005, is an extraordinary overview of community gardens in North America, and is available through Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/City-Bountiful-Century-Community-Gardening/dp/0520243439/sr=1-4/qid=1169318712/ref=sr_1_4/102-9754614-9756132?ie=UTF8&s=books 9) Some homework for anyone who wants to understand how we can have 550 community gardens in NYC, on some of the most overvalued real-estate in the world. a) Here is the website of the NYC Dept of City Planning ("NYDCP") which has a number of highly valuable links. You may have to download Adobe Acrobat to print sections that you want, but that program is usually available free of charge ( http://www.ci.nyc.ny.us/html/dcp/home.html) b) Here is the Web version of the Zoning Resolution of the City of New York which includes all text amendments approved by the City Council up to September 25, 2002. Please note that there is an interim period between the date when the City Council adopts a text or mapping amendment to the Zoning Resolution and the date that this web site is updated. These are the "rules of baseball" and it's best to make yourself a pot of tea and read. If it makes your eyes glaze over, not to worry, it does that to $500 an hour real estate attorneys. Low rent volunteer http://www.ci.nyc.ny.us/html/dcp/html/subcats/zoning.html c) This is Article IX: Special Purpose Districts, Chapter 6 "Special Clinton District" as amended 12/19/01. What is written ( and isn't written) in Article IX, Chapter 6 explains why the creation of third of an acre Clinton Community garden was possible in the midst of midtown Manhattan. http://www.ci.nyc.ny.us/html/dcp/pdf/zone/art09c06.pdf d) This is the website of the Clinton Community Garden , http://www.clintoncommunitygarden.org - the historical section can give you some of the reason why this small piece of "citizen managed public green space" (a definition that some folks belive that I coined - been saying it so long, it might be true ;) ) is the only community garden listed in the NYS attorney general's settlement memorandum as permanent parkland. e) From NY State Attorney General Elliot Spitzer's web page: The Community Garden Settlement: http://www.oag.state.ny.us/environment/community_gardens_agreement.pdf f) The list of gardens covered under the settlement by borough: http://www.oag.state.ny.us/environment/community_gardens_sum.html g) You need to also read posting made to this listserve by Lenny Librizzi, myself and others on this community garden settlement, the NYS parkland issue, etc. In fact, if you go back through 2000 and read forward on this issue, you will have an interesting archive on how this land use issue was resolved. h) In formation: you should try to contact the nice folks at Green Thumb ( Edie Stone and crew) GreenThumb, 49 Chambers Street Room 1020, New York, New York 10007, Tel (212) 788-8070, Fax (212) 788-8052,City of New York/Parks & Recreation, Edie Stone, Director; ; the Council for the Environment ( Lenny Librizzi and Gerard Lordahl) http://www.cenyc.org/ ; The Trust for Public Land in NYC ( go to New York, then NYC programs - Joanne Morse) http://www.tpl.org/ ; The New York Restoration Project ( Joseph Puppello) http://www.nyrp.org/ ; Green Guerillas ( Steve Frillman, Ximena Naranjo) http://users.rcn.com/ggsnyc/ ; The Neighborhood Open Space Coalition ( Dave Lutz and Toby Brandt) http://www.treebranch.com/nosc/ ; Brooklyn Greenbridge Director and emeritus ACGA President Ellen Kirby is an important source. i) The Cornell University Garden Mosaics program has collected a great deal of information that could be key to your understanding of what community gardens do in NYC: http://www.gardenmosaics.cornell.edu/"; ________________________________________________________________________ Check out the new AOL. 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