This is an update for interested ACGA listserve members: Friends,
We in NYC are expecting many gardens to be bulldozed when Attorney General Spitzer's community garden lawsuit against the City of New York is settled. Of the 146-odd gardens in question, a goodly number will be demolished. The Hon. Mr. Addabo, the NYC Council Parks chair (as urged by the mayor's office and special pleadings by local real estate interests) has killed NYC Council Intro 206, effectively delaying hearings about gardens until after the settlement is finalized. The NYC Council community garden hearings, if they are ever held, look to be a post-mortem and wake rather than a viable forum to save and/or preserve gardens. Like many of us who have been proponents of the previous three garden bills, I realize that it is no good to cry over delayed or killed community garden legislation - enough tears will now be shed over bulldozed gardens or by nightstick induced headaches. FYI, the attached missive is about a Civil Disobediance training that took place last Saturday in Brooklyn. Please contact Mr. Mark Leger at the address or e-mail address below if you are interested in participating in these trainings or protests. Best wishes, Adam Honigman -----Original Message----- From: Mark Leger [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Monday, August 26, 2002 8:56 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: CYBERGARDENS: Report on CD training ------------------------------------------------------------ News from the CYBERGARDENS mailing list ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) ------------------------------------------------------------ Hey everybody, I'm writing to give a brief report on the civil disobedience training that happened this Saturday in Prospect Park in Brooklyn. We had a surprisingly good turnout, despite the rain and the unsettled nature of the lawsuit negotiations. What was especially nice to see was that the people who came reflected the true face of community garden: they were mostly not the young, white college kids that have been the main participants in previous garden civil disobedience actions (with the exception of the Earthshaking Protest and Civil Disobedience that occurred on May 5, 1999). One of the purposes of this training was to try out a "standard curriculum" for garden civil disobedience trainings. We kept the training to two hours, and tailored the information to garden defense. If you've ever been to one of these things, you know that role playing is an important part. First we presented the history and effectiveness of CD (think Thoreau, Martin Luther King, and, well, the garden movement in NYC), plus the legal stuff, plus some pointers on working with the media. After more than an hour of this stuff, participants' eyes (understanably) glazed over. But then we role-played a demonstration, and people *really* got into it. And they really got it. Much thanks to Mac Scott from the Peoples' Law Collective for coming to cover the legal stuff, and for prodding me how to play a commanding officer. Finally, we are eager to do this training at other venues. If anybody has a garden for which they think this would be helpful, please let us know. Also, we're looking for more largish, indoor spaces to do these trainings. If you can help us out with that, we would be much obliged. Peace, Mark -- Mark Leger 148 Sterling Place Brooklyn, NY 11217 (718)399-9425 (347)581-6197 cell --- CYBERGARDENS =========================================== To remove yourself from this list, please send a message to "[EMAIL PROTECTED]" with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the subject of the e-mail. To receive a reference guide to this mailing list, send a message to "[EMAIL PROTECTED]" with the word HELP in the subject of the e-mail. If you have any questions about or problems with this mailing list, please send e-mail to the list moderator dave lutz at "[EMAIL PROTECTED]". ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------- This list is operated by the Neighborhood Open Space Coalition and Friends of Gateway. Visit http://www.treebranch.com on the web to learn more about organizations sponsoring mailing lists and/or web sites concerning the environment, open space, and related urban issues in New York City. =========================================== ______________________________________________________ The American Community Gardening Association listserve is only one of ACGA's services to community gardeners. To learn more about the ACGA and to find out how to join, please go to http://www.communitygarden.org To post an e-mail to the list: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your subscription: https://secure.mallorn.com/mailman/listinfo/community_garden
