Raymond Figueroa addresses the assembled at the "Rally to SAVE GreenThumb!" on Tuesday, April 5, 2011. Photo: Owen Taylor
NYCCGC thanks our many allies and fellow gardeners who braved the temperamental Spring weather to join us on the steps of City Hall today to raise our voices in an united effort to save GreenThumb, whose sole funding source, federal Community Development Block Grants, stand to be drastically cut at any moment.
This time we are quite sure Mayor Bloomberg heard us - he quietly (and very quickly) passed by us on his way into City Hall!
City Council Member (and Parks and Recreation Committee Chairperson) Melissa Mark-Viverito vowed solidarity in defending GreenThumb, as did fellow Council members Letitia James (Brooklyn) and Jimmy Van Bramer (Queens). We are grateful for their support.
Our community was well represented, with community gardeners traveling from near and far, and members of Just Food, East New York Farms!, Friends of Brook Park, EcoStation:NY, La Familia Verde Garden Coalition, Manhattan Land Trust, Brooklyn-Queens Land Trust, Farming Concrete, Black Urban Growers, Project Harmony, Inc., Hattie Carthan Community Garden, and Citizens Committee for New York City all proudly in attendance.
Before the crowd dispersed, NYCCGC president, Karen Washington, reminded those in attendance to continue the awareness-raising effort by circulating "SAVE GreenThumb!" petitions and gathering signatures.
