On Monday December 15th the Boardwalk Community Garden case had its day in court.
Given the limited nature of the hearing, we were only able to convey to Judge Sweeney the major parts of the case, and in quite broad strokes. There are a lot of issues that we didn't cover in Court that we most certainly brought up in our various papers-including, but not limited to, case law on parkland alienation, both temporary and permanent; the detailed factual history of the Boardwalk Garden; the history of the City's relationship with both this garden and others throughout the five boroughs; detailed problems with their floodplain analysis; issues with their discussions of stormwater and terrestrial resources; their failures to properly survey the site; their illegal bulldozing of the garden; and others issues. But in general, the purpose of the hearing was to convince the Judge that there were serious merits to our case.
I think we clearly accomplished this objective.
Judge Sweeney asked both sides to brief the issue of a jury trial in this case. What this means is that each side will explain what the law says about the use of jury trials to determine facts in these types of proceedings, and then argue why such a trial is or isn't appropriate in this case. We'll then submit this to him next Monday and wait for his decision-on both the issue of a trial and/or on the bigger issues in the case.
There is a chance that, given his willingness to bring the parkland issue before a jury, he might break up the case along its two issues and rule separately on each. Or he might wait to rule on either issue until after he or a jury decides on the parkland issue.
Our arguments are fair, the law is on our side, and we're more than happy presenting this evidence to anyone-judge, jury, or otherwise. The energy in the room yesterday was great, and, upon hearing both sides' arguments, I'm very pleased with where things stand. As we move forward, we need to make sure that we keep discussing the case and keeping in within the publics' consciousness. A trial will no doubt help this, but even if that doesn't happen, we still need to keep pressuring our leaders and representatives to support both the West Coney Island community and gardens, gardeners, and open space citywide.
Again, thanks to everyone for their support.
