NYCCGC met with the Parks Department and GreenThumb in our continuing effort to discuss the issues that gardeners have with the new license agreement.
Some progress has been made:
- Gardeners will once again have the option of allowing dogs into their gardens or not.
- CSA's will continue to be allowed to operate in gardens.
- There was also clarification offered for the terms "temporary structures" and "abandonment."
- The deadline for signing the licenses has been extended to August 19 while we will continue to negotiate.
There are substantial areas that we do not agree on. We urge gardens NOT to sign the license.
Standing in solidarity is our best strategy. According to a July 31 article on the issue in AM NewYork, most gardens have not yet signed: "The Parks Department has received signed license agreements from 130 of the 353 gardens that are located on its property."
We will update on further progress as our conversations with the City continue.
