Roger That Community Garden May Be Developed

There's a similar situation regarding the Maple Street Garden, on Maple III in PLG. However, there's one MAJOR difference, since the "property rights" of the supposed owners are very much in question. They're a pair of convicted criminals with a history of stealing real estate by forging deeds.

Ms Whynot and I donate to the various Land Trusts that create gardens by buying land.

We also pay taxes, some of which is used by the Parks Dept to create new open space.

Have the (prior) owners of the Maple Street Garden lot filed a suit/complaint that their property deed has been forged?

They would seem to be the party most affected by the theft, not the gardeners. Then, a publicly funded DA could investigate the merits of their complaint, as opposed to a crowd funded private investigator.

Property owners must pay taxes to keep the city at bay, so I believe the "best" (?) deed thieves scour the list of delinquent property owners to find a vulnerable property.

More legitimate "Cash for Land" businesses do the same thing.

Has the Maple St property ever been on said list?

Roger That Garden had another day in court today.  In commercial court to be exact.  The judge is used to settling cases with money, ie, how much will you pay the tenant to leave his bodega.  This case has the judge stumped, as the gardeners don't want money, they want vegetables.

My question is: what is the highest and best use of the few remaining bits of available land left in our increasingly concrete jungle of a city.  I recall that a previous mayor, one known for his love of development, made a goal to provide every New Yorker access to green space.

Indeed the judge can not invoke eminent domain.   But we could!  You'll recall that the council person for that area Robert Cornegie Jr. was elected by a 7 vote margin.  If he thought that 7 people really wanted him to invoke eminent domain and might vote for someone else if he didn't............

Capt -
I don't have any children, and am not interested in calling an obscure council person, Mr Cornegie, in an attempt to stop property owners from excercising thier long established rights.

Why would I bother Ms. Zimmerman with requests that they have no means to achieve?

I like community gardens, and believe they are a good use of land that is awaiting development, and land which is owned by the city or a trust.

I hope the "16 hearty shirt wearing souls" will be able to find new land that meets that description.

I also have a fear: As a result of making the owners go through the process of evicting these gardeners, other owners of undeveloped land will be less willing to lend it to other gardeners.

We fail to remember that zoning was an invention started right in here NYC.  Much public outcry arose over the sheer vertical rise of buildings in lower Manhattan, creating "canyons" of darkness.  In response to this outcry, the first zoning laws were created to block the wealthy elites from destroying the habitability of city streets.

As stated above by @capt. planet, the next court date is tomorrow.

Here is a picture of the lot back when it was housing:





Hopefully the gardeners have harvested all of their veggies and removed all of their tools, because eviction orders are often enforced on the same day the court makes a decision.

You don't think they will pack before going to court?

https://www.facebook.com/events/511318829026166/

Case now adjourned until Sept 9.

The developers are starting to run up against winter, when it is more expensive to create a foundation.

Case was adjourned on Sept 9th, and the next episode in this very slow moving saga is Thursday, October 22. The gardeners have created flyers and purchased more tshirts:

In walking by over the last few nights it seems as if the Garden has a bunch of new residents. The rats which took over the vacant lot behind the laundromat (following the successful TNR several years ago of the feral cat colony that lived there), have now now been gentrified out of the Bedford/Rogers block. They have taken up residence in the garden (and probably in the basement of the church and house as well) as they get pushed further west. 

At the Sanitation committee meeting of CB 8 this week, one of the older members recalled the days when it was required that all home owners keep their trash in sealed metal buckets behind their gates.  Sanitation workers were required to open the gates, remove the buckets, empty them and return them behind the gates.