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The contract, created by the Parks Department’s GreenThumb program and signed every four years, includes an updated liability policy, a limit on the number of fundraisers and a rigid approval process for all events. These changes could make many of the green spaces unsustainable.
Aziz Dehkan of the New York City Community Garden Coalition — a group that supports and provides legal aid to community gardens — told Brooklyn This Week that his largest concerns center on liability issues, a new events approval process and vague guidelines.
“There’s very little appreciation for the thousands of hours and millions of dollars, frankly, that the city saves by having volunteers run these spaces,” Dekhan said. “To hold this threat that ‘we will lock you out if you don’t sign the license,’ we’re volunteers. Are you kidding me?”
To hear about how reporter Scott Enman discovered a citywide issue from looking locally, listen to the full episode above.
- Interview with Scott Enman at 1:22
- Interview with at Yemi Amu of Oko Farms 7:28
- Interview with at Aziz Dehkan of Community Garden Coalition 9:11
Our host Lawrence Madsen is a native New Yorker. He graduated from Columbia University with a B.A. in History. He is a volunteer leader with the disaster relief group Team Rubicon.
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