Save the Baltic Street Community Garden and P.S. 133

Posted on 2009-06-08 by admin

The Baltic Street Community Garden and the century-old gothic P.S. 133 school building in Park Slope are threatened by School Construction Authority (SCA) plans to raze both for a new school building.

More details on the issues and what’s at stake are below the fold.

What you can do:

Call or write to Councilman David Yassky’s office, and urge him to support the preservation of the existing garden and school, and to press for an alternative, appropriate plan.
Phone: 718-875-5200.
Email: yassky@council.nyc.ny.us
Address: 114 Court Street, Brooklyn, N.Y. 11201

Sign the online petition [http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/4thAveLandmark/]

Come to the Community Board 6 meeting TONIGHT, 6/8 at 6:30pm where this issue will be discussed. Representatives from both the SCA and Yassky’s office will be there. Location:
Old First Reformed Church [GMAP]
729 Carroll Street
(Corner of 7th Avenue)
Brooklyn, New York

To learn more, please contact us at baltic.garden@gmail.com

The School Construction Authority (SCA) recently announced its plans to demolish historic PS 133 in Park Slope (375 Butler Street at 4th Avenue) to make way for a new, much larger school structure. This remarkable gothic school, a recognized historic resource designed by renowned educational architect CBJ Snyder, is a beloved community anchor.

It has been determined eligible for the State and National Register of Historic Places, and a number of other Snyder schools throughout the city are already designated local landmarks, including Morris High School in The Bronx and the former Stuyvesant High School on East 15th Street in Manhattan.

Local residents are devastated by the notion of losing PS 133 and have developed alternative plans that would allow for the building to be preserved with an annex constructed to accommodate the additional seats. The SCA has expressed no interest in considering these alternatives and has neglected to include local stakeholders in any of the discussions surrounding the proposal.
– Park Slope Snyder School to be Demo’d by NYC School Construction Authority, Historic Districts Council, 2009-06-05

An online petition to save the century old PS 133 building and adjacent 30 year old community garden has been created. Please consider signing it if you have any concerns about the NY School Construction Authority’s
proposal to tear down the current school building, and build a massive 960 seat school on the site of the garden and school playground. Construction is slated to begin in just a couple of months.

The proposal has been created in haste, without any input from the planned community immediately surrounding it, and without concern for the safety of the neighborhood. There is no plan in place for handling
the toxic waste that will be disturbed and dug up on the contaminated site. Traffic concerns due to the 660 seat increase have not been adequately addressed. Neighborhood residents feel that the lightning pace of this project should be slowed, and alternative plans be considered

The School Construction Authority wants to tear down the century old PS 133 bldg (which is wait listed for the landmark status) and the Baltic St Community garden to build a nearly 1000 seat new school on that property. There are so many reasons why this proposal is flawed including:

the surrounding community was not consulted at all, and they are against the project as it is drawn up at present.

school is too massive for the tiny streets and houses of Baltic & Butler, which along with the garden is a planned community built nearly 30 years ago.

traffic problems not adequately addressed. Dropping off and picking up 960 students per day is unsafe in that location. 50 school buses will be circling that small half block area.

environmental impact study states that the site is contaminated with hazardous substances. To date, they have no plan in place on how to safely deal with the contaminated soil.

school is sited in District 13, but they will get no increase in seats. Instead, District 15 (who is paying and pushing for this project) will get an additional 560 seats. The new bldg would house 3 separate schools–districts 13, 15, and 75, but in a very segregated way. There would be no mixing of the students. Many parents object to this segregation.

many people feel that as soon as it is finished, rezoning will occur, granting entire school to District 15, which leaves 13 with no new benefit, just a loss of a school.

garden has been in that site for 20 years, and has fully mature trees, shrubs, hedges, etc will be destroyed as it will be too hot in August to transplant even if new homes could be found for them. It is a unique space with thousands of sq feet for growing food in addition to the ornamentals.

this is the only open, green space on 4th Ave for a the entire 6 mile stretch from Flatbush to the Verrazano.

Links

Save 4th Ave Park Slope Landmark and Community Garden (online petition)
Park Slope Snyder School to be Demo’d by NYC School Construction Authority, Historic Districts Council, 2009-06-05

Save the Baltic Street Community Garden in Park Slope

Posted on 2009-01-21 by admin

Tomorrow night, Thursday, January 22, is an important meeting at MS 821, 4004 4th Avenue, btw 39th & 40th Streets, 7-9 p.m. This meeting is for the general public and concerned parties to share information and opinions about the proposed new school bldg at PS 133 where the Baltic St Garden is located.
– email, Julie Claire, Baltic Street Garden

You may not know the Baltic Street Garden [GMAP] by name, but many of us have travelled past it at high speed. Here’s an exterior view, from 4th Avenue and Baltic Street.

During the summer, the huge, two-story tall and wide, brilliant orange-flowering Trumpet Vine, Campsis radicans, is its own 50mph garden (a garden that can be seen while driving past it at 50mph).

This garden was on the first 2008 Green With Envy tour, organized by the Brooklyn Community Gardeners Coalition (BCGC). At last Saturday’s BCGC meeting, we learned that the Garden is threatened by plans to build a new school on the site. Several plots have already been destroyed without warning by drilling equipment for soil sampling to determine the precise location of a new school building.

The Baltic Street Garden was a pioneer garden in Park Slope. According to Jon Crow, co-chair of BCGC:

This was the pioneer garden in Park Slope, originally located on the site where the Key Food now stands [on 5th Avenue]. I believe the garden was recreated around 1980 in its current location.

This garden predated and inspired the creation of many other gardens in the area. This is not just an active, thriving garden. It’s part of the history of the community gardening movement in Park Slope and Brooklyn.

It is a public meeting open to all, and we will probably have a chance to speak. [Rosemary Stuart, superintendent of District 15] was not sure exactly how it would be run, but the Board of Ed will be there along with the School Construction Authority, and anyone else who would like to attend. Please come if at all possible, so we can show them we care about preserving our present garden or creating a new garden space within the new school design.

There may or may not be a sign in sheet for people who wish to speak. I plan on speaking for sure, and if you would like to, look for a speaker sign in sheet at the entrance.

Pacific Street Bear’s Garden, Park Slope, Green With Envy Tour, II.1

Posted on 2008-08-05 by admin

Green With Envy Tour Two at the Pacific Street Brooklyn Bear’s Garden

Saturday, July 26, Tour Two of the Green With Envy tour of Brooklyn Community Garden’s kicked off where it started two weeks earlier: at the Brooklyn Bear’s Garden at Pacific Street.

We’re building raised beds at the Flatbush Community Garden, so I was paying more attention to details of their construction at different gardens on this tour.

Amazing how quickly things change. Two weeks before, I didn’t notice this cabbage. The fingerprints show how irresistible it must be to touch.

I didn’t get any good shots of this “Office Al Fresco” on the first tour. Very organized.

The inside of the door shows photos of all the gardeners.

I love these exuberant Trumpet Vines (Campsis radicans) growing in several of the gardens. It’s one of my favorite native vines, but there are few places where it can be grown effectively under cultivation, especially in compressed urban settings. It gets to be a huge in both height and mass, requiring a large, sturdy, long-lived structure to support it. Also, it’s a bit of a thug and throws up runners everywhere, so weeding and cultivation of the ground around it must be considered before placing it. I also see this growing over backyard fences into the B/Q subway cut, which is as good a placement as any!

Oak-Leaf Hydrangea (Hydrangea quercifolia), one of my favorite native shrubs. Again, the species is too large for most urban gardens. Several “dwarf” cultivars are available.

The Zinnias continue their psychedelic bloom.

Tour Brooklyn community gardens this Saturday, July 26

Posted on 2008-07-24 by admin

El jardin esta abierto / The garden is open

This is a reminder that the second leg of the Green With Envy Tour of Brooklyn community gardens is this Saturday, July 26. Tour Two kicks off at 10am from the Brooklyn Bear’s Pacific Street Garden, in the triangle at the intersection of Flatbush Avenue and Pacific Street in Park Slope, near the Atlantic Avenue station.

This is an opportunity to hear about the history of Brooklyn’s community gardens, speak with gardeners at each of the gardens, and learn how they organize and operate.

I posted 160 photos from Tour One two weeks ago. Tour Two promises to be just as extensive and interesting.

Pacific Street Brooklyn Bear’s Garden at Flatbush Avenue
St. Marks Avenue Blk. Assn. Community Garden btwn Carlton & Vanderbilt
Prospect Heights Community Farm, St. Marks btwn Vanderbilt & Underhill
Fulton Revival Garden, Vanderbilt at Gates
Hollenback Community Garden, Washington btwn Gates & Greene
Classon Ful-gate Community Garden, Classon btwn Fulton & Gates
Clifton Place Community Garden, Grand btwn Clifton & Greene
Pratt/Clinton Hill Community Garden, Hall St at DeKalb
The Greene Garden, DeKalb at Portland
Carlton Avenue Brooklyn Bear’s Garden between Fulton & Greene

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Green With Envy, Tour One, Final Stops 9 and 10

Posted on 2008-07-21 by admin

Green With Tour at the Gil Hodges Memorial Garden, Gowanus, Brooklyn.

The last two gardens we visited on the Green With Envy Tour, Tour One, on Saturday, July 12, were the Gil Hodges Memorial Garden in Gowanus and the Greenspace at the corner of President Street and 5th Avenue in Park Slope. Not too many photos from either of these. It was the end of the tour, nearly 5 hours after we had started, in the hottest part of the day. I was exhausted and needed to get home, cool down, and crash.

We do it all again this Saturday starting at 10am. Details below.

President Street Greenspace, Park Slope, Brooklyn

Signs

Te amo, Gil Hodges Garden

EL JARDIN ESTA ABIERTO (THE GARDEN IS OPEN), President Street Greenspace

Glam

Canna leaf, Gil Hodges Garden

Black Grass, Gil Hodges Garden

Zinnia, President Street Greenspace

Tour Two, Saturday, July 26

Pacific Street Brooklyn Bear’s Garden at Flatbush Avenue
St. Marks Avenue Blk. Assn. Community Garden btwn Carlton & Vanderbilt
Prospect Heights Community Farm, St. Marks btwn Vanderbilt & Underhill
Fulton Revival Garden, Vanderbilt at Gates
Hollenback Community Garden, Washington btwn Gates & Greene
Classon Ful-gate Community Garden, Classon btwn Fulton & Gates
Clifton Place Community Garden, Grand btwn Clifton & Greene
Pratt/Clinton Hill Community Garden, Hall St at DeKalb
The Greene Garden, DeKalb at Portland
Carlton Avenue Brooklyn Bear’s Garden between Fulton & Greene

Look for more “GWE” Tours coming up this fall in Bed Stuy and East NY, once again sponsored by the new (and still forming) Brooklyn Community Gardeners’ Coalition. There’ll also be a bike tour in August sponsored by the Brooklyn Queens Land Trust! Lots of opportunities to see Brooklyn’s beautiful gardens!

Gardens of Union, Park Slope, Green With Envy Tour, I.8

Posted on 2008-07-19 by admin

Green With Envy Tour at the Garden of Union, Park Slope, Brooklyn.

The Gardens of Union in Park Slope comprise two gardens nearly side-by-side: The large, active Garden of Union, and the smaller, contemplative Annie’s Garden two lots up the block. Both gardens are part of the NYC Department of Parks and Recreation:

The Garden of Union lies on Union Street, but the name derives as much from its character as its location. The property is composed of two gardens separated by an apartment building. The smaller, located at 540 Union Street, is known as Annie’s Garden for Annie Thomson (b. 1919), the woman whose determination, energy, and spirit was largely responsible for making the garden come to life. Annie’s Garden opened in 1987. The main space, the Garden of Union, is located at 634-36 Union Street and has been operating since 1979. Both areas are maintained by Parks and garden members, most of whom reside in Park Slope. Other volunteers come from all over Brooklyn, from Howard Beach to Carroll Gardens to Sunset Park.

The Garden of Union and Annie’s Garden are community gardens with well-developed plantings of vegetables and flowers. The bulk of the land in the main garden is devoted to vegetables, and much attention is paid to the ornamental qualities of vegetables. Flowers and herbs are also integrated with the vegetable plantings. The garden regularly yields more produce than the members can use, and much of the vegetables are often given away to members of the community and a local soup kitchen.
– Parks Sign

Grotto at the rock garden.

Lily pool.

This mullein is visible in both of the first two photos above. It towered about 8 feet above us.

Composting

This gardening community is well-known for its active community composting program. The composting area was a highlight of the tour.

Here’s the industrial scale composting operation. The plastic tubes are perforated to draw air and oxygen into the base of the compost pile.

More awesomeness is this combination triple-bin compost system and grape arbor.

Annie’s Garden

Walking from the entrance to the rear of the garden.

At the rear of the garden are these ying/yang beds.

Looking back toward the street entrance.

Glam Shots

Lunaria Pods, Annie’s Garden

Death Valley, Annie’s Garden

Harvest wreath hanging inside the door of the tool shed in the Garden of Union.

Hydrangea quercifolia, Oak-leaf Hydrangea, with harvesting basket.

Grapes on the composting arbor.

Rhubarb

Water lily.

Hollyhock.

These beautiful beetles were buzzing and crawling around some squash plants. Probably not good for the squash, but I was intrigued. Anyone know what these are?

Lincoln-Berkeley Community Garden, Park Slope, Green With Envy Tour, I.7

Posted on 2008-07-19 by admin

Into the home stretch of Tour One of the Green With Envy Tour of Brooklyn community gardens, we visited the Lincoln-Berkeley Community Garden. I’m afraid I don’t have many photos of this garden. We’d been walking for 3 and 1/2 hours over several miles on a hot, humid day. I was getting tired, and cranky.

But here are a few photos.

I liked the placard on the sidewalk at the entrance to the garden.

Here’s the main path leading from the entrance to the rear of the garden.

Some Hosta near the entrance would looking good.

Baltic Street Community Garden, Park Slope, Green With Envy Tour, I.6

Posted on 2008-07-18 by admin

One of the gardeners shows off his bed.

I lived in Park Slope for 13 years before moving to Flatbush. The Baltic Street Garden, facing busy 4th Avenue, is a garden I knew of but never got to visit while I lived there. Driving along 4th Avenue during the summer, it’s hard to miss. The two-story Campsis radicans, the native Trumpet Vine, qualifies this as a 50 mile-per-hour garden.

The interior of the garden used to be screened from the street by hedges. Although you can now see the garden from the sidewalk and street, it’s a different experience viewing it from the inside.

The plots are large, raised beds. Gardeners grow a wide variety of vegetables, fruits, herbs and ornamentals.

Awesome.

Some glam shots.

Peaches were falling off this tree. Perfect fuzz.

Even the “necessaries” were photogenic.

I got a kick out of this sign just inside the entrance. That’s just how I feel. They missed a view of my “love to hate” though. What would you add to their list?

Warren-St Marks Community Garden, Park Slope, Green With Envy, I.5

Posted on 2008-07-17 by admin

We’re now halfway through the Green With Envy Tour One from last Saturday. We cross the thoroughfare of 4th Avenue, leaving Boerum Hill and entering my old neighborhood of Park Slope.

The Warren-St Mark’s Garden spans Warren Street and St. Mark’s Place between 4th and 5th Avenues in Park Slope. The contrasts with the gardens we visited in Boerum Hill were striking. First, there was just so much space, and more openness and sunlight. Second, food was being grown here.

Of course, my eyes were still drawn more to the ornamental plantings.

This big, yellow Asteraceae demanded attention. I didn’t recognize it. I thought at first it was a Heliopsis. The flowers remind me more of a Coreopsis, but I’ve never seen one so huge as this. This specimen was about 6 feet tall. Anyone know what it is?

I also admired the subtle beauty of the Horsetails in the foreground above.

The composting area is off to one side at the middle of the garden, near Big Yellow, peeking in at the lower right. The big bag contains sawdust for folks to throw in when they’re adding vegetables.

There’s a nice area of stadium seating toward the St. Mark’s end of the garden. They show movies there, using the side of an adjacent building as the screen.

Links

Warren St. Mark’s Community Garden (Web site and blog)
Warren St. Mark’s Community Garden (Yahoo Group, requires membership)

Brooklyn Bear’s Garden, Park Slope, Green With Envy Tour, I.1

Posted on 2008-07-13 by admin

The Brooklyn Bear’s Community Garden at Pacific Street and Flatbush Avenue. That’s the Williamsburgh Savings Bank Tower behind.

Today I attended the first leg of the Green with Envy guided walking tour of some of Brooklyn’s numerous community gardens. Today we visited 10 community gardens in Park Slope and Boerum Hill over 5 hours. Yes, my feet hurt.

I also took hundreds of photos, which will take me a few days to get through. Here’s the first batch, from the Brooklyn Bear’s Community Garden at Pacific Street and Flatbush Avenue. There are many more on my Flickr site.

Touristas (mostly)

The garden occupies a wedge of land at the intersection of Pacific Street and the every-busy Flatbush Avenue. There’s an entrance on each side.

Here’s a view of the Pacific Street side. The entrance is just past the raging Capmsis radicans, Trumpet Vine, which dominates this fence during the summer.

Here’s the entrance on Flatbush Avenue, from outside, and in.

As you enter from Flatbush, the individual plots are to your left.

Mostly vegetables.

But also ornamentals.

Common areas are devoted to ornamental plantings. They’re attractive to all kinds of insects, which satisfy the vegetables’ needs for pollination. View these flower portraits in their larger sizes to see which insects they’re attracting.

I also had the pleasure of meeting two fellow Flickrites: luluinnyc and mayotic. I’m looking forward to seeing their shots of today’s tour.

Flatbush Gardener

Urban Habitat Gardening with Native Plants

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