Meeting Minutes May 14, 2011

June 1, 2011
by garden
2 min read

West 104th Street Community Garden

Garden Meeting/Work Day
Saturday, May 14, 2011

The members present voted in favor of authorizing a payment of $375 for labor costs to repaint the fence in the front of the east garden.

Ariel Behr reported that she had drafted rules for private events in the garden that correspond with the views expressed by members at the last meeting. In particular, the draft rules will require a $50 refundable deposit for events from members, and a $75 deposit from non-members, $50 of which will be refundable. Ariel will work with Kim Maitland to finalize the draft rules and event application process.

A member of the Citizens’ Committee for New York City appeared and presented a check for $290 to the Garden, which represents the proceeds of a grant for the community composting program.

The Port O San has been installed in the East Garden for the season. Melissa Glowski, the GT co-ordinator, explained that the application did not offer the option of requesting a wheelchair accessible toilet this year and none were available.

Melissa said that she has been following up with the City to get the damaged tree branch in the west garden removed and to deal with the retaining walls in the east garden.

Janice Vrana has stepped down as the contact for Farming Concrete. Barbara Garson volunteered to take on the assignment.

Members were reminded to remove pots from the east garden; in particular, the pots on the stage in the east garden should be removed.

Members who were present voted to keep in place the plastic and metal flamingos that are in the communal flower bed that runs along the front fence. All other personal items must be removed from community beds.

The water barrels in the east garden will be moved next to the Port O San to relieve the pressure on the retaining wall.

The DEBNA Plant a Thon on May 15 was announced, as was an electronics recycling event on May 21. (See previous news item for details).

A musician will perform in the Garden on June 21 as Part of Make Music New York. Kristen will provide further details.

The next garden workday is scheduled for Wednesday, June 15 from 6-8pm.

No Smoking Law in Effect in City Parks

May 23, 2011
by garden
2 min read

A note from Larry Scott Blackmon, Deputy Commissioner for Community Outreach. Since our garden is governed by NYC Park rules, the no smoking rule also applies to all areas within our garden.

Dear Friends,

Today is the day that the law banning smoking within New York City’s parks, beaches, and pedestrian plazas goes into effect and smoking is now prohibited on Park’s property.

It is very important that our partners and friends take the lead and set an example for New Yorkers by following this new law and refraining from smoking on Parks property.

You’ll note that smoking will still be allowed on sidewalks outside parks, including the sidewalks that form the perimeter of parks and in the parking lots of all Parks properties. We expect that the new law will be enforced mostly by New Yorkers themselves, who will ask people to follow the law and stop smoking. However, those who violate the new law could receive a $50 ticket.

We have posted signs throughout our properties and provided information on how to quit smoking to those who need it. We encourage anyone who wants to quit smoking to call 311 or 866-NYQUITS, or visit nysmokefree.com.

We work hard to ensure that tens of millions of people—New Yorkers and visitors alike—enjoy our public parks year round, and we hope this new law ensures an even healthier and cleaner experience at our parks and beaches.

Please help us spread the word by sharing this information with your neighbors. Should you have any further questions, please feel free to call my office at (212) 360-3484.

Sincerely,

Larry Scott Blackmon
Deputy Commissioner for Community Outreach

COMPUTER & ELECTRONICS RECYCLING EVENT

May 13, 2011
by garden
2 min read

Upper West Side Recycling Center/Columbus-Amsterdam BID*

Sunday, May 22nd, 2011 from 12 noon to 5 p.m. (rain or shine)

Where: Amsterdam Avenue & 110th Street (south side)

The following items will be accepted:
* Working and non-working computers (laptops & desktops)
* Peripherals: monitors, printers, keyboards, mice, cables, etc.
* TVs, stereo equipment, VCRs, DVD players, cable receivers, etc.
* Cell and wall phones
* Compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) – no long bulbs, please
* Flashlight-type batteries (AA, D, etc.) – please tape the ends
* Textiles (clothing, shoes, blankets, sheets, towels, etc.)

Items not accepted:
Other electronic items including appliances (such as microwaves, toasters, etc.), air conditioners, white goods, carpeting

While electronic devices are safe to use in the home or office, they do pose an environmental risk when improperly discarded. Computers, monitors, and printers have cathode ray tubes, circuit boards, and other electronic components that contain toxic pollutants such as lead, mercury, and cadmium. These electronic items are the fastest growing portion of our waste stream. Although e-waste currently makes up a small percentage of our household garbage, it accounts for about 40% of the toxins in that waste. Recycling helps keep it out of landfills, incinerators and the environment. All collected computers and electronics will go to an EPA-licensed recycler.

For more information please contact:

Columbus-Amsterdam BID: 212-666-9774 or

Upper West Side Recycling: jtwine@synerjy.com

Made possible by We Recycle

* This May 22nd E-Waste Recycling event is part of the 2nd annual Manhattan Valley
Family Days, sponsored by the Columbus-Amsterdam BID. (A second family day will be held on May 15th, from 11 AM to 5 PM.) On these two Sundays, Amsterdam Avenue will be closed to traffic between 106th and 110th Streets for family entertainment and activities for all ages, as well as demonstrations, lessons and games.

West 104 Garden Peach Harvest Gets NY Times Mention

May 2, 2011
by garden
1 min read

The May 1 edition of the New York Times Metro section featured an article on Farming Concrete which celebrates our 135 pound peach harvest! Garden web editor, Noreen Whysel, is one of the proud chard farmers. Here’s a link to the article with the excerpt on our “farm” (emphasis is mine):

City Critic: Concrete Farm Grows Chard (Callaloo, Too)

“Ms. Gittleman said all sorts of amusing anecdotes emerged from the statistics, and the act of compiling them. Brooklyn gardeners, for instance, grow lots of callaloo, a Caribbean green. In the Bronx, someone was actually growing sugar cane. (“Some gardeners get away with growing warm-weather crops here because of the urban island heat effect,” Ms. Gittleman explained.) Gardeners at West 104th Street in Manhattan coordinated their peach weigh-in and recorded 135 pounds in a single day. The East End Community Garden in Brooklyn “might as well be a farm,” as Ms. Gittleman put it; a grower there recorded 51 pounds of corn in one weigh-in. In the Bronx, a beekeeper added his 362 pounds of honey to the study. ”

Congratulations, gardeners!

Artful Rain Barrel Auction at South Bend Museum of Art

April 28, 2011
by garden
1 min read

Not in New York but I thought this was really fun. My mom sent me pictures from the South Bend Regional Museum of Art’s Rain Barrel exhibit to raise money for the Center for a Sustainable Future at Indiana University at South Bend. It’s kind of like our painted cows a few years ago, only rain barrels!

Original Art Rain Barrel Auction
Location: South Bend Museum of Art
Time: ‎7:00PM Friday, May 6th.
Facebook Invitation: http://www.facebook.com/#!/event.php?eid=141409532589171
Center for a Sustainable Future: http://www.iusb.edu/~csfuture/inthenews.shtml
Auction Catalog: http://www.auction-info.com/viewauction.asp?AuctionID=406

I love the dress code: “Evening wear and garden gloves recommended but not required!”

PlaNYC: A Greener, Greater New York‏

April 26, 2011
by garden
2 min read

Received today from Larry Scott Blackmon, Deputy Commissioner for Community Outreach:

Hello Gardeners, and Happy Spring!

In the year that I have been at Parks, I have had the opportunity to get to know many of you and listened to your concerns. One thing I heard frequently was that you wanted your contributions recognized as an integral part of Mayor Bloomberg’s PlaNYC initiative.

On Thursday, April 21, Mayor Bloomberg presented an update to PlaNYC: A Greener, Greater New York. At this launch, facilitating urban agriculture opportunities and community gardening were listed among its top three initiatives going forward. Specific milestones to be completed by 2013 include:

  • Increasing the number of volunteer gardeners registered with GreenThumb by 25%.
  • Launching a multi-agency study to identify City-owned properties suitable for urban agriculture.
  • Creating five additional farmers markets at community gardens and,
  • Increasing the number of registered school based gardens to 150.

This important commitment to community gardens and other forms of urban agriculture by the administration is a testament to your hard work and dedication. Thank you for all you do to improve our communities.

Please log onto the PlaNYC website or click here to download a copy of the updated plan.

Sincerely,

Larry Scott Blackmon,
Deputy Commissioner for Community Outreach

Meeting Minutes April 9, 2011

April 10, 2011
by garden
4 min read

West 104 Street Garden April 9, 2011 Workday Meeting Minutes

The meeting was chaired by Ann Levine

Ann announced that free seeds supplied by Green Thumb were available for distribution to members

Jean Jaworek discussed the enhancement to the Garden’s composting efforts this season. In particular, the Garden has received a grant from the City to make the composter available to the broader community as a source of “green inputs.” Jean’s plan is that this material will be collected during open garden hours. Jean will be preparing information sheets for members of the garden and the broader community about this plan.

Ann relayed two requests by the new co-chairs of the East Garden communal beds committee, Mary Kelly and Janice Vrana. The first request was that the front fence of the east garden be painted to match the fence in the west garden. This was approved in principle by the members present, although no expenditure of funds was proposed or approved for this purpose.

The second request was that the butterfly bush on this side of the garden be removed. This proposal was amended by the members present, who approved that the bush be cut back severely, and that efforts be focused this season on keeping the bush properly pruned to limit its size.

Ann announced that the City;s new rule prohibiting smoking in public parks applies to the Garden. Melissa Glowski explained that the city was working on signage regarding the new policy, and that the plan was to rely on peer pressure for enforcement.

An extended discussion occurred of proposed changes to the rules governing private events that take place in the garden. The consensus of the meeting was that a deposit be required for such events, which would be returned if those responsible for the even cleaned up after themselves. The consensus of the meeting was also that this deposit be large enough so that the danger of forfeiting it would be effective in encouraging those holding events to clean up after themselves, and that the fee structure should require a lower deposit amount from Garden members and a higher deposit from non-members. Ariel Behr offered to draft a revised proposal that took these views into account for further discussion at the next meeting.

At the suggestion of Joy Chang, the new membership co-ordinator, it was agreed that the Garden application would be amended for next season to permit members to opt out of having their email addresses provided to the Garden membership by way of appearing on the membership roster.

The members present approved the posting of a small sign that provides information about the small sculpture that has been installed in the West Garden.

Shane Nye and Melissa Glowski explained that efforts to obtain a Port O San for this season are underway.

Nikki Kowalski promised to distribute the updated list of committee assignments to the membership by email later in the day.

Ann announced that individuals who were moving out of an individual garden bed, either to relocate to another individual bed or to leave the garden altogether, have until April 18 to remove their plants from last season’s bed.

Ann announced that no personal flower pots could be used for growing things in the Garden either in the aisles, along the fences, or on the fences. The co-chairs of the East Garden communal beds, which has a number of this type of pot left over from last season, will be working to remove them.

Ann announced that that the inventory committee, chaired by Janice Vrana, had bought new plastic watering cans because the price of new metal ones was prohibitive. Members are encouraged to buy used metal cans in good shape for the Garden if they find them at flea markets, etc.

Paul Froelich announced that the Herb Garden Committee would be meeting later in the day to discuss what would be planted for this season.

The maintenance committee agreed at the request of the members to paint the red wheel barrow that is peeling.

The next workday meeting is on Saturday May 14, 10am-12pm.

West 104th St Community Garden Wins Composting Contest

April 7, 2011
by garden
1 min read

Borough President Stringer, Manhattan SWAB and Citizen’s Committee for NYC announced the winners of the first-ever Manhattan Community Scale Composting Contest. Twenty-three winners, including our own West 104th Street Community Garden, among other community gardens, Manhattan schools, and neighborhood organizations, will receive grants of up to $750 each to purchase equipment, tools and materials to start, expand and grow neighborhood composting programs.

Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer presents Composting Contest winners (West 104th St Community Garden represenative Jean Jaworek in beige)
Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer presents Composting Contest winners (West 104th St Community Garden represenative, Jean Jaworek in beige, standing behind President Stringer).”

The contest was launched to promote green and sustainable practices in Manhattan and winners were announced on the first day of Spring.

Read more >

Extended Online Registration for 27th Annual GreenThumb GrowTogether‏

March 25, 2011
by garden
2 min read

You are invited on Saturday, April 2 to join a thousand community gardeners and greening professionals from all over New York City for a day of learning, sharing, networking and greening inspiration at the 27th Annual GreenThumb GrowTogether, taking place from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. at Hostos Community College! Please pass this information out to the rest of your garden group and anyone else who might be interested. This form is also available to download on our website, but you must send payment with the form.

This year’s conference features favorite workshops from past years, as as well as exciting new ones, including many hands on workshops, and new ones for youth gardeners. We are also excited to announce that Joan Dye Gussow, author of Growing, Older: A Chronicle of Death, Life, and Vegetables, will be our keynote speaker.

You can buy tickets online here:

https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/163365

$3 + $1.10 service fee for purchasing tickets online.
Cost covers conference, t-shirt and lunch.

If you do not pre-register, you are not guaranteed lunch or a t-shirt.

The preregistration is extended for online ticket purchase only

Directions
Subway: Hostos is practically on top of the 149th Street and Grand Concourse stop. The 2, 4, 5 trains will get you right there.
Buses: BX 19 or BX 1 bus to 149th Street and Grand Concourse.

More Information