City Urges Brownsville to Eat Fresh Produce, Then Kills Its Community Farm

BROWNSVILLE, BROOKLYN — A Brownsville community farm and garden that's been feeding thousands of underserved residents fresh produce every week for decades is battling with the city for its life.

The Green Valley Community Garden, at 93 New Lots Ave., is in imminent danger of being wiped out and replaced with a new affordable housing development by the city's Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD).

Gardeners have been warned by the HPD that they'll be evicted from the lot by Jan. 31.

The city's reasoning is that four out of the five lots on which the 8,465-square-foot farm is situated are to be used by HPD to build what they see as "much-needed affordable housing," HPD sent Patch in an email statement.

HPD claims the farm has the right to just one out of the five lots, which is just essentially just a 1,680-square-foot sliver of sidewalk.

Farm volunteers and activists argue that the HPD, along with the mayor's office and the Parks Department, agreed to permanently preserve the farm from further development just last year. This was part of a City Hall initiative to preserve 34 gardens operating on HPD land in December 2015.

Further, they argue, on the Parks Department site inspection approving the farm for permanent preservation, which was also under the HPD's jurisdiction, the inspector wrote that the farm being preserved occupied the full 8,465 square feet.

An HPD department representative told Patch that from their perspective, 93 New Lots Ave. was licensed in December 2015 for use of just one site, located on Brooklyn Block 3857, which is the same as only Lot 1.

Basically, it's a lot of departmental jargon and numbers, and a whole lot of misunderstanding.

A Parks Department representative redirected Patch's request for comment to the HPD.

On Thursday, a representative for the HPD sent Patch a statement that doubled down on the department's plans to replace the farm with affordable housing.

HPD respects the historic and ongoing work that gardeners have done to create productive community gardens in neighborhoods throughout the City. In 2012, the City entered a license agreement with the Green Valley gardeners to use one of the lots for a garden, and that lot will continue as a garden in the Parks Department's jurisdiction. The other lots will be put to use as much-needed affordable housing. The challenges we face demand that we make thoughtful choices and find creative solutions to identify sites for affordable housing as well as green space. The City looks forward to working with the gardeners of Green Valley to creatively utilize the other 35,000 square feet of gardens -- including two that HPD transferred in 2015 -- they also manage in the area so that there are minimal disruptions to their garden activities during the relocation.

Duchene, a gardener at the farm for over five years, told Patch that moving a farm is essentially destroying a farm.

Green Valley Community Garden has five bee hives, a cherry tree, peach tree, plum tree, and a 25' x 40' greenhouse for planting food in the winter, among other things.

"You just can't get up, pick a place, and put it there. What is on that ground? Has that soil been tested? Is it a good spot for growing? What is the sun like?" Duchene said. "It takes a lot, they think, 'Oh, you just throw some seeds in the ground.' This site is like a bottle of wine that's been marinaded over 20 years. The soil is rich, we get the son from the time it rises to until it sets. And you can't even tell me where you're gonna relocate me?"

The one 1,680-square-foot lot that HPD claims the garden has a right to isn't even big enough to hold a small greenhouse, and it is extremely shaded, making growing plants impossible, Duchene said.

"You know what we keep in that lot now? The Porta Potty."

Duchene's extensive knowledge of the land specific to the garden's five lots allows her to grow more efficiently and subsequently charge Brownsville residents lower prices than they do at supermarkets, she said. Sometimes she gives vegetables she is picking away for free to people who are walking by the farm.

If the farm did have to be relocated, it would alienate hundreds of Brownsville residents who are creatures of habit and have relied on the farm for years for sustenance, Duchene said. Dozens of seniors for whom it is a struggle to walk the one block to the farmer's market every week would be left without fresh produce.

"This is a community that is high in disparities, high in blood pressure, high in diabetes, high in cholesterol, obesity, and now we are trying to help the community with these things. We said to ourselves, why should the people of Cobble Hill, Fort Greene, Bensonhurst, all of them, have fresh produce, but we in Brownsville have rotten produce?"

The gardeners are planning to stay until the city gets an order of possession, takes them to court, and gets a court order, said Paula Segal, executive director of the 596 Acres, an organization that helps preserves parks in NYC, told Patch Thursday. "A judge can then send the marshall. In the meantime, we will be exploring every other venue for making sure that the city follows state law regarding dedicated parkland," Segal said.

Duchene is calling on the HPD to apologize for what she deems a "black and white mistake" by the city. "The HPD is currently out here in Brownsville public schools asking the community to grow more vegetables, and now they're trying to destroy my farm?" she said. "The right hand don't know what the left hand is doing."

Lead photo by 596 Acres