Developer Vows To Dump Porto-Potty Into Public Kids Garden: Suit

LOWER EAST SIDE, NY — A "vengeful" developer whose building plans have been foiled by local community gardeners retaliated by threatening to dump porta-potty contents into the space where neighborhood kids play and by suing locals for tens of millions of dollars, the gardeners contend.

The Children's Magical Garden filed suit Monday against Horizon Group president David Marom for "grinch-like" attempts to silence Lower East Siders who fought his efforts to build a luxury home on top of their garden, court records show.

"[Marom's actions] are meant to interfere with Garden’s mission of providing a safe place for children to play and learn about nature, " the complaint contends. "The Garden showed him for what he is—a bully who will stop at nothing to silence residents who are standing up for their community garden."

Patch did not receive immediate responses to requests for comment from Marom or his attorneys.

Marom allegedly retaliated against the Stanton Street garden — a large portion of which the Upper East Side developer hopes to build himself a seven-story home — by trashing the site and filing defamation suits against those who spoke out against his plans, according to the complaint.

In one instance, Marom came to the community garden, insulted gardeners in front of children, kicked over benches, and made a disturbing threat, according to the complaint.

"Marom told stunned Garden members that he would 'turn over [a] port-a-potty into Children’s Magical Garden,'" the lawsuit contends. "Dumping waste and excrement where children play during afterschool [sic] programs."

It would not be the first time Marom trashed the Children's Magical Garden, according to the lawsuit and previous Patch reports.

Marom sent workers to the property to destroy trees and dump dozens of containers filled with rotting garbage into the garden, according to the suit and a 2019 Patch report.

The suit contends Marom allegedly complained in emails that surfaced in 2014 court proceedings that the Lower East Side was an “angry and resentful community” that did not give him the respect he was due as “a wealthy white man."

Marom's alleged retaliatory acts have also brought the gardeners into city courtrooms, where he filed multi-million defamation suits against those who'd spoken to the press.

"I was deeply hurt and concerned by the developer bringing multi-million dollar lawsuits against community gardeners with young children," said garden president Kate Temple-West. "We filed this civil rights lawsuit because we will not be deterred from speaking up for our community garden."

Marom did not file defamation suits against news outlets that reported on the case — including Patch — but instead went after several garden organizers who do not have ready access to legal representation, the suit contends.

Tiffany de Bruyn, an early childhood educator and PTA president, faced a $20 million challenge from Marom over a statement she gave reporters that her daughter loved the garden, the suit contends.

“I see the joy she has when she is playing in nature and so to see all of this just destructed, it hurts my soul a little bit," de Bruyn said in what Marom's attorneys argued was a defamatory statement.

The developer's defamation suit was dismissed by the New York Supreme Court under the state's anti-SLAPP statute prohibiting lawsuits that burden critics with large legal fees, court records show.

Noted the complaint, "The baselessness of the Marom Defamation Claims was truly shocking."

Marom first released plans in 2013 to bulldoze a large piece of the garden and build a luxury home, but was stymied by a public campaign and support from then-City Council Speaker Christine Queen, then-Borough President Scott Stringer, Council Member Margaret Chin and local community groups.

Both sides have gone to court to claim ownership of the disputed garden plot and that litigation has continued since 2014, according to the lawsuit.

The gardeners contend Marom's behavior worsened as his chances dwindled for building his downtown townhouse.

"As Marom’s legal case has faltered, he has used his wealth and resources to fund increasingly desperate measures to bully, harass, and intimidate the Garden and its supporters," the lawsuit claims.

The gardeners planned a rally in the 40-year-old community garden Tuesday morning to discuss the suit, according to a Facebook invite.

"If you try to intimidate, harass, or harm our community, especially the children in our community, there will be consequences," the gardeners wrote.

"This lawsuit on behalf of the garden ... will make any developer think again about trying blatant intimidation tactics against our community."