LaGuardia Corner Gardens
News
LaGuardia Corner Gardens (LCG) is on a strip of City owned land subject to development. For several years members have sought to transfer the land from the Dept. of Transportation (DOT) to the Dept. of Parks and Recreation (Parks), in order to secure the garden’s future. NYU has blocked the transfer.
NYU intends to develop 2.4 million square feet on its two superblocks -- Washington Square Village and the Silver Towers, see NYU 2031. NYU’s plan is to build, as of right, a massive 17-story building on the supermarket site adjacent to the garden. This building, as designed, would block the sun, without which LCG would no longer be a flower garden. LCG has joined CAAN2031, a coalition of community groups in the Village, the East Village, NoHo, and Union Square, in opposing NYU’s massive development plans, see Community Action Alliance on NYU 2031.
LCG, along with Community Board 2, Borough President Scott Stringer, City Council Member Margaret Chin, State Senator Thomas Duane, and State Assembly Member Deborah Glick, supports the transfer of all DOT strips to Parks. These strips, on Mercer, Bleecker, and LaGuardia Place, are public spaces developed and enjoyed by the community. They include gardens, a dog run, and a playground.
NYU has submitted its Plan 2031 to the NYC Planning Commission for land use review. Please support LCG by emailing or writing to the Mayor, your NYC Council Member, the NYC Public Advocate, the NYC Dept. of City Planning, to support transfer of the garden and all the DOT strips to Parks, and to urge relocation of NYU’s development plan to lower Manhattan or to Governors Island.
In the News
“N.Y.U. Takes Heat on School and Open Space at Hearings,” The Villager, Jan. 19, 2012
“Huge Turnout Forces Change of Locale for N.Y.U. Meeting,” The Villager, Jan. 12, 2012
“Tensions High at NYU Expansion Meeting,” Fox News, Jan. 10, 2012
“NYU Expansion Plan Draws Opponents to Town Hall,” 4 NBCNewYork, Jan. 5, 2012
“Greenwich Village Residents Plot Next Move In Battle Against NYU Explansion,” NY 1, Jan. 4, 2012
“Villagers Pack Town Hall, Hoping to Stop N.Y.U. Plan,” The Villager, Jan. 5, 2012
“Board 2 Begins Its Two-Month Review of N.Y.U. Mega-Plan,” The Villager, Dec. 31, 2011
“C.B. 2 Angered After N.Y.U. Goes to Media First,” The Villager, Sept. 29 - October 5, 2011
“N.Y.U. Wants Parks to Own Two of the Superblock Strips,” The Villager, Sept. 15 - 21, 2011
“City Planning Gets an Earful on N.Y.U. Superblocks Plan,” The Villager, May 26 - June 1, 2011
“Worries N.Y.U. Project Would Endanger Blocks’ ‘Ecosystem’,” The Villager, May 12 - 18, 2011
“ULURP is Ticking on N.Y.U. Superblocks Plan,” The Villager, April 28 - May 4, 2011
“Forging a Strong Coalition to Block N.Y.U. Sprawl,” The Villager, April 21 - 27, 2011
“Superblock Decision Registers; Dorm Funds Could be Blocked,” The Villager, April 21 - 27, 2011
“Talking Point - And What Happens 20 Years After N.Y.U. 2031?,” The Villager, April 7 - 13, 2011
“N.Y.U. Gets OK for Silver Towers Modification Plan,” The Villager, April 7 - 13, 2011
“Revised N.Y.U. Plan is ‘too ambitious,’ ‘ugly,’ Critics Say,” The Villager, March 24 - 30, 2011
“N.Y.U. Shifts Public School, Hotel in Latest Design,” The Villager, March 17 - 23, 2011
“Just 7 Strips of Green, or A Park Worth Fighting For,” NYT, Jan. 7, 2011
“Community Board, Local Officials Protest NYU Expansion Plans: . . . ,” Daily News, Dec. 7, 2010
“NYU Faces Protests From Greenwich Village Residents . . .,” Daily News, Dec. 6, 2010
“Village Residents Tell NYU: Keep Off Our Grass,” NY Post, Dec. 6, 2010
“Village Residents Look to Halt NYU Expansion Plan,” NY1, Dec. 5, 2010
“Editorial - N.Y.U. ‘Super’ Errors,” The Villager, Dec. 2-8, 2010
“After Pei Protests N.Y.U. Plan, Supermarket Site is New Focus,” The Villager, Nov. 25 - Dec. 1, 2010
“The School That Ate New York,” NY Magazine, Nov. 14, 2010
“‘No 400-Foot Tower!’ Hundreds Say as N.Y.U. Seeks Approval,” The Villager Nov. 11 - 17, 2010
“Greenwich Village Residents in Tug-of-War with NYU . . . ,” Daily News, Nov. 1, 2010
NYU Withdraws Plan for Tower
“NYU Backs Off Plan to Add Tower to Landmark,” NY Post, Nov. 18, 2010
“I.M. Pei Scuttles Plans for NYU Tower,” NY Magazine, Nov. 18, 2010
“N.Y.U. scraps plans for fourth tower in landmark site after I.M. Pei Objects,” The Villager, Nov. 18 - 24, 2010
NYU Proposals & Responses
“Greenwich Village Residents to Fight Against . . . Plan Over Mercer Playground,” Daily News, July 22, 2010
“Neighbors Take Chops at N.Y.U. Fourth-Tower Plan,” The Villager, June 23- 29, 2010
“N.Y.U. Releases Images of Bleecker St. Tower Plan,” The Villager, June 16 - 22, 2010
“N.Y.U. Unveils Rezoning for its Two Superblocks,” The Villager, June 2 - 8, 2010
“Too Big to Fail? N.Y.U. Keeps Growing and Growing . . . ,” The Villager, April 28 - May 4, 2010
“Critics Turn Out at Open House on N.Y.U. Expansion, “ NYT, April 14, 2010
“N.Y.U. Hopes to Start Building on Superblocks Within 2 Years,” The Villager, April 7 - 13, 2010
“N.Y.U. Plans to Expand Campuses by 40 Percent,” NYT, March 20, 2010
“Two Hundred Turn Out to Try to Head Off N.Y.U. Growth,” The Villager, July 1 - 7, 2009
“N.Y.U. Zeros in On Tower, Plinth, ‘Zipper’,” The Villager, April 23 - 29, 2008
“Nip N.Y.U. Growth,” Letters to the Editor, The Villager, Feb. 20 - 26, 2008
“N.Y.U. Goes Gonzo on Its Superblock in New Ideas,” The Villager, Feb. 6 - 12, 2008
2008
“N.Y.U. Offers an Accord On Growth,” NYT, Jan. 30, 2008
“N.Y.U Agrees to new Planning Principles from B.P. Taskforce,” The Villager, Jan. 30 - Feb. 5, 2008
“NYU Throws Community a Landmark Bone; Supports Designating Pei’s Towers,” NY Observer, Feb. 11, 2008
“How Much of N.Y.U. Superblock to Landmark is Issue,” The Villager, July 2 - 8, 2008
“N.Y.U. is Really Growing on Us, Not in a Good Way,” The Villager, September 24 - 30, 2010
2007
“N.Y.U. Commits to Creating a Master Plan for Its Growth,” The Villager, March 7 - 10, 2007
“N.Y.U. President Wants Less Conflict, More Conversation ,” The Villager, May 2 - 8, 2007
“N.Y.U. Growth is on the Charts: More Students, More Buildings,” June 20 - 26, 2007
“With Door Open to Neighbors, N.Y.U. Shapes Plans for Growth,” NYT, July 2, 2007
“N.Y.U. Eyes Superblock for Super-sizing Plan,” The Villager, Dec. 12 - 18, 2007
2004
“Strip Poker on Superblocks; Does N.Y.U. Hold the Cards,” The Villager, June 23 - 29, 2004
“Strip Show and Tell -- N.Y.U. Exposed,” The Villager, June 23 -29, 2004
“Sparks Fly Over Strips at Parks Committee Meeting,” The Villager, Oct. 13 - 19, 2004
“It’s Time for N.Y.U. to Stop Blocking Superblocks Transfer,” The Villager, Oct. 13 - 19, 2004
“The Townsfolk Rebel Against Omnipotent NYU, Again,” The Villager, Oct. 20 - 26, 2004
Articles and Listings
American Community Garden Association
“It’s Raining Coyotes and Roosters Out There,” NYT, Jan. 21, 2010
“LaGuardia Corner Gardens,” Blogspot, May 30, 2011
Place Matters, City Lore and the Municipal Art Society
“Plant Therapy: LaGuardia Community Garden,” Apartment Therapy, June 2, 2007
“Secret Gardens,” The Morning News, Oct. 24, 2007
“Whodunnit Dept. Bird Nap,” The New Yorker, July 9, 2007
Parks Department Rules for Gardens
An agreement between the Mayor of New York and the NYS Attorney General was signed in 2002. It provided a review process that protected community gardens from the bulldozer. The agreement expired September 2010. It has been replaced by rules issued by the NYC Department of Parks and Recreation.
The NYC Community Garden Coalition, which represents NYC’s nearly 300 community gardens, continues to seek permanent protection for the gardens. The rules issued by the Parks Dept. can be modified or revoked by future City administrations and, therefore, do not assure permanence for the gardens -- even those that have been flourishing for decades.
Awards
Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation
Mollie Parness Dress Up Your Neighborhood
In Remembrance
In April 2007 the garden planted the Love and Peace rose in honor and remembrance of Auxiliary Police Officers Nicholas Pekearo and Eugene Marshalik of the Sixth Precinct, who died while in pursuit of the killer of Alfredo Romero Morales.
Participants in Children’s Program
PS 41 - The Greenwich Village School
Research
In the summer of 2007 the garden participated in field research conducted by a graduate student at Columbia University. Kristy King hypothesized that gardens with increased plant structural complexity (more trees and shrubs as opposed to just vegetable crops) would have more beneficial insects and, in turn, fewer pests.
The results of her research led to the conclusion that community gardeners need not scale back food production in order to decrease the population of pests. Parasitoid wasps that feed on pests are capable of "tracking" pest populations across a large and urbanized landscape. Increasing the number of street trees around each garden may facilitate the movement of beneficial insects throughout the urban matrix, so this may be one way for gardeners to manage for healthy insect populations within their gardens. Perhaps the large-scale tree planting initiative that is a part of Plan NYC 2030 will enhance the diversity of beneficial insects in community gardens, while also increasing air quality and reducing the urban heat island effect in New York City.
Useful Sites
Citizens Committee for New York
Neighborhood Open Space Coalition
NYC Community Gardens Coalition
NYC Dept. of Parks & Recreation
