Community gardeners, students and faculty gathered today on the spot of a 14-year-old community garden to protest a college’s decision to pave over two-thirds of the growing space to make room for parking spaces and our reporter, Nathania Zevi, was on the scene.
About 25 activists, set up white ropes to illustrate the 2,500-square-foot area that would be left after the rest is made into parking spots. They also put up cardboard cutouts of cars, offering a glimpse of when cars replace plants as the dominant feature in this corner of the Brooklyn College campus.
“The administration of Brooklyn College needs to be more honest about their efforts at sustainability and greening,” Madelaine Nelson, who has a plot in the garden in Ditmas Park, told The Brooklyn Ink.
“They need to look at more creative approaches at parking elsewhere or discourage car use,” said Nelson, as the protestors around her planted potatoes for the local food pantry.
The college said they’ve consulted with community members, which led them to leave more space for planting than they originally intended.
“This is a special garden,” said Pat Willard, a spokesperson for the college, by phone. “We recognize that.” Students started a garden on the campus in 1970, according to one gardener, and it’s been on the current spot for over a decade.
But Willard said students now have to pay $75 to have a plot. The college plans to split the new space evenly between students, who could plant for free, and community members who would pay a lower $25 fee. The administration is making changes to the outdoor space on campus to expand the athletic field.
They shared their ideas at a community board meeting in February, but not everyone is convinced. Said another of today’s protestors, Michael Carder: “I think they’re stuck in old thinking about how cars matter more than plants.”
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