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Volunteers urge city to buy Bushwick City Farm to protect community garden and food-distribution site
Summary
Volunteers and neighbors told the Council the long-standing Bushwick City Farm and Club A Kitchen food-distribution site is at risk after a rezoning and tax-class change raised the owner's taxes; witnesses urged the city to purchase the lot and convert it to a permanent GreenThumb-managed space.
Multiple community members and volunteers urged the City Council to help preserve Bushwick City Farm, a community garden and food-distribution hub operating for about 15 years, after testimony said a reclassification following a rezoning changed the owner's tax status and jeopardized free community use of the lot.
Volunteers described longstanding community services run from the lot: weekly food distributions during the pandemic; translation and intake help for recently arrived asylum-seekers; educational programs for children; and fruit trees and other plantings that provide local green cover. Speakers said the site has acted as a third space for neighborhood residents and supported migrants during periods when shelters were overwhelmed.
Speakers asked the city to acquire the lot and convert it to a parks-managed GreenThumb site or use discretionary capital funds to purchase the parcel, then transfer it to Parks for permanent community use. Volunteers said they have pursued permanent status with the city since 2017 and have held meetings with council and borough president staffers.
What they said: "This cherished green space has been feeding thousands of families and providing essential services for 15 years," one volunteer told the committee. Participants described how the garden stepped in to provide showers, laundry and translation services when a nearby migrant shelter arrived and city services were strained.
Next steps: Community speakers said they have engaged Council Member Oay's office and the borough president and requested council and Parks Department help to secure funding for acquisition and long-term stewardship.
Why it matters: Community-owned and -operated green spaces provide food access, youth programming and heat-mitigation canopy in neighborhoods with limited public parks; residents argued city intervention to permanently protect the site would preserve those services and the investment of local volunteers.
