NYC yanks license for anti-Israel Queens community garden that forced members to side with ‘marginalized' Palestinians
The city has yanked the license of a woke community garden in Queens that forced members take a pledge in 'solidarity with the oppressed and marginalized people' of Palestine — but the 'radicals' behind the space are defiantly vowing to resist the order.
The Parks Department revoked the license May 5, eight months after The Post first reported about the Sunset Community Garden, on Onderdonk and Willoughby avenues in Ridgewood and which had a special section called 'Poppies for Palestine.'
The garden's 10 'community agreements' — which ironically included a commitment to interrupt 'violent behavior or rhetoric that expresses all forms of hate' — breached Parks guidelines, leading to the license's termination, the agency said.
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4 Some Ridgewood residents found the garden's politicization objectionable and offensive.
Helayne Seidman
4 The garden features an altar dedicated to a trans activist.
Helayne Seidman
'Parks informed the garden that their membership requirements were not compliant, as they required prospective members to affirm the group's political and ideological viewpoints as laid out in the Community Agreements,' the agency said.
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The property must be cleared out by June 6.
Garden organizers raged on Instagram that they are 'being shut down by racist transphobes and zionists,' but are undeterred, launching an online petition to save the garden and accusing the city of 'wrongful termination' of its license.
'We're being singled out for honoring trans legacy, our no tolerance to hateful rhetoric, standing against genocide, and refusing to back down in the face of complaints from a politically connected, bigoted neighbor,' according to the group, which said the city was 'using retaliatory tactics and weaponizing bureaucracy.'
4 Access to the garden will remain sporadic until a new manager signs on.
Helayne Seidman
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The group is threatening 'legal and direct action' against the city and asking supporters to call their local representatives in a bid to reverse its ouster.
Garden organizer Laura Merrick did not return a request for comment.
The garden opened in September 2023, started as a non-political endeavor but was 'hijacked by crazies,' about seven months later, Christina Wilkinson one of the early backers, has said.
Statements supporting the Palestinians became plentiful on the garden's now-private Instagram page. One post featured a painting with the words 'From the River to the Sea,' an antisemitic phrase calling for the destruction of Israel.
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The garden also called on members to commit to using 'people's correct pronouns' and asking 'if we are unsure.'
Other the mandates stated 'we center and celebrate our queer, trans, disabled, chronically ill, femme, poor, immigrant, refugee, fat bodies, and richly melanated community.'
Ridgewood resident Sara Schraeter-Mowersglad said she's relieved the city finally took action.
'I am hoping that, under new leadership, [the garden] will become a space that is safe for everyone, and that people in the community who want to garden will finally feel welcome to do so,' said Schraeter-Mowersm who is Jewish and said the garden's mandates made her feel threatened and alienated in her own neighborhood.
4 The Parks Department decided to pull the license earlier this month.
Helayne Seidman
The site was built by the Parks Department and non-profit GrowNYC on part of an athletic field owned by the city Department of Education. The cost to taxpayers was not immediately available.
The location will continue to exist as a community garden, but with limited public access between now and whenever a deal is inked with a new group who agrees to take it over, Parks said.
'Public community gardens are for everyone, not just those who pass a political litmus test,' said City Councilman Robert Holden (D-Queens), one of the pols who reps the area. 'If this group of radicals wants to create an exclusive space, they should purchase private land and do it in their own time and dime.'
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