Our Beloved Green Spaces
Saving the places that connect us with nature and each other
I’ve written about our beloved Elizabeth Street Garden in different posts since I first launched my Substack late last year. In April I shared pictures from our recent Earth Day and Poetry event. In December I wrote about ringing bells for the Winter Solstice. I mention the garden often as a gathering place of community, of sharing music and messages, as a haven of NYC - a place of connecting with nature, silence, and with self. The Elizabeth Street Garden is where we held my favorite Spring Equinox event in 2022 with our dear friend Tenzin Choegyal. It’s where I first read one of my own poems out loud in public at one of their Sunday readings in August 2021 (video is below). Pathway to Paris had an all day block party there in September 2021 with music, performances, and a roster of activities for everyone. I love to go there on Easter to help out with the annual Egg Hunt, to launch into summer with the Summer Solstice celebration. It’s the first place I want to bring visitors from out of town, to share with locals from other neighborhoods who haven’t experienced it’s peaceful and restorative magic yet. I pop in as often as possible, on my way somewhere else or as a destination, to say hello to Joseph and his mama who run everything with tireless love, to check in with friends who are volunteers there, to run into someone I know, or to be in solitude with my thoughts. I love to wander through the trees and flowering beds, to visit the statues, listen to the sounds, read a book, or daydream. It’s a place to have lunch amongst the birds, to catch up with an old friend, or meet someone new. A place to reminisce on sacred memories or to create new ones. It’s a special rarity in New York City and a one of a kind beacon that protects us and should always be protected.
Unfortunately, it is not protected in the way it should be, and not valued by everyone in the same way. It’s been a long and ongoing fight to save the garden, and right now is a crucial moment when more voices than ever are needed in order to preserve and protect this magical place so it can be enjoyed for as long as possible. We are doing everything we can but we have to do more. I don’t usually ask for things like this on my Substack, but today I am asking if you can do one, any, or all of the following:
Join us in the urgent letter writing campaign: Send a pre-written letter to Mayor Eric Adams and NYC Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) demanding they stop the eviction and work with the community to save Elizabeth Street Garden. It’s so simple to do, only takes a few seconds, and makes a big difference. We need as many voices as possible.
Share the letter and the urgency of this campaign with friends, family, colleagues, your Substack community, etc.
Learn about what is happening at ESG and what the plans are for the future
Write your own post about the garden - on Substack, Instagram, website, etc.
Share about this story on any platform and with any audience you have access to - newspaper, radio, stage, etc.
Create artwork inspired by the garden. Here you can find so many moving examples of this in their ongoing Call to Artists campaign
Any other creative ideas that you have to raise awareness, drum up more attention, build the choir of voices trying to protect our green spaces
Maybe the Elizabeth Street Garden is personally important to you or someone close to you, maybe you’ve been to one of our events there. Maybe you live in NYC, or maybe you live elsewhere, and maybe there is a place like this where you live. This garden is only one place, but it represents all green spaces in NYC, all community gathering spaces. Using our voices and platforms to speak for the garden is speaking up for all places like this everywhere. Allowing it to be destroyed would be setting a terrible precedent for the future. I for one do not want to live in a city where this could happen. It’s hard to believe we are actually in a battle like this, but this is the way of the world. We are co-existing in ways that are lovely and ways that are challenging. It’s all part of the beautiful chaos of life, but this is an example where it’s being taken too far. This is not a fight we should have to be fighting. We should be listening to each other and collaborating with creativity and compassion. No matter the case, there are solutions - there is an outcome that keeps this garden going, and we can get there together if we stay hopeful and energized.
Some favorite moments and events throughout the years:
These events are free and open to the public year round. They include music, poetry, exercise, yoga, tai chi, educational programming for children, gardening, food drives, movie nights, annual celebrations, and so much more. Please help us to maintain our community green space, for the health and wellness of the city. If anything, we need more green spaces, more trees, more places to find each other and connect. Let’s help each other to keep our favorite and sacred places safe and protected. And please if you haven’t already, come by and visit the garden anytime! :)
Links:
Elizabeth Street Garden Website
Facts about the Situation at hand
Elizabeth Street Garden Instagram
Together, we can save the garden!!
THANK YOU so very much for reading. I am endlessly grateful!!
may ALL the efforts to preserve this garden prevail. it is utterly devastating that anyone anywhere would still be actively destroying any green space in this day and age but here we are. there are still those minds who see ‘nothing’ and ‘no one’ here on The Great Mothers flesh.
Good morning, Jesse! I sent my letter; I hope it helps save the garden, and I will share the plight of the Elizabeth Street Garden around to others. Enjoy this beautiful day!