Breakfast Press Conference for Children’s Magical Garden, More Gardens and individual NYC community gardeners’ civil rights lawsuit against real estate developer David Marom who sued us (all the above) for $20 million Dollars!

At: Children’s Magical Garden, 129 Stanton Street, New York, New York 10002

On: Tuesday, November 23rd at 7:15 AM

Contact: Children’s Magical Garden Director Kate Temple-West at 917-702-4171

Dear Friends and Community,

Please join More Gardens, Children’s Magical Garden and the Lower East Side Community for coffee, breakfast and urgently holding the line for gardener’s rights this Tuesday morning.   Children’s Magical Garden, More Gardens, and concerned community members are speaking on Tuesday, November 23rd at 7:15 AM about their civil rights lawsuit filing Monday.  

Real Estate developer David Marom sued individual gardeners, including parents of young children,  for 20 million dollars as well as Children’s Magical Garden and More Gardens Fund for defamation simply for speaking up on behalf of the garden.  This lawsuit on behalf of the garden, stating that this was a civil rights violation,  will make any developer think again about trying blatant intimidation tactics against our community.  

Bring your children and your inner children to illuminate how showing up for justice can be fun and life-affirming!  

We will have hot beverages and breakfast (donuts and bialies and fresh fruit) and share good energy to show how important our precious garden is to the community.

Your presence will make it so special.

Below are all the details.

Looking forward to seeing you Tuesday at 7:15 AM!

Gratefully,

Kate, Tiffany, Lissette, George, and members of  Children’s Magical Garden

Aresh Javadi, Director and JK Canepa President of More Gardens Fund

The details:

Monday Children’s Magical Garden, More Gardens and individual community gardeners will file a civil rights lawsuit against real estate developer David Marom for his unlawful attempts to intimidate and silence community members defending and preserving our beloved Garden.  Below is a summary of our claim.

For nearly forty years, Children’s Magical Garden has provided a safe haven for children to play and learn about nature across the street from P.S. 20 elementary school.  Yet, since 2013, David Marom has tried to seize a piece of our Garden and bulldoze it so he can build his own private residence.  We have vigorously been defending our rights to preserve the Garden in court. When the Garden and community members spoke the truth to the media about egregious attacks and the Garden’s rights, David Marom tried to silence us by bringing a $20 million defamation lawsuit.  

In many cases, the burden and enormous expense to defend against such suits are too much for community gardeners and working-class people.  We stood our ground, and thanks to securing pro bono lawyers from Sidley Austin LLP and Bleichmar Fonti & Auld LLP, we successfully defended ourselves. New York Supreme Court ruled that Marom’s claims against the community violated New York Civil Rights Law protections for individuals and community groups exercising their constitutional rights to speak out on issues of public importance.

With today’s lawsuit, the Garden, More Gardens Fund along with volunteers and neighbors, are sending a strong message: if you try to intimidate, harass, or harm our community, especially the children in our community, there will be consequences.  We are asking the Court to impose fees and damages on Marom for his, civil rights violations.  

Ongoing Art in Nature Projects

EAST RIVER PARK PRESERVATION STANCE

New Yorkers and beyond: 

TO DO:

Please Contact New York State’s Governor Katherine Hochul and ask her to put a hold on the deeply faulty so-called “East River Resiliency Plan“ and investigate why the original community Blueway Plan was removed and under darkness replaced by a plan twice as expensive with the majority of its own research redacted from the public. Call 1-518-474-8390 | Office hours: 9:00am to 5:00pm or Web Form (https://www.governor.ny.gov/content/governor-contact-form)

State Attorney General Letitia James

Resources:

News Article: The Sun: Johnson silent on pleas for an emergency hearing on East River Park resiliency plan

Compare: More Gardens compares: Open Community Plan vs Mayors Closed ESCR Plan

Informative Video: Check out 6th Street Community Center’s clear explanations of what is at stake!

East River Park Action has been at the forefront of preserve the East River Park, and protect the diverse communities that it serves

Nature Programs - Lower East Side, Upstate & Citiwide

17 years of community garden nature programs in the Lower East Side at Children’s Magical Garden and El Jardin del Paraiso. The South Bronx at Brook Park, Padre Plaza, La Finca del Sur, Courtland Community Garden, Rincon Criollo Cultural Center …..

Nature Programs - Rise Up & Green the Bronx Family Nature Program 2021

We are at Brook Park our beloved community garden we started in 1998, for a two-week Family camp and Living Tree Cabana building residency! As it is with the Covid-19 pandemic, our Summer Nature Programs in the Catskills this Summer is spread out in multiple sessions with smaller groups. Sign Up Here Ended

Past Events

GreenThumb License Agreements 2020

More Gardens’ assessment and suggested course of action - link

Our 2019 Annual Report

More Gardens’ 20th Year Celebrations - Growing Art & Justice in the Community Gardens, Saturday May 25th, Magical Butterfly Portal.

Thank you all for creating an amazing day at Children's Magical Garden, growing community and art. Thank you garden members, Kate for her leadership, Lissette and Tiffany for their leadership, Carmen, George, Walter, Lola, Rosemary, Ralph, Jordan, Eli and Raman, Yelena, Malcolm, Hendrix, Micaela, and Rodney, Joanie and Jemma, Annie and Rose, Erin, Sidney, Wallace, and Ruben, Naomi, Lila and Leo, and all who helped create the magical butterflies and spread the word. Thank you, Sylvain Leroux, of Fula Flute for bringing such magical music. More coming!

Our Free Upstate Summer Camp (2013)

Free Environmental Summer Camp (2015