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Beginnings... |
Also view these pages in the 1995-6 photo album! |
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Tomasina Harper, President (sorry Tomasina...this was the only photo we could find!) |
This was an amazing year for the Environmental Club. Faculty Adviser Sharon Douglass was able to enlist the help of Tony Thoman, Social Studies teacher, to help out. With the superb administrative skills and upbeat temperament of Tomasina Harper, the club decided it wanted to do more than raise money to help a cause far removed from the Bronx. Gazing out at the highly unattractive vacant lot across the street from the school, Tomasina and the cabinet of the club mobilized a few highly successful clenaups, culminating with an Earth Day service day. About 150 students helped clean up the the site designated for a garden that day. Wave Hill donated some bushes, and Green Thumb provided us with the constructin materials needed to build our fence. But first things first! It took months to clean up the site. Hundreds of student hours went into making this parcel of land appropriate for a garden space. Literally, hundreds of garbage bags of debris were collected. We pulled out tires, refrigerators, and all types of furniture We also had to pull out all different types of weeds like mugwort, Japanese knotweed, and alder, to clear the area. Special recognition this year goes to Linda Huntingon, Education Director from GreenThumb who took an immense interest in our cause, and spent hours helping our club articulate our argument for a garden to skeptics. Also, Councilwoman June Eisland, who was at the time, head of the land use committee on our city council, worked persistently on our behalf, and was able to get the city to approve the issuance of a garden lease in a year when Mayor Guiliani put a stop to the creation of any new community gardens. Among the students, plaudits go to Tyrone Acosta, Karol Acosta, Sudesh Boodrom, Eun Shil Chung, Philip Fuentes, Jose Medina, David Mercado, Jayanti Mahabir, John Nieves, Jason Ruiz, Marcos Santiago, Rony Thomas, and Hing Fei Wong, all of who devoted countless hours on weekends to make this dream a reality. The following photos will give you an idea of the scope of the work. |
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This is a view of the garden site
from Room 854 in Kennedy High School. You are looking directly north,
with the ridge of Van Cortlandt Park in the horizon. You can see clearly
how the garden is in a valley, with the hills of Riverdale to the left
(west), and the lower hill of Marble Hill to the right (east). A line
literally cuts right through this valley, with Manhattan to the right,
the Bronx to the left, as Spuyten Duyvil Creek was the border. The garden
has a Bronx address, but technically speaking, it is in Manhattan! Spuyten
Duyvil Creek used to flow through this valley, with extensive wetlands
on either side of the creek. The garden is to be located in the narrow
green swath in the lower right hand corner of the lot. The only reason
this area is greener is that much of the land is low, and retains moisture
better. This shot was taken just as the fence was about to be constructed
in mid June. |
this is our wetlands
this is where our rose garden will eventually be |
Hing Fei Wong and Marcos remove Japanese Knot weed and alder |
Joy Chen removes one of hundreds of bags of debris |
Sonsiris, Bo, and Cynthia (left to right)found some furniture in the wetlands on this cleanuup day! |
David Mercado and John Nieves turned the soil |
City Councilwoman June
Eisland responded to a letter sent by the cabinet of the club, pleading
that she take a stand on allowing our garden to exist. Twice, the city
refused requests by us for a lease on a corner of the large vacant lot
between Kennedy and PS 37. At the stroke of midnight, the day of our
Earth Day, June not only came by our garden to lend a helping hand,
but to formally announce that our garden had finally been granted a
lease, and therefore would be allowed to legally exist as a GreenThumb
Community garden. This was announced in front of about a hundred students
gathered for our post-cleanup feeding frenzy. The students cheered,
and thus the garden was officially born. |
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Read an article from the Riverdale Press on our first Earth Day
Read an article from the Riverdale Press on the early successes of our garden
Read an article from the school paper, The Eternal Flame, on our first Earth Day