"You Can Wait for Permission, or Just Ask for Forgiveness"

Guerrilla Gardening as a form of rebellious self help in a New York City housing project, and a case for cutting the red tape on gardening.

Across the river, in a pretty different part of town from Yorkville, echoes of my recent activities - a similar strategy for coping and building community in the Queensbridge Houses via a guerrilla garden.

(Though, actually, the parts of town aren't so very different; there is a housing project at the northern edge of Yorkville, near Asphalt Green, the rather expensive fitness complex - quite the juxtaposition.)

The frustrating red tape encountered by this man in setting up his garden at the Queensbridge Houses - seems it should just be easier to plant unused and under utilized plantable space.  In the midst of a pandemic, when gardening and connectedness to nature is so important for mental health, just make it easier for folks!!

Ok, I am a lawyer, I get it.  Owners and controllers want to keep control - they don't want to be open to adverse possession claims down the road.  (I have always been bothered by empty construction lots and pits that sit forever awaiting - what? financing? an uptick in the market? - that could host a garden, even if only temporarily.  Empty road medians too, or areas near on and off ramps.  When I was in high school, commuting by bus to get to the subway, we would pass by an empty grassy area where the Clearview terminates on Hillside, and I would fantasize about throwing dianthus seeds there and one day commuting past a field of flowers.  When I was in college, living in a dorm that looked over Morningside Park onto the occasional empty lot between low rises in Harlem, I had versions of that same fantasy - sprinkling seeds, but then pairing it with outreach to local schools to reinforce students' science curricula.  I never did anything about that, and sometimes still wish I had.)  And liability - I get it - what if there are heavy metals in that soil and that woman with the baby cilantro actually eats her cilantro.  Fine - make folks sign waivers, test the soil and prohibit edibles if warranted until remediation can occur.  Put up signs.  Make every participant renew their agreement to the terms and conditions of use on an annual basis if you must...

... But just let the people plant.  It's good for the soul.  And good for children's brain growth, physical growth.  And good for the community. 

Haunted by the grouchy woman's admonishments and wanting to be prepared with a response should I encounter that again, I attempted to look up the legality of guerrilla gardening empty sidewalk tree pits - and did not get through the voluminous materials, the red tape.  The best I could tell from a quick skim of the tree standards, there are particular species of trees that are approved, but it's unclear whether that is simply best practice or policy to be applied IF the City actually fulfills its mission to plant said trees, or if by inference there is a prohibition of any other plantings...  Now, looking further, apparently a permit is required to plant a tree - oh well, so I suppose that is the City's exercise of jurisdiction over all of the sidewalk tree pits; so it appears Grouchy Karen Tree Hater may have technically been correct on the legalities.  But, really, SHOULD it be, even if the City is in dereliction of its planting mandate?

In the latter case, I say (biasedly), let the people plant!  Something green is better than nothing green.  Free plants and labor to put them in is better than forlorn patches of dirt.  And with tax revenues bound to be way down with this prolonged pandemic, it could be years until the City has the resources to plant trees again.  I don't want to live like that; I don't want my neighborhood to look like that.  What harm could come if in theory Mother Nature might have adversely possessed these mini-plots and taken over the process anyway?  If any plant can actually survive amid such compaction, let alone grow large enough or deep enough to cause actual harm to - say, the sidewalks, then, I say, the burden shifts to the City and to neighbors to remove the offending flora.  Which leads me back to... Yes - a call to take up the hand shovels!!  Let the people plant!  Plant on, and ask for forgiveness later.  

We undertake the risk of heartache if it all gets yanked out at some point; we are gardeners - we already know that even if we pour all of our love into a plant, it might not thrive, or even survive, for us.  We are fortified and can endure death and destruction, in spite of care.  What we can endure less is barrenness, sadness, emptiness due to neglect and an unwillingness to try to nurture life.