NYC Garden of Hate: Officials negotiating with community garden over ‘Poppies for Palestine'

New York Post

2 days ago

The city has backed off a bid to oust an anti-Israel community garden in Queens, and is negotiating a compromise instead — a deal critics suspect was likley made to appease a future Zohran Mamdani mayoral administration.
City attorneys on Thursday told Judge Hasa Kingo any agreement with the management at Sunset Community Garden in Ridgewood would require vast changes to the unconstitutional wording of the group's 10 'community agreements' — which forced incoming members to pledge 'solidarity with the oppressed and marginalized people' of Palestine.
A special section of the green space was labeled 'Poppies for Palestine.'
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8 Controversy has swirled around the Ridgewood green space since The Post's first report last fall.
Helayne Seidman
8 The garden is home to a pair of 'altars' honoring Latina trans advocate Cecilia Gentili.
Helayne Seidman
8 A sign just inside the garden's entrance reads, 'Hands Off Sunset.'
Helayne Seidman
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Critics were aghast at the city compromising with haters.
'If you break the law and discriminate against minorities and the marginalized, as long as you only discriminate against Jews and people who defend Jews, it's OK,' said Ridgewood resident Sara Schraeter-Mowersglad, who called the ongoing negotiations between the city and the garden 'a very dangerous precedent.'
Christina Wilkinson, who opposes the garden's woke agenda, said city workers told her 'they think Mamdani will win in November and they don't want to deal with this with him in charge and are in fear for their jobs.'
Mamdani, a Queens assemblyman and socialist Democratic mayoral frontrunner, has been staunchly pro-Palestine.
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8 A special section of the garden for Palestine.
Instagram @sunsetgardenridgewood
8 A social media post from a garden member claims 'cis' people have no understanding of community.
Helayne Seidman
The Parks Department had been pushing for new management at the garden, located at Onderdonk and Willoughby avenues, and revoked their license in May.
Parks officials wanted the group to vacate the green space by June 6 for 'violat[ing] the terms of their license' with their 'ideological litmus test and the installation of an altar without prior Parks Department approval,' according to court documents.
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But the matter wound up in court last month.
City attorney Blake Ahlberg told Kingo the Corporation Counsel's office needed more time to deliberate and discuss the compromise, due to the 'high-profile' nature of the case.
Kingo opined that the language in the community agreements violated both the New York and U.S. constitutions. 'Compelled speech isn't free speech,' he said.
8 Attorney Jonathan Wallace, right, leaves court Thursday with one of the garden's members, Aphroditus.
Michael Nagle
8 Wallace spoke with Corporation Counsel Leslie Spitalnick (in white) and attorney Blake Ahlberg (pictured behind her.)
Michael Nagle
Kingo said he would drop the case if both sides failed to reach a compromise by the next court hearing on Aug. 1.
The garden's critics, like Wilkinson, also told The Post any deal with the pro-Palestinian group would undermine the Park Department's authority.
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8 The message is clear.
Helayne Seidman
'If [the garden's leaders] are left in charge, it's only a matter of time before they violate their license again, and now [the Parks Department] has no teeth, because the city attorneys have indicated that they have no intention of backing them up,' Wilkinson said.
In June, garden organizer Laura Merrick renamed Sunset Community Garden to Jardin de Santa Cecilia in honor of Latina trans advocate Cecilia Gentili. The space is now home to a pair of 'altars' honoring Gentili.
Both Merrick and the Parks Department refused to respond to requests for comment.