Last night Community Board 3’s parks committee voted to support local activists fighting to preserve the Children’s Magical Garden. Last month, developer Serge Hoyda put up a fence within the garden, located at Norfolk and Stanton streets, dividing a parcel he owns from two city-controlled lots. He and officials with the city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development have had conversations about building apartments on the site. CB3 has now gotten behind a different vision for the parcel: a permanent green space for families.
The panel approved a resolution calling on HPD to transfer its two parcels to the Green Thumb program, and to arrange a land swap with Hoyda, so that the lot he owns could also become a permanent part of the garden. Activists gathered inside the garden before marching – some in costume – to the board meeting a few blocks away. City Council member Margaret Chin joined them and then addressed the committee. Chin told board members that she and other elected officials needed a strong statement from CB3 to take to city agencies. HPD has signaled that it would try to accommodate the community’s vision for the site. We’ll have a full wrap-up from the meeting later…
