The Oil Drum

That's right, not just one greenmarket in my neighborhood, make that TWO. And for good measure, let's put them on the same street and create a greenmarket alley leading from Carl Schurz Park on the East River to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It's been a long road since I presented the idea of bringing greenmarkets to my powerful neighborhood back in October.

Here are the two sites under consideration by the Community Board:

P.S. 6 - Schoolyard on the 82nd Street side, b Mad/Park, Every Saturday, July 1, 2006- November 18, 2006

St. Stephen of Hungary Parish - 82nd Street, b 1/York, Every Sunday, July 2, 2006-November 19, 2006

Jessica Lappin, the local Councilmember deserves a lot of credit for helping make this happen, including getting the priest at St. Stephen's to sign a letter endorsing the idea.

BUT, this is not yet in the bag. Despite the fact that almost every other NYC neighborhood has a greenmarket, there is one person who might try to thwart this. Who's against a greenmarket? Eli Zabar, who was not only responsible for removing the one at All Souls Church, but also thwarted past attempts to install one at Carl Schurz Park, 86th and Fifth Ave. If he succeeds in stopping either of these, it will be a loss to the community and he and his stores should be shunned for it.

My local environmental initiatives are kicking into high gear this month as the Community Board debates two important environmental issues: Biking and Greenmarkets.

Over the last week I have given out over 600 copies of my little flyer about both issues, asking people to either come to the community board meeting or send them an email in support of both ideas. I have received a wonderful response from most people and now have about 5 volunteers signed up for continuing the flyer effort.

Through this process I am gaining invaluable contacts and allies in local government and the local food / biking community. I hope I will eventually become a leader on environmental issues in my area.

So how did I get to this point?