I grew up at 2030 Lexington Avenue, in a narrow, walk-up tenement owned by my grandfather. Today, when I stop by the community garden where our building once stood, I am filled with both hope and despair. I am saddened because even though the lot has been classified as a permanent “green” space, it remains undeveloped as an environmental haven because the Parks Department won’t support community gardens financially.
I have always been inspired by the incredible sense of community in East Harlem and by the neighborhood’s remarkable political and cultural heritage. Such influence helped compel me to advocate for the preservation of that legacy.
Several years ago, I began documenting all of the large-scale commercial and luxury housing development projects – simply because folks were not being informed about changes in their own community! The issues then broadened to include affordable housing and environmental justice.
Now, everyone always asks why I’m so interested in Randall’s Island. Well, in addition to addressing gentrification as an issue of displacement, I think it’s important that we also examine the parallel trend that is the privatization of public parkland in our own backyard – which is, of course, Randall’s Island and Central Park.
So, what does it look like when a neighborhood is no long ours? Well, certainly its name will be changed. It will also be that our children will not be able afford to live here any longer because the majority of housing that’s being built is at market rate.
But it will also be the case that our children can no longer access their playgrounds because our parkland has been sold off to the highest bidder – which is mostly private businesses that exclude our community by means of admission price and access.
Already, we have a 480-acre island where our community once held cultural festivals, picnics, and impromptu concerts but which we can no longer freely access because the public footbridge is closed five months out of the year, and the playground permits are overwhelmingly controlled by private schools and corporate sports teams, or because the mayor decides to hold a private soirée that prevents public access to almost one quarter of the island for almost two weeks each year.
While the “green” issue may not be at the forefront of the anti-displacement movement – and certainly permanent affordable housing should always be the priority – I hope you will remember that one of the solutions to the astronomical asthma and obesity rates that our children suffer because of all the surrounding traffic (three bridges and a major highway) – might be as simple as a walk in the park, rather than diets and an inhaler.
As one of my cultural mentors, Pedro Pietri, said, “free grass for the working class!”
Testimony Presented at Town Hall Meeting for Housing Justice, Marina Ortiz, Thursday, January 15th, 2009
