When I first heard about Brooklyn Grange this week, I thought it was pretty cool. A handful of individuals taking the rooftop of an industrial building in LIC (37-18 Northern Boulevard) and turning it into essentially a working farm is very exciting. However, there is more to this that meets the eye. And it’s an unfortunate sight.
Today, Gothamist reports that the organizers were issued a stop-work order last Friday because they didn’t secure permits for the project. “The New York City Department of Buildings said the group never showed engineering plans proving the 40,000 square feet of rooftop was sturdy enough to hold nearly a million pounds of dirt and vegetables.” These kinds of permits are not flimsy or superfluous, or something you can take care of later - they are basic and are necessary to ensure that workers don’t die by the roof caving in. I hope it ends up that the roof is structurally sound to support over a million pounds of dirt and that no one gets hurt in the meantime.
It’s also become clear that the organizers “settled” for Queens. Anastasia Cole, one of the co-founders of this project says, “The fact that we’re in Queens is just sort of another ironic and unlikely aspect of the project. I think we all find it pretty funny.” How is this funny? Queens is a perfectly respectable place for this kind of project. I find this attitude distasteful and sad.
I think the project has a lot going for it. I just hope the organizers learn to respect the borough that is the home to their project. To talk about “settling” for Queens is disrespectful to those that live in this part of NYC, and is misguided as well. Brooklyn Grange, please do us all a favor and check your attitude on the other side of the Pulaski Bridge.
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This Anastasia Cole person the same quote when I read the original article awhile back in the Times. Her attitude immediately jumped out at me.
Well said Meg…well said! Check it
yeah, ditto the attitude check!
Also, I’m not sure I understand their business model. They are (somewhat adamantly) for-profit because “farmers deserve a living wage”. So why are volunteers installing the roof?
I really really want to be excited about this thing, but I find myself highly skeptical.
They’ve already gotten it lifted:
http://gothamist.com/2010/05/19/brooklyn_grange_can_start_farming_a.php
Thanks for the update, Jen! I’m glad they got things squared away in the permit department, and that no one got hurt.
I think your preconceptions might be coloring your opinion of the quote. It was ironic because they had already named their farm Brooklyn Grange and then found space in Queens. I don’t think the quote was meant to be a slight to Queens.
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