Anticipating a Mamdani Mayoralty, New York City Officials Soften Opposition to Anti-Zionist Community Garden

A community garden in Queens that adopted a no “Zionist” policy and boasts a long rap sheet of Parks Department violations may win a reprieve thanks to mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani.Ridgewood’s Sunset Community Garden, which is currently suing New York City after Parks officials revoked its license, received a boost last week when the city’s Corporation Counsel agreed to engage in settlement negotiations as a means to resolve the lawsuit. The garden group’s attorney, Jonathan Wallace, shared the settlement update during a court hearing just minutes before the judge was set to rule on his request to temporarily prevent the city from enforcing the garden’s license termination. Mr. Wallace, to the surprise of the court, pulled the injunction motion and stated that “we’ve made very substantial progress to a resolution of this case.” Though it’s not uncommon for Corporation Counsel to pursue a settlement agreement in lieu of a drawn-out lawsuit, the legal body’s decision to cut the unruly gardeners some slack comes as a surprise given reports that the plaintiffs have been threatening and harassing the city’s own employees for months. Corporation Counsel, however, may be prioritizing another concern. That is the possibility that Mr. Mamdani will emerge from November’s election with the keys to Gracie Mansion, a source close to the case tells the Sun. The Democratic Socialist candidate, a staunch critic of Israel, is an open supporter of the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement. City officials thus fear that ousting the anti-Zionist garden group may put their jobs in jeopardy should Mr. Mamdani become mayor, the source tells the Sun. Corporation Counsel declined to comment while the case proceeds in court. Mayor Adams’ office said in a statement to the Sun that “The Adams administration stands against all forms of hatred, and our community gardens should be safe, inclusive, and welcoming spaces for all New Yorkers. We will continue this important fight, but we cannot comment on ongoing litigation.”Sunset Garden’s ‘Community Values’The gardeners describe their plot as “a space for folks to connect with plants, the earth, community, and with themselves.” However, their laundry list of ultra-woke “community values” — as shown in a publicly accessible document — makes clear that not all people are welcome in the green space. The doctrine is rife with statements of solidarity for “oppressed and marginalized people” like those in “Palestine, Congo, Sudan, Hawaii, and Borikén, as well as with land and water defenders globally.” Locally, the group pledges to “uplift our community members that are the most oppressed within the bounds of capitalism and colonialism.” That includes members of the “Queer, Trans, Disabled, Chronically Ill, Femme, Poor, Immigrant, Refugee, Fat Bodies and Richly Melanated community.” Other highlights include a community commitment to challenge “white supremacist values of perfectionism by acknowledging that mistakes are ok,” and encouraging “asking and giving for consent” when interacting with fellow members — for example, pausing to ask “Hey is it ok if I vent about my weekend during lunch?”In one clause, prospective members are called on to “commit to interrupting violent behavior or rhetoric that expresses all forms of hate.” Any expression of Zionism, which is equated with homophobia, sexism, and fatphobia, must be checked at the door.A Garden Gets Uprooted The garden was given the boot by Parks officials this past May after it failed to rectify a slew of outstanding violations, including its de-facto ban on Zionists as laid out in its list of community values. The document, which Parks officials defined as an “ideological litmus test for membership,” placed the garden in violation of its license, which requires it to make membership “available to the public.”Community gardens are also barred from discriminating on protected characteristics like race, color, religion, national origin, gender, age, disability, marital status, or sexual orientation. The garden again found itself in hot water when it failed to receive permission from the city before staging a pro-transgender art installation in the community greenspace. The group received several notifications of violation, but never submitted the forms necessary to put the installation right with the city. Sunset Community Garden’s license was ultimately terminated on the grounds that it “repeatedly failed to comply with Parks’ directions to appropriately and timely respond to numerous violations of the License,” according to legal filings. Parks officials maintain that the decision “had absolutely nothing to do with Sunset’s members’ actual or perceived gender, sexuality, or race.” ‘Consumed By Hatred’The gardeners have refused to go out without a fight. In May they took the city to court on allegations of unlawful discrimination and First Amendment rights violations. Outside of the courtroom, the gardeners have used social media to dox and threaten Parks officials and locals who they perceive as opponents to their cause. They’ve taken as “target number one” a Queens resident who originally championed the garden’s creation but has since come out against the group’s increasingly political rule. “The garden was my idea and for nine years I was the only local person advocating for its creation and funding, and to see it be consumed by hatred breaks my heart,” Christina Wilkinson tells the Sun.In recent months several Sunset Garden members have taken to social media to publicly shame Ms. Wilkinson or call on their followers to harass or hurt her. In a screenshot of a post that Ms. Wilkinson showed to the Sun, one garden member wrote next a to picture of the Queens resident, “Get HER ASS” and “I am choosing violence today cause white power WILL NOT TAKE US DOWN!” In another: “If you see Christina Wilkinson out in Ridgewood, call her a dumb small lipped weak white transphobic lemon lizard Zionist idiot c*** bag & in that order.” Ms. Wilkinson has since filed a police report against the members who shared those posts. Ms. Wilkinson also shared with the Sun a screenshot of a post that targeted the head of GreenThumb, Carlos Martinez. “This fool is a narc and does not support community coalition,” one gardener wrote on top of a card that contained Mr. Martinez’s office address and phone number. Mr. Martinez has not responded to the Sun’s request for comment. ‘Don’t Let Them Negotiate’ “It’s hard to find adjectives to describe how bad this is,” a member of New York City Council, Robert Holden, whose district borders on the garden, tells the Sun. “I’ve been a council member for almost eight years now. I’ve seen it all. But I haven’t seen this. I haven’t seen something so disgraceful actually, ever.” Although Sunset Garden is not technically within Mr. Holden’s district, the councilmember has provided support to Ms. Wilkinson and other constituents who have been targeted by the gardeners. He plans to write a letter to Corporation Counsel to urge them not to strike a deal, he says. “That’s been tried for almost a year. Negotiating is going to be a dead end.” Other legal options are being explored by attorney Aaron Meyer, who has been monitoring the case ever since it was shared with him in a Jewish advocacy Facebook group. Mr. Meyer is considering filing an amicus curiae against the plaintiffs which, he says, “will tell the court that the Parks Department did the right thing. Don’t just let them negotiate.” Another option, Mr. Meyer tells the Sun, is to challenge whatever agreement that the parties come up with. “We have our own litigation we can bring, whether in state or federal court,” he says. “We’ve got actual constitutional rights that are being infringed on here.” Mr. Meyer similarly chalks up the Corporation Counsel’s willingness to settle in part to Mr. Mamdani’s potential mayoralty. “The Democratic nomination, I understand, is casting a very, very wide shadow over this case,” Mr. Meyer tells the Sun. He adds that “in this disturbingly politicized age, it’s a legitimate fear.” Still, though, Mr. Meyer believes that a settlement would send an unacceptable message. “It tells both city employees and Jewish residents that their protections don’t really matter,” he says. “All it takes is a little bit of fear and a crapilly drawn lawsuit — and they’ll fold.”

Anticipating a Mamdani Mayoralty, New York City Officials Soften Opposition to Anti-Zionist Community Garden

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