The Q at Parkside

(for those for whom the Parkside Q is their hometrain)

News and Nonsense from the Brooklyn neighborhood of Lefferts and environs, or more specifically a neighborhood once known as Melrose Park. Sometimes called Lefferts Gardens. Or Prospect-Lefferts Gardens. Or PLG. Or North Flatbush. Or Caledonia (west of Ocean). Or West Pigtown. Across From Park Slope. Under Crown Heights. Near Drummer's Grove. The Side of the Park With the McDonalds. Jackie Robinson Town. Home of Lefferts Manor. West Wingate. Near Kings County Hospital. Or if you're coming from the airport in taxi, maybe just Flatbush is best.

Thursday, April 10, 2014

Once More, Please Sign Petition to Bring Farmers Markets to Lefferts

 I'm posting this again so we can rev up our numbers for these petitions before sending to elected reps. Starting a farmer's market is more labor and money intensive than you might think. Thanks for your support!

Last December, some of us hit the Parkside Plaza and asked you to sign petitions so we could get a permit to use the plaza in front of the Q at Parkside for a farmers market on Friday afternoons. The non-profit Seeds in the Middle is moving towards starting this market and operating two others in the community district - most likely at Hamilton Metz Field and the Empire Blvd entrance to Prospect Park.


SIGN PETITION HERE

If you're one of those fussy people who actually likes to READ a petition before signing it, this is the verbiage, which you'll also fine at the Change.org site.

FARMERS MARKETS FOR PARKSIDE PLAZA and other spots in Community District 9 in Brooklyn.

We, the undersigned, believe that equal access to good health and nutritious food is a civil right.

We strongly support Seeds in the Middle's efforts to operate farmers markets in the Lefferts Gardens neighborhood and bordering Crown Heights.

We humbly request that all elected officials, private & public foundations, corporations, public servants and all voters to support Seeds in the Middle’s applications for funding for a farmers market/farmstand providing affordable, quality fresh produce in Crown Heights and Lefferts Gardens. We support Seeds in the Middle’s bid to create local jobs by hiring residents to work in neighborhood farmstands or farmers markets. I pledge to buy at the market. If everyone really cares about our children, please fund these genuine attempts to make fresh food and agricultural products nearby and accessible to all residents of New York City, while supporting our local farmers. Our zip codes have the highest NYC rates of obesity, diabetes and preventable diseases due to lack of nutritious food. We have the right to have healthy choices nearby so our community will not get these devastating illnesses.
 
One key element of these markets is making sure they're EBT/Food Stamps accessible for low-income families, since healthy eating begins at home, in the earliest years.

8 comments:

WriterOnWinthrop said...

If we already signed this when it went around last time - are we covered or is this all brand new meaning we have to re-sign?
THANK YOU

Clarkson FlatBed said...

Yes, this is new. The other got the permit...this one is to secure funding and get the attention of elected officials for their support.

WriterOnWinthrop said...

Okay cool - thank you for clarifying.

Anonymous said...

Is Seeds in the Middle intending on operating this farmer's market independently from Grow NYC (the org that runs the city's Greenmarkets)? Just curious.

Clarkson FlatBed said...

Grow NYC has shown no interest in our neighborhood. Seeds is filling in the serious gap. You will not find many Grow NYC markets in low income neighborhoods. They require financial support that poorer nabes can't provide.

Just take a look at where they operate...

http://www.grownyc.org/greenmarket/ourmarkets

Anonymous said...

Re: Grow NYC - You would figure that this neighborhood would benefit from a Youthmarket, like the one in Brownsville: http://www.grownyc.org/youthmarket/brownsville-pitkin.

Clarkson FlatBed said...

True, true, Disco. You'll note, however, that's the Brownsville markets are not regular greenmarkets, but done in partnership with the Brownsville Community Partnership, which has a board and funding streams of its own.

If PLGNA wanted to get involved, it could raise money. And if the Parkside Committee starts to raise significant money, they could come up with the "fee." Because that's really what it is. GrowNYC charges a fee to deliver its markets. Perhaps that's necessary for its business model. But it makes it out of the reach of most neighborhoods...ours included.

Unknown said...

There is a fee, sort of, for Seeds in the Middle as well. The difference, at least from what I can tell, is that Seeds is almost all community funded versus Grow NYC which appears to have cornered the market on funding from elected officials.

Unfortunately, as Tim mentioned, Grow NYC generally does not operate markets in low income communities.

Just think about it this way, if the 230+ folks, of which I am one, were willing to donate $15-20 to Seeds, we could have a market on the plaza at Parkside before the start of the summer. Not to mention, many of the farmers a willing to become suppliers to local produce merchants, so we'd maybe be able to "encourage" our local produce merchants to carry a better quality of produce that's locally sourced.

I am willing to donate to a Kickstarter or GoFundMe campaign.