Fwd: Thank You + Friendly Reminder (with Additional Contact Information) to Please Urge Governor Hochul to Sign the Bill - Supporting the Designation of Community Gardens as Critical Environmental Areas

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Magali Regis

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Nov 18, 2023, 2:00:52 PM11/18/23
to NYCCGC list serve, Brooklyn Community Gardeners Group, Lower East Side Gardens
Hello,

This is critical. Please forward to your networks and urge them to take action. It only takes 5 minutes. We need to do our part if we are to convince the Governor to do hers., how do we expect to convince the governor.

See below. THANK YOU!




-------- Forwarded Message --------
Subject: Re: Thank You + Friendly Reminder (with Additional Contact Information) to Please Urge Governor Hochul to Sign the Bill - Supporting the Designation of Community Gardens as Critical Environmental Areas
Date: Fri, 17 Nov 2023 10:17:04 -0500
From: Raymond Figueroa Jr <rfig...@pratt.edu>





Good Morning All, Community Garden Stewards and Allies, 

Thank you for your vigilance on behalf of our precious community gardens.

We are hoping that you can take a moment to communicate with Governor Hochul's office this morning via the following contacts:
  • Veronica Ng, Assistant Secretary for Legislative Affairs
Attached below is the document (that I forgot to attach to previous email) produced by Pratt grad students showing the collaboration of the NEW YORK CITY COMMUNITY GARDEN COALITION with community gardeners from across NYC, PRATT INSTITUTE, and the environmental law firm, EARTHJUSTICE documenting an example of how community gardens via their green infrastructure with their host of ecosystems' services - including the production of food that is nutrient dense and health-promoting - meet the criteria for CEA designation.            

Again, thank you, all - Sisters and Brothers - for your vigilance in the righteous struggle on behalf of our precious community gardens / community farms. We've come this far ..... NOW Let's make this law happen!

May Peace & Mother Earth's Blessings Continue to Abide with You and Yours


Most Respectfully,
Ray

Raymond Figueroa, Jr.
President 
New York City Community Garden Coalition
Director - Community-based Alternatives-to-Incarceration Initiatives
Youth Farm at the Brook Park Community Garden
Taconic Faculty Fellow - Community Gardens as Critical Environmental Areas Project
Pratt Center for Community Development
Sustainable Environmental Systems Faculty 
Graduate Center for Planning and the Environment
School of Architecture
Pratt Institute


 



On Thu, Nov 16, 2023 at 8:14 PM Raymond Figueroa Jr <rfig...@pratt.edu> wrote:
Hello, Again, and Good Evening to You All -- Dear Community Stewards & Allies of Our Precious Green Spaces - Our Community Gardens / Community Farms, 

Thank you to all of you who have already communicated with the Governor's office.

I wanted to share additional contact information for Governor Hochul's staff, including policy advisors and legal counsel - who have the Governor's ear - that I highly recommend you communicating with as early as possible in the day:
  • Veronica Ng, Assistant Secretary for Legislative Affairs
  • John O'Leary, Deputy Secretary for Energy & Environment

I am reaching out to you, again, and, by extension, your respective networks, because of your organization's work and / or affiliation with the NYS Community Gardens Task Force, and I am respectfully requesting boots-on-the-ground support regarding the bill that is now before Governor Hochul -- which calls for facilitating the regulatory designation of community gardens as Critical Environmental Areas. 

Here is a link to a fact sheet provided by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation describing Critical Environmental Areas: 


I have taken the liberty of attaching a document produced by Pratt grad students showing an example of how community gardens via their green infrastructure with their host of ecosystems' services - including the production of food that is nutrient dense and health-promoting - meet the criteria for CEA designation.

As I mentioned in my previous email, just this past Monday, November 13, the Critical Environmental Areas (CEA) Bill was delivered to the Governor.

Here is the link to the Bill as well as a screenshot -- showing its status:


Continuing for the week and into next week (if needed), we are requesting that as many people as possible contact the Governor's office (particularly the Governor's staff members identified above) and communicate their support for Governor Hochul signing the Bill into law. Every contact by a distinct New York State resident / constituent / individual who communicates support for the Bill / urging the Governor to sign -- counts as a "Data Point". We would like to have a thousand (1000) Data Points. The Governor's office contact information appears at the end of this email. 

What follows is the outline (including suggested talking points) that I shared previously in order to be as succinct as possible in discussing the bill. (Please excuse any typo's.)

CEA Bill (identifying) information:
  • NYS Senate Bill S-629A sponsored by State Senator Comrie (same as the NYS Assembly Bill A-4139A sponsored by State Assembly Member Lupardo) 
Points-of-Information:
  • Bill Summary -  "Requires the [NYS] community gardens task force to conduct an assessment of all community gardens located on publicly owned land in the state to facilitate each garden's designation as a critical environmental area." 
    • thereby increasing the protections for community gardens against real estate development, displacement, and community destabilization pressures.
  • There is a 10-day clock (that started ticking as of this past Monday) for signing the Bill which expires on the 23rd of November (Thanksgiving Day). 
Suggested Talking Points:
  • communicate your support for NYS Senate Bill S-629A and that you urge the Governor to sign it into law, because by doing so
    • you are reminding the Governor that Critical Environmental Areas (CEA) Designation for Community Gardens is consistent with the Governor's commitment to community gardens in the following important ways: 
      • CEA designation of community gardens ensures that municipalities across New York State can provide the continuity of their local governmental administrative support for community gardens -- thereby strategically supporting the Governor’s commitment to making local food more accessible to all New Yorkers and to encourage more urban farming, including as articulated in the following points-of-information:
        • the Governor’s 2023 State of the State plan calling for the renewal and enhancement of the Urban Farms & Community Gardens (UFCG) program with $1 million dedicated this year and 
        • the Governor’s 2023 State of the State plan also including two additional initiatives under the UFCG Grant Program, as recommended by the Community Gardens Task Force : 
          • the New York State Community Gardens Leadership Certificate Program and 
          • the New York State Soil Testing Program. 
    • the above-mentioned points can be linked to here: 
  • communicate that you wish to also remind the Governor that the Bill was passed unanimously by both the New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly
  • finally, communicate that Critical Environmental Areas designation for Community Gardens is a critically important initiative that addresses the following:
    • Food & Environmental Justice issues as well as  
    • Community Wellness & Health Equity issues 
      • facilitating the capacity of locally impacted community residents taking ownership of these issues in a manner that is as creative and productive as it is cost-effective and sustainable, and through which 
        • such self-reliance promotes genuine community resilience that ultimately 
          • honors their sense of human dignity in the process. 

Contact Governor’s Office

By Phone:

1-518-474-8390 | Office hours: 9:00am to 5:00pm

By Email Form:

https://www.governor.ny.gov/content/governor-contact-form

By (Snail Mail unless sent by Express) Mail:

The Honorable Kathy Hochul
Governor of New York State
NYS State Capitol Building
Albany, NY 12224

So, let's continue (and get others in what's left of this week and the next week if needed) to all do our part to make this law happen!


If you have any questions or concerns in regards to what is mentioned in this email, please reach out to me as soon as possible - as this is a critically time-sensitive matter.


Thank you, all, again, for all your timely and thoughtful consideration. And furthermore -- thank you for all your selfless labors-of-LOVE on behalf of greening / healing our communities' via our precious community gardens.


May Peace & Mother Earth's Blessings Abide with You and Yours


Most Respectfully,
Ray

Raymond Figueroa, Jr.
President 
New York City Community Garden Coalition
Director - Community-based Alternatives-to-Incarceration Initiatives
Youth Farm at the Brook Park Community Garden
Taconic Faculty Fellow - Community Gardens as Critical Environmental Areas Project
Pratt Center for Community Development
Sustainable Environmental Systems Faculty 
Graduate Center for Planning and the Environment
School of Architecture
Pratt Institute

 



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CRITICAL ENVIRONMENTAL AREAS - Description of HOW COMMUNITY GARDENS MEET THE NYS DEC CRITERIA.pdf
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