Internet, soon there could be an organic garden at New York City Hall. Yes, I’m serious. A vegetable garden right in front of City Hall in the middle of the grimy, smoky, concrete hive of New York City. In the summer, when I put a fan in my window, it takes about a day for a layer of black soot to form on the fan blades, just from the New York City air. And I live in the suburbs. I knew New Yorkers were getting interested in urban farming, rooftop gardens, keeping chickens in their tiny back-lots. This movie is a great example of that movement. But could City Hall really plant a vegetable garden? It seems contrary to the city itself, but it could really happen. Not yet, of course, it’s just a petition right now. Daniel Bowman Simon, the guy behind the petition to the white house that had a hand in making the white house vegetable garden a reality, is gathering signatures to send to mayor Michael Bloomberg in the hope that the mayor will give the city an official garden, right on City Hall property. a few other big cities across the country have city hall gardens now, and the idea isn’t so far-fetched for New York either. Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer (as featured in What’s On Your Plate?) has just released “FoodNYC: A Blueprint for a Sustainable Food System,” a major survey of New Yorkers’ food access as well as an analysis and set of suggestions for the future of New York’s food systems. The Mayor himself has made food legislation into a major campaign, seeking bans for some of the major culprits of obesity and poor health in the city (like salt and trans-fats). Believe it or not, it looks like New York City is actually ready to embrace better, more sustainable foods, and an organic garden in front of City Hall could be an important symbolic element in the city’s new attitude toward the health of its citizens.
