TOMORROW, June 20: Mayoral Candidate Sal Albanese Tours the Garden

Mayoral Candidate Sal Albanese’s campaign is having a “Save Our Neighborhoods” Day in Queens, Brooklyn and Manhattan – this Thursday, June 20th.

Mr. Albanese plans to be at the Sasaki Garden at around 1:00-1:30 pm. He was hoping to have a short tour of Sasaki and one or two of the other pieces of parkland that will be lost because of Sexton’s NYU2031 plan. He will then have a short press conference in Sasaki.  Mayoral Candidate Albanese supports the preservation of the Garden and the public lands on LaGuardia Place and Mercer Street.

Save the Sasaki Garden and our Public Lands -- Attend the Event!

Global and Local Public Land Grabs

Greenwich Village is not the only community fighting to preserve access to and control of its public lands.  Public land grabs are happening elsewhere in NYC and globally, with the Gezi Park conflict in Turkey the most visible land seizure.  Here is a round-up of articles about this issue.

Urban Trees as Triggers, From Istanbul to Oregon [New York Times]

What Is It About Trees? [Huff Post]

The Case of NYCHA’s Disappearing Open Space [Shelterforce]

NYCHA Plan for Private Developers Is Resisted [The Wall Street Journal]

No Place for Amateurs: A New Stadium vs. Queens’ Soccer Fields [Urban Omnibus]

Please share your news links with us in the comments.

July 18: Parkland Alienation Court Hearing

Save the date of July 18 for a court hearing on the improper seizure of the four parks properties on LaGuardia Place and Mercer Streets. In New York, parkland cannot be alienated without a vote by the state legislature, which the City of New York never sought. Moreover, the replacement parkland proposed by NYU is inadequate, and the Sasaki Garden irreplaceable.

Stay tuned for more details.

Photo: Spring in the Garden

From reader "Resident Against the Plan" are these two photos of the garden in bloom this year.

For more photographs of the garden in bloom, like the new photo in our banner, visit Hubert J. Steed's spring gallery.

TODAY: Selling and Giving Away NYC Parks on WNYC

Don't miss the "Selling and Giving Away NYC Parks" on today's Leonard Lopate Show.  Leonard's guest is Jim Walden, an attorney with Gibson, Dunn and Crutcher.

The practice of selling, or even giving away, public parkland and historic sites to private developers has become a disturbing trend in recent years. Attorney Jim Walden has taken several of these cases to court, including one involving Brooklyn Bridge Park, as well as the current case of the New York University expansion taking over public open space. He'll look at what the law says, and what can be done to protect these public spaces.

If you can't listen live, catch it later as a podcast.  Here's the link: http://www.wnyc.org/shows/lopate/2013/apr/23/selling-and-giving-away-nyc-parks/.