After reading about New York City's community garden program, I believe that Philly should as well adopt this program. All thoughout the city of New York, in areas such as the Bronx, Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn, and Staten Island, there were over 114 abandoned lots up for public auction. Upon hearing this the New York Restoration Program decided to take charge and instead of allowing these vacant lots to be built upon with useless infrastructure, they would turn them into valuable green spaces that would highly benefit the community. Thanks to the NYRP, New York City is home to 55 community gardens. The gardens function as mini farms by producing vegetables, herbs, and flowers. These gardens add to the overall health of the surrounding area because they promote community interaction and economic development. What makes this program much more benefitial is that it is personally run by the community. From barbeques to educational events, these gardens serve as a venue for several activities for the neighbors. Philedelphia, like New York, could highly benefit by adopting this program. Philly is full of hundreds of vacant lots that are not being used to there full potential. Looking at all of the positives that came out of the NYRP, the city of Philly should want to immediately implement a community garden program that has the same objectives as the NYRP.

Community garden in East Harlem

Communtity garden in South Bronx

Alli Kobylinski

Sources: http://www.nyrp.org/