gardening makes for a community

Blair and I spent some time yesterday digging through a neighbor's garden. Mostly digging up hostas and mint, and plating flox, irises and daylilies. This is one of the things Blair had been hoping would happen, and was looking forward to when we became founding members of a neighborhood gardening club.

This year, Blair has done a lot of informal flower-trading with neighbors. Giving them flowers that they like, and getting others in return. And in many cases that has also resulted in her (and, less often, her and me) doing the planting in our neighbors' yards. This is something that we really love, as it helps make the neighborhood feel like a community. Some of this has come about through the gardening club -- because some of these are "tradeds" we made with people we met through the club. But a lot of it has come about more organically. Blair will be out digging in the yard or watering. A neighbor will walk by and start to chat. And, since Blair is obviously gardening, that will be the topic. Before long they've exchanged suggestions, and we've either gotten a plant or given one away (or both).

It may seem like a small thing, but it feels really nice.

I don't have pictures of what we did in the neighbors' yards, but here are a couple pictures I took in our yard.

tapestry

Years ago, when Blair and I were househunting, we almost bought a different house than the one we ended up in. It's on the same street, but two blocks away. It's a very picturesque house and we probably would have been happy in it. We agreed on a price, but after that we found that there weree other specifics we couldn't agree on. Chief among them was the question of an old oil tank that had been buried in the front yard. There were other things, but my point here isn't to relive a real estet purchase that wasn't. That said, I think we ended up doing better. The house we ended up buying doesn't have the same immediate charm, but in many ways is more liveable.

The house we almost bought

I was thinking about that because Blair and I walked by that old house a week or so ago. It's easy to think that my life would be largely the same if that deal hadn't fallen though. But some very big parts of my life are a direct result of living where we do.

For several years now, Blair and I have been increasingly active in the Long Island Daylily Society (LIDS). And that came about because of neighbors across the street who are LIDS members. If we had lived two blocks away we would never have been talking gardening with them. And if I hadn't gotten involved with LIDS, I wouldn;t have gotten involved in the Jamaica Estates Association (JEA) Gardening Club. And if I hadn;t gotten involved with that, I wouldn't have been invited to join the JEA Board. Which may not seem like a big deal, except that it has also become an increasing component of who I am.

Now, it's easy to know about what wouldn't have happened if I had taken that other path. What's harder (read: impossible) is to know what would have happened instead. And I have no doubt that there would have been other things in my life instead.

Still, I find it interesting to think about.

jea security meeting

We had a good meeting (with good turnout) for tonight's Jamaica Estates Association security meeting. Topics discussed included illegally parked cars, suspicious behavior and crime prevention.

Captain Tom Molloy, representing the 107th precinct talked about issues of crime in the neighborhood. He gave tips on preventing oneself from being victimized. He also took questions from community members about what to do in specific situations, and about various rules and regulations.

Anthony La Bella, the Vice President of Bay Ridge Security talked about the role of the security patrol in preventing crime, and other related services that the patrol provides for the neighborhood. This was an important presentation because we're in the middle of the membership drive, and the Association's ability to pay for the patrol is dependent on members. Fewer members means fewer hours of patrol.

John Brehany, representing St. John's University spoke about the relationship between the community and the schol -- specifically the students who rent houses in the area. He discussed the role the university plays in maintaining order.

all aboard

I am now on the board of the Jamaica Estates Association.

Queens Borough President Melinda Katz administers the oath of office

Before I go on, I should note that the JEA is not an HOA. We cannot dictate what colors people paint their houses, we can't fine people if their lawns are unkempt, and (perhaps most fundamentally) no one is obligated to join the JEA. I have very mixed feelings about HOAs in general -- I can see their value for homeowners who want to protect the value of their houses, but with political sensibilities that are informed by libertarianism I bristle at the extra layer of authority.

But the JEA is a neighborhood civic organization, Membership, though encouraged, is purely optional. And, the simple fact is that anyone could, if he or she wanted to, create an organization to compete with it. A variety of its activities help to get the residents to know each other and to foster a sense of community. It sponsors a neighborhood security patrol which I believe helps deter crime. And through its activism it has the ears of a variety of local politicians.

I've lived in the neighborhood for the last 18 years,* and for most of that time I simply paid my dies without getting particularly involved. I attended an occasional meeting, but that was pretty much it. The change started last year when one of the board members pushed for a gardening club.I joined, and somehow ended up being the club's secretary. The club is still small and trying to find its footing.

Earlier this year, when the club was doing a public project -- planting in the public triangle at the corner of Midland Parkway and Surrey Place -- I was approached by one of the leaders of the JEA about joining the board.

So here I am. The fact is, I love this neighborhood, and I welcome (though I am admittedly intimidated by) the chance to help. I will likely be working on the landscaping committee and on helping with the Association's social media footprint.

*I also grew up in Jamaica Estates, so all in all I've lived in the area for about 40 years.

it's all or nothing

When discussing my dieting, my standard joke is that I can't eat one donut. I can eat none of them, or I can eat all of them. But I can't eat one.*

The truth of that joke was driven home to me yesterday. Blair and I hosted a meeting of the Jamaica Estates Association Gardening Club. In preparation we bought lots of healthful snacks -- baby carrots, hummus, peanuts, cheese, crackers. It was easy for me to be a good boy. Of course, some of the guests brought snacks as well, and we put them out. These included cookies.

For most of the meeting I was good. I was snacking on the food we put out. Mostly I had the carrots and hummus. But I also ate peanuts and cheese. And only a couple of crackers. I had decided that I wasn't going to eat cookies, so I was fine avoiding them.

Until one of the guests noted, in disappointment, that no one was eating her homemade cookies. So I had one. And, somehow, that opened the floodgates. Before I realized what I was doing, I had eaten several. I managed to stop myself (eventually), but it was suddenly much more difficult.

I mentioned it to a friend at work, and he noted that all these junk foods are engineered to be as addictive as possible. He specifically mentioned Doritos, and suggested I Google "Doritos addictive." Among the items was this article in the New York Post, which explains things very neatly. I'm impressed and horrified at the same time. It also reminds me of the advertising line about potato chips -- that you can't eat just one. A lot of what the article says about Dorito's is true for potato chips as well. Maybe it's just that Dorito's are like potato chips on steroids.

But these were homemade cookies, using (I assume) wholesome ingredients. Not that it's good for me, what with the combination of sugar and wheat flour. But are they really addictive the way Dorito's are? Or do I need an infusion of willpower?

*Of course, if there is only one donut, I can eat it.

where to meet -- aaaaarrrrrgggggghhhhhh!

A couple weeks ago I posted about the troubles I'm having scheduling the next meeting of the Jamaica Estates Association Gardening Club.

Well, the trouble continued, but at least we have a meeting place for this weekend's meeting. My house.

St. John's University agreed to let use space in their residence hall on Henley Road for our meetings. Initially this seemed like a perfect solution, both for this meeting and future meetings. But there's a fly in the ointment. Security. Because it's a residence hall, they understandably have a need for tight security. We'd have to provide a list of attendees before each meeting, and no one who is not on the list gets in. Now, I can easily provide a full membership list before each meeting. But then, anyone new who wants to attend would have to let me know in advance. No one could simply decide at the last minute that they want to check it out. Unless, of course, they let me know in advance that it's a possibility. I don't think that's conducive to getting new members. I understand the need for tight security in a residence hall, so I don't begrudge SJU this need. But it does make their residence hall a suboptimal option.

But having the meetings at my house -- or, similarly, at other members' houses on a rotating basis -- does not work as a long term solution.

Fortunately, there are a few possible solutions (some, obviously better than others):

• We may end up having meetings at the residence hall even though it is suboptimal. We;ll just have to make sure all meeting announcements indicate that anyone who intends to come or might even be considering it needs to contact me in advance to get on the list.
• In my email exchanges with the facilities representative of SJU, I floated the idea of using a location on the SJU campus. Surely there are unused classrooms on Sundays, and security won't be as tight. By the time I thought of this, it was too late to make it work for this weekend's  meeting. But the next meeting will be on March 4. We have time to mwork out the details before then.
• The UN School can give us space. But only on weekday evenings. THat's going to be a hard sell, since a lot of members work during the day and may not be eager to rush home for an evening meeting.

These ideas, and whatever else anyone thinks of, will be one of the first orders of business. I hope it's not too chaotic.

local traffic changes that i'd make

Back in September, I wrote about an intersection near me where the signs are contradictory. That post was here. Since I wrote that post, I forwarded the link to the President of the Jamaica Estates Association and he forwarded it to Community Board 8. I know they got it because I saw some of the emails. Sadly, the problem hasn't been fixed. Yet.

EDIT: Today, I drove by that spot. It has been fixed. I don;t know when. When I wrote the above paragraph as a draft, it hadn't been fixed. But I didn't check in the interim, before posting it. It is likely that the signage had been fixed by the time I posted it. My apologies for getting it wrong. I was sloppy.

Despite the fact that this blog doesn't have a stellar record of effecting changes in traffic control devices, I'll mention two changes I'd like to see. Both refer to the map above.

The first thing I'd like is to have Avon Road, between Chevy Chase Street and 188the Street turned into one-way, heading Northeast. This is needed because of the traffic light  (marked with a red diamond) on 188th Street, just south of Avon Road. A lot of cars heading south on 188th Street and then turn right onto the Grand Central Parkway Service Road. But a lot of drivers cut through the residential neighborhood to avoid the red light. For illustrative purposes I've marked this route on the map in purple. Of course, once they've cut through to avoid the light, they typically drive inappropriately fast through the residential streets -- gotta make sure they don;t cost themselves time with their cut-through, afterall. It's a dangerous situation. Making Avon Road one way (heading Northeast) between Chevy Chase Street and 188th Street would improve safety. An additional issue is that the street is too narrow to be two ways with parking on both sides. When we moved in, there were generally only a few cars parked on the street, and the narrowness wasn't an issue. Now, though, there's a lot more parking on the block, and it can be an issue when cars going in opposite directions pass each other.

The second thing relates to the traffic lights on 188th Street just south of the Parkway -- I've marked that stretch in red. There is one set of lights for the entire intersection where the Eastbound service road splits into 85th Road and McLaughlin Avenue. That wouldn't be such a big deal except for the traffic going South on 188th Street and turning left onto 85th Road (at the North end of the intersection) for the Parkway entrance ramp. During busy times, it can be very difficult to make that left turn because of the Northbound traffic on 188th Street. The intersection is so wide that when a Northbound car enters the intersection as the light turns red (or after it turns red, as often happens), the Southbound cars don't get a chance to safely make that left turn after the last Northbound car. I've seen times where the light goes through several cycles without anyone being able to make that left turn. The solution would be to add a part of the cycle where the Southbound traffic has a green left turn light while the Northbound traffic has a red light.

I'm sure I can think of other changes that I'd make if I ruled the world. But I guess I'm sounding like one of those old men who think they have the answer to everything.

advice, please: scheduling meetings for our gardening club

At our second meeting, one of the members (who happens to be my neighbor)
discusses her garden

I am seeking advice. Can my loyal reader offer any thoughts.

By way of background: this summer a  group of residents of the neighborhood formed the Jamaica Estates Association Gardening Club. It's under the auspices of the Jamaica Estates Association (JEA), which is a local community advocacy and support group*.

In the summer and fall we had three meetings. I blogged about them here and here. The third meeting was in a member's house. At that meeting we agreed to a target schedule for future meetings, generally the first Sunday of each month, with exceptions of December and February, which are cold weather months. At the time, we thought that we would have access to one of the local private schools, as one of the gardening club members is a member representing that school.

But it turns out that we can only use the school on school days, so Sundays are out. I am hesitant about suggesting that we move the meetings to a weeknight, because for working people (myself included), that comes with an extra layer of uncertainty.

As of now, we don't have a location for our next meeting, which is scheduled for January 7. The president of the JEA is a member of the gardening club (though I don't know if it's because he has an interest in gardening or because the club is part of the JEA). He has suggested that we might be able to use an empty room in one of the dorm buildings that St. John's University has in the area. He has reached out to them, but won;t hear back until January 2 at the earliest.

There has been talk about other possibilities, but there are serious drawbacks to each of them. We can continue meeting at members' houses, as we informally take turns volunteering our space. But we really need to have indoors as an option during the winter and in case of rain. The last meeting was indoors, in a member's living room. While we did fit, it was clear that if the group grows any more, we may have a problem fitting. I thought of offering my living room, which is slightly larger than where we met last time. But, still, if we grow too much, it's the same problem. Also, while I don't mind having my home be one of the regular locations, I don't want it to be the default where we just figure -- "oh, we'll just have it at Marc and Blair's place." QUite aside from that issue, even backyards may become a problem if we grow too much; who has unlimited folding chairs, tables and space for a big group?

One person suggested to me that we could meet at one of the local churches or synagogues. But scheduling would be a problem -- churches are generally being used on Sundays. And, of course, they would probably charge a fee. We don't want to have to pay a fee. It was also suggested that we may want to meet at a local restaurant -- that a restaurant may be OK with our meeting if we have food. But I just don't see a meeting working at a restaurant. Cunningham Park would be possible as an outdoor venue, except that we need an indoor space as a rain or cold location.

As of now, I am trying to schedule a meeting with the leadership of the gardening** club so we can discuss what to do. The meeting will be this week, but we haven't pinned down which day.

I am open to thoughts.

*The JEA is not an HOA.
**As an aside, we had quite the lively debate about whether to be the "garden" club or the "gardening" club.

with gratitude to our veterans

There is a certain enthusiasm in liberty, that makes human nature rise above itself, in acts of bravery and heroism.

-- Alexander Hamilton 

The soldier above all others prays for peace, for it is the soldier who must suffer and bear the deepest wounds and scars of war.

-- Douglas MacArthur

Blair and I spent this morning at the Jamaica Estates gatehouse at Midland Parkway and Hillside Avenue, attending a modest Veteran's Day service. While the gatehouse looks like nothing more than a decoration marking the entrance to the neighborhood, it's actually a memorial to the ten JE residents who lost their lives fighting for the US in World War II.*

The highlight of the ceremony was when students at the Immaculate Conception Catholic Academy read brief bios of the ten soldiers. Their bios were the culmination of an extra-curricular project to research the lost ten. For the record, their names were:

• John Adikes, Jr.
• Sigmund Gillmore
• Kenneth S. Kinnes
• John B. Lovely
• Paul W. Olson
• Norman H. Puff
• Peter P. Renzo
• Joseph A. Scheibel
• Donald J. Schneider

Words can't do justice to the sacrifices these kids and their families made.

But it's important to remember -- and this was Veteran's Day (as opposed to Memorial Day) afterall -- the Veterans among us. Many are wounded, and the wounds aren't always visible. But, wounded or not, these are people who willingly signed up to put their lives on the line to defend our freedom. Again, words can't do justice, but it's important to remember what they did for all of us.

*The gatehouse was originally a gatehouse, when JE was a gated community. But at some point it was turned into the memorial it is today. I don't know when that happened, but I can say that it was decades ago; I grew up in the neighborhood, and can tell you that it was a memorial when I was a kid. I remember asking my father why there was a memorial for JE dead from World War II but not one for World War I. He explained that there was no Jamaica Estates until after World War I. Left unanswered was why there was no memorial for the Korean or Viet Nam wars.

jamaica estates gardening club meeting 2: i am now the club secretary

Club business

A day after the annual LIDS barbecue, we had the second meeting of the embryonic Jamaica Estates Gardening Club.

The first meeting (which I wrote about here) was a month ago, at the home of Mohsin Patwary (who originally suggested having the club. The second meeting was at our house, simply because no one else volunteered theirs.

We proceeded through this meeting still a bit unsure of the direction we want to take the club. Ed Morrill was there, since he's on the Jamaica Estates Association board. He's in charge of Parks and Landscaping, so when the board got Mohsin's suggestion that a gardening club be formed, it went to Ed and the club is now under him (in some form I don't quite understand). But Ed made it clear that he's not there to run the club. He can provide some support and guidance, but we have to set our own agenda.

So we faced the really important business of setting a leadership structure. By acclimation we chose Mohsin as our Chairman and me as our Secretary. Three other members agreed to make up an executive committee. At this point, I don't fully know what my job is, but I did email minutes to the group (including those who were there and those who have expressed interest in the club). I'm also keeping the list of interested parties, and will be sending out meeting announcements. Mohsin and I need to get together and agree on a calendar of future meetings.

Marilyn shows off her garden

I forget how we got onto the topic, but Ed explained what exactly constitute "city trees" that the homeowner can't cut down. For those not familiar, in New York City some trees in yards are designated as "city trees" (that is, trees owned by the city). If you cut down a city tree you may be subject to huge fines as well as the cost of replacement. I'd always been under the impression that trees in the grass between the sidewalk and the curb are city trees, and those behind the sidewalk aren't. Of course, I am aware that some blocks don't have sidewalks, but I never worried about that wrinkle since it doesn't affect me. Ed explained the rule: trees that are within thirty feet of the center of the street are city trees. So, in practice, the city's domain extends a few feet past the sidewalk. I'll have to be careful.

Afterwards, Marilyn and Michael invited us all to tour their garden, which was quite the treat. I had been nervous about volunteering our place for the meeting, since our garden isn't really up to par. So their invitation saved the day.

a gardening club forms

In the last couple of years, as Blair and I have done more and more gardening. There hasn't been a master plan, and we keep going back and revisiting what we're doing. Grass here. No, that should be flowers. No, let's move those and add flagstones as a walkway. Let's move the flagstones. Put buggleweed there. No buggleweed...put in astilbe. No astilbe...put in hostas.

We've thought that it would be good if there were neighborhood gardening club, but didn't really expect it to happen. As far as we can tell, we're kind of oddballs for doing so much of our own yardwork. Most people seem to have all or most of their gardening done by professionals. But apparently we're not the only ones, because there is now a Jamaica Estates Association (JEA) Gardening Club. It's still embryonic -- there has only been one meeting thus far, and only seven people (including Blair and me) were there. But it's a start.

As I understand, one of the local residents -- a biology professor at Medgar Evers College -- has a keen interest in gardening, and had contacted one of the members of the JEA board. Some group emails resulted in the meeting. In the yard of the professor.

I'm not sure exactly what I had hoped for going in. Maybe to hear suggestions and tips about gardening. Actually, one positive thing that came out of the first meeting involves tomatoes. Blair and I have been trying to figure out the best way to grow tomatoes, but each year we run into logistical issues. We get a usable crop, but we always feel that we can do better...next year. Well, the guy who started the ball rolling is growing his tomatoes in those big (five gallon?) Home Depot buckets. That's what we're going to try next year. Each bucket with one plant and one cage.

Anyway, the meeting was mostly polite conversation about what we envision for the club, and the next step. Somehow I am now the keeper of the email list, and I'll be setting up the next meeting. A notice in the JEA Bulletin may also draw some more interest. Maybe we'll be able to get speakers. It was suggested that maybe some of the local nurseries would send speakers. Maybe members (assuming we grow to a larger size) will talk about their plans for their yards or their experiences. I'm always up for useful suggestions. Heck, maybe I'll be able to get someone from LIDS to talk about hybridizing daylilies.

For now, the gardening club is limited to JEA members -- which makes sense, since the club is being formed within the JEA. I also don't think that will cost us potential members, since people who don't want to join the JEA would be unlikely to want to join a JEA Gardening Club.