NEW YORK — New York City last week issued a vacate order to a community garden that had barred Zionists, in an incident highlighting how tensions surrounding the war in Gaza have played out on the city’s streets.
The Sunset Community Garden in Ridgewood, Queens, had required membership applicants to sign a “statement of values” that included opposition to Zionism, antisemitism, and “nationalist and/or racist beliefs.”
The New York City Parks Department told the garden in April that the statement violated city guidelines by requiring members to pass political and ideological “litmus tests.”
The garden had also gotten into a dispute with the city over the installation of a memorial for Cecilia Gentili, an activist for the rights of transgender people and sex workers. The city said the garden did not have a permit for the installation.
Last year, local Jewish residents complained about the garden’s anti-Israel activism. A section of the garden had been labeled “poppies for Palestine.”
The parks department said in May that the garden had refused solutions offered by the city to stay in operation.
The vacate order followed months of legal wrangling over the garden’s activism.
In May, the city’s Department of Parks and Recreation issued a notice terminating the garden’s license agreement for breach of contract, giving the garden’s owners 30 days to vacate. The garden’s leadership took the matter to court, claiming discrimination, and won a temporary restraining order against the city in June.
The parks department told the garden last week that the restraining order had been lifted, meaning the vacate order was once again in effect. The garden’s leadership must vacate by September 3, the vacate order said, according to a copy obtained by The Times of Israel.
“There is no place for hate in New York City,” Mayor Eric Adams said in a statement to The Times of Israel. “It is reprehensible that the current operators at Sunset Community Garden barred some of their fellow New Yorkers from a city-owned public space because of their beliefs —and specifically tried to bar those who believe in a State of Israel, which the overwhelming majority of Jews do.”
The city will find new leadership for the garden, which will continue to operate under different management, Adams’s office said.
The vacate order was first reported by The New York Post.
The garden has filed a lawsuit against the city in a federal court in New York, claiming a “targeted, discriminatory, and retaliatory campaign” against protected free speech. The lawsuit is making its way through the courts.
Adams has long-time ties to New York City Jewish communities, is firmly pro-Israel, and is courting Jewish voters in his reelection campaign. The leading candidate in the campaign is Democratic Party nominee Zohran Mamdani, a harsh critic of Israel.
There are more than 550 community gardens open to the public around the city, according to the parks department.