Last week was our annual garden party. This year, we had two special guests who came with a very special gift: We welcomed Councilwoman Margaret Chin and her Chief of Staff Vincent Fang. Councilwoman Chin announced that her office had budgeted $250,000 for the Parks Department to replace the old fence around our garden with a new one. A new fence!! At this moment, our decade-long dream came true.
Margaret Chin announces that we will get a new fence. Sara and Jeffrey are listening (Photo: Tequila Minsky)
Gardeners applauding
Currently, our garden is surrounded by a chainlink fence, similar to the ones that enclose construction sites or empty lots. We had been dreaming of a nice iron rod fence, like those around many other parks and gardens. But alas, such a pretty fence was always way beyond our small budget.
Our fence and the nice fence at the Sheridan Square Garden
Therefore, Jeffrey applied this year for a grant from the discretionary fund of Margaret Chin’s district to cover the cost for a new fence. This fund is distributed to projects that improve a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan. To our great delight, Jeffrey’s application was successful. We are very grateful for the fantastic work Jeff put into convincing our elected officials that we are worthy of this investment!
Vincent and Jeffrey
It will likely take several months until the work can begin. We are hoping that we will have our new fence next spring. But this exciting news was celebrated right away.
Happy gardeners celebrate the wonderful news (Photo: Tequila Minsky)
Bluegrass by Toni and Jeff (Photo: Tequila Minsky)
We thank Councilwoman Margaret Chin and the first District of the New York City Council very much for this generous gift.
We had a modest gift for Councilwoman Chin, too: a jar of our “Queen Fiorella” honey. (Foto: Tequila Minsky)
Happy Chappy