Bette Midler’s New York Restoration Project won’t be able to clean up the Gowanus Canal, so the singing legend settled for the next best thing: bringing a community garden to the surrounding neighborhood.
The new garden, located on Carroll Street between Third and Fourth Avenues, is named in honor of Gil Hodges, who played for the Brooklyn Dodgers and later managed the New York Mets to a World Series title. That, of course, meant flowery puns about baseball were the order of the day at a dedication ceremony last week.
“Gil Hodges planted seeds of inspiration for many young men,” State Senator Eric Adams said. “I feel sorry for the Brooklyn Dodgers. They should have stayed.”
Even Ms. Midler, who cut the ribbon to officially open the garden, commented on the possibility: “Jay Z needs to bring the Dodgers back. If he can’t do it, no one can.”
In 1999, when then-Mayor Rudy Giuliani sold off plots of city green space that had been mostly occupied by squatters, the NYRP snapped up some 55 plots in the most undesirable neighborhoods. Since then, they’ve restored them piecemeal, taking on corporate sponsors to help with the project.
For Gil Hodges Community Garden, the corporate sponsor was Jo Malone London, the U.K.-based fragrance and beauty brand. The company already sponsors a public park in London’s Battersea neighborhood and is working on a second in Edinburgh, so they liked the idea of continuing the English garden theme. Many of the garden’s plants—basil, mint, sage, peonies—are main notes in some of Jo Malone’s most popular fragrances. Still, corporate branding was kept to a minimum, with one small plaque acknowledging the company’s involvement.
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