Farm-in-the-Sky, a youth-run rooftop garden that set up shop at the Mayday building in Bushwick last year, is struggling to manage an unexpected move after being kicked out for causing damage to the roof, according to the program’s executive director Sean-Michael Fleming, who also suspects the organization is being ousted because of discrimination against the teenagers the program is designed to help.
Located at 214 Starr Street, Mayday is a newly built community space that houses a bar, cafe, two events spaces and a co-working space. Farm-in-the-Sky had not only built out their garden on the roof last summer but were planning on setting up offices in the building as well when in March they were informed by landlord Ioan (John) Sita that they had to leave. Fleming said they had every intention of leaving but that they needed time to plan out the logistics. “It takes a lot to move,” Fleming explained. “We had to organize volunteers, and there’s bags of soil and sand that you have to move basically one at a time.”
Then last week, according to Fleming, Sita moved some of Farm-in-the-Sky’s property himself, dropping it off at Brooklyn Campus and Greenhouse, where Farm-in-the-Sky’s umbrella organization EcoStation has a garden the students use as a living classroom.
Farm-in-the-Sky has been in Brooklyn seven years but just moved into the Mayday building after receiving a grant from the United Way of NYC in 2014; the program trains students in agriculture and pays them to maintain the rooftop garden. “We signed a contract with him and the United Way last year, which he now says is worthless, so they are at the very least reneging on the spirit of the agreement,” Fleming said. “We had lawyers look it over and they said, ‘Yeah, this isn’t a very good contract at all.’ This would have been our first full season there, and we were unceremoniously asked to leave, without any recourse to negotiate or make good on issues that they had.”
Fleming said he was aware that last summer there was some damage done the rooftop, which was not designed to support a garden. The roof would have to undergo some improvements, he said, but Farm-in-the-Sky was willing to take responsibility for covering the costs. “They also have some problems with the youth we’re working with. I think they’re just not used to seeing teenagers around,” said Fleming. “Even though we made offers to have increased senior workers there at all times and did fundraising to repair the roof, they were not open to it at all. It’s a big disappointment, especially for a building that was aiming to be a community-focused organization.”
He recalled one incident where Sita showed him a video he had captured on his cell phone of two teenage boys kissing while working at Farm-in-the-Sky. “He said we could get in trouble for that, and I said, ‘No, they’re dating, we can’t get in trouble for that.’ He took umbrage to that and said it was unacceptable.”
Sita couldn’t be reached for comment.
For now, the program is regrouping and searching for a new home. “We’re taking the planters and everything we built last year and temporarily moving it to Bushwick Campus Farm and looking for a new and more accommodating rooftop space in the area,” Fleming said, adding that he would love to see Farm-in-the-Sky stay in Bushwick. “I’m sure there’s some place out there,” he said. “We have a lot of community support.”
