Editor’s note: The following is an “open letter” to First Selectwoman Jennifer Tooker, submitted for publication in the Westport Journal.
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Dear Ms. Tooker,
After visiting the Westport Community Gardens last week, I am writing to you with a simple message: Please save this garden and don’t be a destroyer of gardens.
I was horrified to learn that a plan to renovate or rebuild the Long Lots School didn’t include preserving this community treasure. If you know anything about gardens and soil, you must be aware that it can’t simply be relocated.
Barely a day went by this summer when we didn’t learn (or experience) another catastrophe related to our current climate crisis, whether it was a drought, flood, fire or unbearable heat wave. The worst part is that governments, industry and individuals aren’t taking sufficient action to make the necessary changes. Yes, we are responsible and part of the problem. But we can also be part of the solution. For example, I work closely with Save the Sound. Others work and plant at the Westport Community Gardens, a treasure that is under threat.
As far as I am aware, you do a good job representing our community’s best intentions and shining a positive light on Westport. This issue is not a matter of balancing various interest groups. It is a defining moment for you and our community. Do you or we want to be defined as a destroyer of gardens, nature, hope and community?
“I am the Lorax and I speak for the trees.” — Dr. Seuss. (I taught fifth grade for 30 years.)
Thank you for reading my letter and considering my thoughts.
Please save the Westport Community Gardens. There is a solution. Create it.
Sincerely,
Raphael Elkind
Westport
Love this. Thank you Mr. Elkind, for your understanding of what is at stake.
Thank you Raphael for this letter and show of support. As a resident of Westport since 1998, I have experienced pretty much everything this town has to offer. The Westport Community Gardens is truly a favorite thing. It is so beautiful and peaceful. We are all aware of how important it is to save our environment and this garden is doing an incredible job doing its part. Now our elected officials need to do theirs. Why in the world would we go in the opposite direction?? I agree with you, let’s create the solution. The gardens and preserve need to stay exactly right where they are.
Mr, Elkind, I totally agree with your comment. I would go a step further. This is an opportunity to show leadership. Ms. Tooker should take the public position that the Community Garden will remain. Let’s take the issue off the table. If this is done, then the planners have a “given” versus a variable. They will surely figure out a great plan with the gardens remaining. In the words of General Douglas MacArthur: “A true leader has the confidence to stand alone, the courage to make tough decisions, and the compassion to listen to the needs of others.” For sure in this case, Ms. Tooker you would not be standing alone.
“The Lorax” is a wonderful book that describes what might happen to our beautiful garden. I truly hope that Community Garden stays where it is and the ball fields find a home as well. I’m sure it will take some creativity, but I believe Westport has many, many creative thinkers who will bring feasible ideas to the table.
Thanks for speaking out in our defense Mr. Elkind! While we fully support finding a new location for the baseball field (of which there are many) we fully defend the one any only Westport Community Garden and Preserve which has been nurtured and improved during its 20 years of existence. It is not simply a pile of dirt that can be picked up and moved to some undisclosed
new location. What’s most disturbing is the lack of transparency, inclusion and fair consideration from the town entities including the Long Lots Building Committee, Parks and Rec and especially the First Selectwoman’s Office. The WCG appears to be less than even an afterthought in all the planning and options considered to date. The Gardens and Preserve are a town treasure that should be protected as open green space and not bulldozed for another baseball field. We urge the responsible town entities to take building on the Gardens off the table and finding an appropriate place to build a new field. Respectfully….Julie O’Grady – Member WCG.
What a coincidence. Today as I read the latest extremely informative and enlightening articles in both our local news outlets I was struck with a very similar feeling.
Does our first selectwoman truly understand the ramifications that are in play here? I thought of Fortune 500 CEO’s and federal politicians that hire the top notch PR firms to steer those leaders back on track when they make a misstep or a series of missteps. How would they advise our first selectwoman and other officials? What I don’t understand is the silence from our first selectwoman on matters that she should be leading.
The events that are transpiring are troubling to many. Can you not HEAR us? Even if she wants to say that she has no comment until some step of the process plays out. That request for comments also goes for other town officials that are not expressing their gut opinion on these concerns. I want to give people the benefit of the doubt, but wonder how long that can last for all the citizens of Westport.
I was also grateful to hear from the local baseball/softball community. Thank you for helping the community understand your operation.
Leaders! Where are you?
Do you hear us? We are neighbors, colleagues and friends. Please stop ghosting us!
See you at the next local fundraiser. Maybe you will come up to me and personally explain.
Well put, Mr. Elkind. Thank you for your support.
Thank you very much for your letter supporting the WCG, Mr. Elkind. I also believe Ms. Tooker will be remembered by the decision she makes on this issue. She may choose to be a hero and make sure the Garden stays intact, or be the one who orders destruction. If it’s the latter, what do we tell our children?
Let’s hope your words are taken to heart Mr, Elkind. Thank you.
I may be wrong, but my understanding is that school property is under the purview of the Board of Ed.. not the selectwomen’s office. Notwithstanding that in my 35 plus years in town I have marveled how blessed we are with our town leaders and Jen stands out amongst them. This is not meant to be anti garden. Au contraire , I am hopeful for a “Soloman” like decision that works for all the parties
Mr. Phillips
I thought this could help in understanding the Long Lots property.
The land upon which the elementary school sits is town of Westport land. Incidentally, also situated on that parcel-at-large is a large-size baseball field for teens, soccer fields for soccer league play, The Westport Community Gardens, and The Long Lots Preserve.
The BoE has authority over the school itself and operation of the school, and not the use of the land.
The Parks and Rec Department oversees those other listed resources on that same town land. Of course, Parks and Recs reports to the Office of the Selectwoman.
Also the Planning and Zoning Commission must have some oversight over the land uses, but I haven’t gotten that far into the weeds yet.
Thank you for your letter Mr. Elkind, and for adding your voice to the number of residents and gardeners who are pleading to save the one established community garden in Westport. It is a town treasure that can’t be moved, and it’s outrageous that there was no directive to protect it when the committee was tasked with redesigning the school.
We can indeed be part of the solution. Climate change has become evident in our everyday lives, and spaces like the gardens and preserve are crucial for supporting pollinators, fighting urban flooding which is becoming more and more frequent, and cleaning our air with strong native trees. With this redesign we have a chance to create a better, more sustainable school, and it’s counterintuitive to bulldoze the very space we need more of in town because it might be the easier option.
To the town leaders, PLEASE don’t bulldoze the native nature preserve and pollinator pathway community garden. We can come up with a more creative solution, one that retains the existing gardens and preserve, promotes sustainability, and teaches our kids that they too can be part of the solution. That it takes a community to prioritize initiatives that make our planet a better place, and that individuals can make a difference by their actions and advocacy.
Well said, Raphael. I am disappointed that our town’s leaders are choosing not to lead in a matter that is so important both at the macro environmental level and the micro community level. They are instead deferring to bureaucracy unchecked by leadership or vision.
It has become apparent that the Long Lots School Planning Committee has not partnered with community stakeholders – either the Gardens or Westport Baseball & Softball. https://06880danwoog.com/2023/09/21/westport-baseball-explains-community-gardens-stance/
The development of plans on behalf of stakeholders without their input is a failure of leadership, and a broken process. It is disappointing that none of our town leaders have the courage or conscience to recognize that.