April 7, 2025 • 15 mins
As spring arrives in NYC, the annual Greenest Block in Brooklyn Program is on! It’s Brooklyn’s friendliest competition, hosted by the Brooklyn Brooklyn Botanic Garden. The contest is free and open to all residential blocks, commercial blocks, and community gardens in Brooklyn. Our guest is Community Program Manger Jibreel Cooper. For more, visit bbg.org/community/greenestblock.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to get connected with Nina del Rio, a weekly
conversation about fitness, health and happenings in our community on
one oh six point seven light FM.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Welcome and thanks for listening to get connected in spring
when things are starting to bloom in the city, even
as some of the most unlikely spots, and right now
is the time to start greening, planting and maybe bring
your neighbors together to join you. Because we are speaking
specifically about Brooklyn because the annual Greenest Block in Brooklyn
program is on Brooklyn's Friendliest competition hosted by the Brooklyn
(00:34):
Botanant Garden. Our guest is community program manager at Jabriel Cooper.
Thank you for being on the show, Jabril, Thank you.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
Yeah, I'm really excited to be here and talk about
Greenest Block in Brooklyn. We're coming up on our twenty
ninth year of the contests being an institution within the borough,
so we're really excited for it. We're getting entries in
and yeah, things are moving along.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
So you can find out more about it at BBG
slash community slash Greenest Block. You could probably just google
the Greenest Block in Brooklyn program because it is huge.
It's been around since nineteen ninety What do you know
about its sort of history and its roots.
Speaker 3 (01:12):
It Originally, the contest started out as just a contest
between neighbors on the block of Van Veer Place between
Flabbish Avenue and East twenty third Street. So I think
that's like the origins of the contest. People were gardeners
on this block were inviting gardeners from BBG to come.
They would ask the Brooklyn Botanic Garden to like send
someone to come judge what they had done, and they
(01:34):
would have like little prizes amongst themselves, and it was
a really nice way of bringing like just that small,
like little micro community together. And then from there on,
you know, the contests evolved into what it has become today.
I think the first contest that we ran with the
garden administering it was in nineteen ninety four, and that was,
you know, first time where every block was eligible to
(01:57):
enter the contest, and it wasn't like neighbor competing again
it's neighbor. It was block competing against block. But really
it's not a contest that's like rooted in competition or
any like it will towards anyone. This is really like
a friendly competition. This is based around like just bringing
people together and sharing community, sharing gardening tips and things
(02:17):
of that.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
And I think what's interesting about it now is if
you go to the website you can certainly see more.
But it is not just about flowers. It's about eco
friendly stuff and water. Could you talk a little bit
about the different areas people can compete in?
Speaker 3 (02:29):
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, there's like so many different ways
and like avenues to kind of like get involved with
the contest. We do have a little category for like
best window boxes, and that's like more on like an
individual level. We don't give out like a block wide
award for that, but we also have things like best
street tree Beds where we go to each block and
we observe like, okay, who's taking really good care of
(02:51):
their street trees and like how are they doing it?
Are they looking good use of just like compost and
mulch and keeping dog waste, animal waste out of their beds,
or they keeping trash and litter out of their beds?
Are they using natives for example native plants Those are
really big and supporting our native pollinator population and also
because natives are native to the area, non invasive there's
(03:13):
something like really good that like belong here in Brooklyn.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
So there's something really interesting about this program too, is
that you're competing by block, so you have to know
your block or get to know your block.
Speaker 3 (03:25):
Yes, you either have to know your block or get
to know your block. I like the way that you
put that just now, so you can start with like
not knowing anyone on your block at all, but you
need to in order to enter the competition. It can't
just be like one person. You need to reach out
to like a neighbor, maybe like someone in your building,
maybe someone who lives a few doors down, and from
(03:45):
there that can grow into from two people that goes
to five people, which goes to ten and then like
the gardening is almost like infectious in a way. We
just had a panel out or making Brooklyn Bloom conference
where we like talked about this, where we had panelists
who had who've been competing in the greenest block and
brook and competition for the last several years and they've
been able to like build community amongst each other, like
(04:08):
and they live on different blocks, all within Crown Heights,
but like they live on different blocks. But uh, yeah,
it's really a competition, where like either you're coming into
it with a group that already like knows that they
really want to enter this and they really want to
make a push for like being in the contest and
like doing something on their block that really helps bring
this community together and like unites everyone under like one
(04:30):
common cause. Or you see it in a way of
like people meeting their neighbors and getting to know their community.
Sometimes people are really new to Brooklyn and like this
is a way for them to be like, hey, you know,
I want to be involved with what's going on. I
don't want to just like be siloed in like my
house and my thing, because that's you know, that's a
really integral part of just being human, I think, is
(04:52):
willing to connect with those around us.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
We're speaking with Jabrielle Cooper. He's community program manager for
the Greenest Block in Brooklyn program Enter Now. You can
enter now through June first. It's hosted by the Brooklyn
Botannic Garden. The website is BBG dot org slash community
slash Greenest Block. You're listening to get connected on one
oh six point seven light FM Amina del Rio. Since
(05:16):
you were talking about specifics, I want to mention last
year's residential block winner. They've actually won three years in
a row. They have a juggernaut now it is a
Lincoln Place between New York and Noster and Avenues. Doesn't
mean somebody else can't win this year, But what would
you say is sort of their special sauce.
Speaker 3 (05:33):
Oh, that's an excellent question. I will just add, like
the small caveat, they technically did not win three years
in a row. They won twenty twenty four, twenty twenty two,
and twenty nineteen.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
Okay, three wins. Yeah, sure, they've.
Speaker 3 (05:45):
Had three wins in total, but like, yeah, they're an
incredible block. I think what makes them stand out so
much is that they have like people who are really
dedicated to the arts on their block. The block captains
co block captains are like artists and designers and people
who really have an eye for like color palettes and
design and like creativity. And I think that's something that
(06:07):
has really stood out, but even more so to that point,
because I know, like not everyone is going to be
an artist who's like getting into that. They have a
very strong community and they are really really tight knit.
Everyone knows each other on that block. One of the
things that I've talked to them about them that they
talked about at our panel was when like new people
would move onto the block, they'd always take notice and
(06:29):
bring them like something like a welcoming gift. When people
were expecting children on the block, they went out of
their way to throw baby showers for like several different mothers.
So it's really just like that sense of community that
like they've really worked hard to build and to cultivate
very intentionally and very mindfully over these last several years.
And I think that's something that like everyone can take
(06:51):
a note from. Not everyone's going to be a painter,
not everyone's a designer, not everyone can do all those things.
But when you have people who go out of their
way to make you feel welcome and go out of
their way to make you feel like this block is
a place where you belong, this block is home. You
see that neighbors that may not have an interest in
gardening or may not feel particularly equipped to be gardeners
(07:11):
will still give to like the cause that they're kind
of championing with gardening and with greening their community and
their environments. A lot of people will donate and provide
support in that way.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
Well, I had heard some of the gardeners they help
mentor other gardeners. Do the participants do that every year
or and how does the Brooklyn Botannic Garden itself sort
of help with that?
Speaker 3 (07:33):
Yeah, with our mentorship, it's not been a formal thing
that's happened in the past, although I'm currently, like very
currently in the words of like trying to make it
more of a formal thing because so many blocks have
reached out about like mentorship and working with people who
have done this contest for a long time. But yes,
plants being linking places like at God Gardening Committee that
(07:54):
does the contest, they have like done incredible work with
mentoring other blocks in their area. One of the blocks
they mentor was Hampton Place between the part Place and
Sterling that was also a panelist that this most recent
making Brooklyn Bloom. Mentorship is like a really big part
of Greenish Block in Brooklyn, and just like supporting, I
(08:15):
think it so far has existed in informal capacity, but
we do offer things like classes and lead up to
Greeness Block in Brooklyn where myself and to my colleagues
Neda Brown and Carolyssen Heisler. Classes are literally titled how
to Green Your Block, and where we invite blocks from
past years to like come deep to everyone and we
say like, hey, like you know, don't just take our
(08:36):
word for it. Us being like the people who administer
the contest. Here's someone who has done this and who
has like been the contest for a long time, has
experience with it. We also offer these things called walkin talks,
which is where myself and like my team we go
out to blocks and like give them a one on
one like formal consultation on like what are the areas
(08:58):
of greening opportunities that they see that people see on
their blocks, and like what are some of the things
that they would like like to accomplish with this gardening season.
We really do believe that people are the experts on
their blocks themselves, rather than us coming in and like
telling everyone like what to do. It's really supposed to
be like you're building this with your neighbors.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
I think it's also interesting to note, at least for me,
when I look at it, that the winners, you know,
Brooklyn has got some really fancy spots and some spots
that neighborhoods that aren't so fancy, right, could you talk
a little bit about the neighborhoods who participate. I assume
it's spread out across all of Brooklyn and in lots
of different areas. You don't have to have like a
fortune to participate.
Speaker 3 (09:37):
Yeah, no, you don't have to have a fortune to participate.
It does spread out across like several areas of Brooklyn.
There are definitely neighborhoods that enter the contest a lot
more regularly than others. I think we see a big
concentration of contest entries, and like Bedstide, Bedside has been
like an anchor for the contest. Flatbush where the contest started.
Flatbush is also the home of East twenty fifth Street,
(09:58):
who are our twenty twenty three winners. You see a
lot in Crown Heights as well, also, like some like
East New York. I think it kind of speaks to
what like the backbone of the contest has been, like
what the origins of the contests. A lot of how
the contest started was kind of like bolstered by black
and brown homeowners in Brooklyn. So I think those are
those tend to be the spots where like you have
(10:20):
a ton of participation, you have a ton of like
just community that have either been in their areas for
like a very long time or are like coming together
and like really trying to like build something for the
future and provide, like make it an intergenerational experience and
provide for like the kids who are like coming up now.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
In our last few minutes, I just want to go
over a couple of the rules again. You can find
all the rules on the website, the Brooklyn Botanic Garden website.
But a couple of things. So these are not backyards
we're talking about. People have amazing backyards. You're talking about
window boxes and front stoops and the spaces on the
street where there's trees and that kind of thing. It's
residential and commercial. You can if you're a commercial street,
(10:58):
you can also enter their separate categories.
Speaker 3 (11:00):
Yes, everything that you can see that the judges can
see from the sidewalk is eligible for judging the contest.
I've had people invite me to their backyards before, and
they have lovely blackyards, awesome backyards, But like that's not
what we can't judge that. It's everything we can see
from the sidewalk. Because it is supposed to be like
a community thing, it's supposed to be. You know, people,
just a random person walking down the middle of the
(11:20):
street should be able to like walk by and see
the amazing gardening and see the amazing greening and environments,
and like what is capable here in Brooklyn. And yes,
we do have a residential and commercial category. Commercial blocks
can enter, so a lot of times they'll get like
bids business improvement districts coming and like entering the contest,
all like together in an effort to green and like
(11:43):
get some more just attention for like the stores and
like the different commercials that are in the area.
Speaker 2 (11:49):
And what if everybody on the block doesn't want to participate,
how are you judged or are you judged based on
the number of people who join in?
Speaker 3 (11:58):
Even on our Lincoln Place block who won first place
this past year. Not everyone's a gardener. Not everyone's into
like getting their hands dirty and like working with plants.
But you still have people who like support and like
who are okay with like the main gardeners, like putting
a plant in front of like their house or something.
There's different ways to participate, like even if not everyone
(12:20):
on your block is like interested in being a gardener
and like whilthough we do like judge on like participation.
We would like to see a majority of the residences participate.
We understand that like these things take time. It's not
all going to happen overnight. People take a very long
time to like you know, change their minds or like
update their perspectives on things. So if you're starting out
(12:41):
with just like one or two houses that are participating,
and like we really see you're going for it, like
we're gonna commend you on that because we understand it
is like a big undertaking. It's not small, like it's
a lot of work, but like it's worthwhile work. We
know that this is something that takes time, and we
want you to build it sustainably rather than everyone just
like go as hard as possible in an effort to
(13:01):
like win out and just like do everything with the contest,
and then you know, next year you're kind of like
burnt out from everything.
Speaker 2 (13:08):
When is the judging how much about how much are
the prizes? You don't have to be exact, but about
how much are the prizes?
Speaker 3 (13:14):
Judging starts in like early June and ends at like
late July roughly, and that's where the contest overall it
has three rounds. First round judging is justin June. Second
round judging is like in early July. Final round judging
is in late July. And how much of the prizes
first place gets like three hundred, honorable mention gets around
(13:37):
like one hundred dollars, and like it varies depending on
what prize you win, you win.
Speaker 2 (13:41):
For you, I don't know how long you've been doing this,
but how long have you been doing this? And maybe
what's the coolest thing that you've seen so far.
Speaker 3 (13:48):
I've been doing this since twenty twenty two, and the
coolest thing I've seen so far, I feel like I've
seen like a person who had like a Koi pond
just like in their front yard on their block. But
like that's not like gardening necessarily, it's like a cool
thing that I've noticed, Like ka. The coolest thing that
like i've that's personally like touched me is someone saying
like I would have never like made these connections with
(14:10):
my neighbors if not for this contest, if not for
seeing this email that you put out, And that is
something that is like really really.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
Cool to me, which at the end of the day
is really the reason for it. Yeah, do you know
anything about the other four boroughs. Do they have any
sort of programs like this that you know of?
Speaker 3 (14:25):
Uh? Yes, Manhattan is going to be starting this year
and I've like talked with them a little bit about it.
They'll be starting a Coolest Block in the Lower east
Side contest, all right, so it's going to be different
than what we do with Greenest Block, but like, yeah,
they are like starting their own form of the contests.
So I'm excited to see that.
Speaker 2 (14:46):
The annual Greenest Block in Brooklyn program is on. You
can enter now and you can find out about all
the details, all the rules, all the prizes, all the
stuff at BBG dot org slash community slash Greenest Block.
Our guest has been Community program Manager Jabriel Cooper. Thank
you for being on the show.
Speaker 3 (15:04):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (15:06):
This has been get connected with Nina del Rio on
one oh six point seven light Fm. The views and
opinions of our guests do not necessarily reflect the views
of the station. If you missed any part of our
show or want to share it, visit our website for
downloads and podcasts at one oh six to seven lightfm
dot com. Thanks for listening.
Welcome to get connected with Nina del Rio, a weekly
conversation about fitness, health and happenings in our community on
one oh six point seven light FM.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Welcome and thanks for listening to get connected in spring
when things are starting to bloom in the city, even
as some of the most unlikely spots, and right now
is the time to start greening, planting and maybe bring
your neighbors together to join you. Because we are speaking
specifically about Brooklyn because the annual Greenest Block in Brooklyn
program is on Brooklyn's Friendliest competition hosted by the Brooklyn
(00:34):
Botanant Garden. Our guest is community program manager at Jabriel Cooper.
Thank you for being on the show, Jabril, Thank you.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
Yeah, I'm really excited to be here and talk about
Greenest Block in Brooklyn. We're coming up on our twenty
ninth year of the contests being an institution within the borough,
so we're really excited for it. We're getting entries in
and yeah, things are moving along.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
So you can find out more about it at BBG
slash community slash Greenest Block. You could probably just google
the Greenest Block in Brooklyn program because it is huge.
It's been around since nineteen ninety What do you know
about its sort of history and its roots.
Speaker 3 (01:12):
It Originally, the contest started out as just a contest
between neighbors on the block of Van Veer Place between
Flabbish Avenue and East twenty third Street. So I think
that's like the origins of the contest. People were gardeners
on this block were inviting gardeners from BBG to come.
They would ask the Brooklyn Botanic Garden to like send
someone to come judge what they had done, and they
(01:34):
would have like little prizes amongst themselves, and it was
a really nice way of bringing like just that small,
like little micro community together. And then from there on,
you know, the contests evolved into what it has become today.
I think the first contest that we ran with the
garden administering it was in nineteen ninety four, and that was,
you know, first time where every block was eligible to
(01:57):
enter the contest, and it wasn't like neighbor competing again
it's neighbor. It was block competing against block. But really
it's not a contest that's like rooted in competition or
any like it will towards anyone. This is really like
a friendly competition. This is based around like just bringing
people together and sharing community, sharing gardening tips and things
(02:17):
of that.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
And I think what's interesting about it now is if
you go to the website you can certainly see more.
But it is not just about flowers. It's about eco
friendly stuff and water. Could you talk a little bit
about the different areas people can compete in?
Speaker 3 (02:29):
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, there's like so many different ways
and like avenues to kind of like get involved with
the contest. We do have a little category for like
best window boxes, and that's like more on like an
individual level. We don't give out like a block wide
award for that, but we also have things like best
street tree Beds where we go to each block and
we observe like, okay, who's taking really good care of
(02:51):
their street trees and like how are they doing it?
Are they looking good use of just like compost and
mulch and keeping dog waste, animal waste out of their beds,
or they keeping trash and litter out of their beds?
Are they using natives for example native plants Those are
really big and supporting our native pollinator population and also
because natives are native to the area, non invasive there's
(03:13):
something like really good that like belong here in Brooklyn.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
So there's something really interesting about this program too, is
that you're competing by block, so you have to know
your block or get to know your block.
Speaker 3 (03:25):
Yes, you either have to know your block or get
to know your block. I like the way that you
put that just now, so you can start with like
not knowing anyone on your block at all, but you
need to in order to enter the competition. It can't
just be like one person. You need to reach out
to like a neighbor, maybe like someone in your building,
maybe someone who lives a few doors down, and from
(03:45):
there that can grow into from two people that goes
to five people, which goes to ten and then like
the gardening is almost like infectious in a way. We
just had a panel out or making Brooklyn Bloom conference
where we like talked about this, where we had panelists
who had who've been competing in the greenest block and
brook and competition for the last several years and they've
been able to like build community amongst each other, like
(04:08):
and they live on different blocks, all within Crown Heights,
but like they live on different blocks. But uh, yeah,
it's really a competition, where like either you're coming into
it with a group that already like knows that they
really want to enter this and they really want to
make a push for like being in the contest and
like doing something on their block that really helps bring
this community together and like unites everyone under like one
(04:30):
common cause. Or you see it in a way of
like people meeting their neighbors and getting to know their community.
Sometimes people are really new to Brooklyn and like this
is a way for them to be like, hey, you know,
I want to be involved with what's going on. I
don't want to just like be siloed in like my
house and my thing, because that's you know, that's a
really integral part of just being human, I think, is
(04:52):
willing to connect with those around us.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
We're speaking with Jabrielle Cooper. He's community program manager for
the Greenest Block in Brooklyn program Enter Now. You can
enter now through June first. It's hosted by the Brooklyn
Botannic Garden. The website is BBG dot org slash community
slash Greenest Block. You're listening to get connected on one
oh six point seven light FM Amina del Rio. Since
(05:16):
you were talking about specifics, I want to mention last
year's residential block winner. They've actually won three years in
a row. They have a juggernaut now it is a
Lincoln Place between New York and Noster and Avenues. Doesn't
mean somebody else can't win this year, But what would
you say is sort of their special sauce.
Speaker 3 (05:33):
Oh, that's an excellent question. I will just add, like
the small caveat, they technically did not win three years
in a row. They won twenty twenty four, twenty twenty two,
and twenty nineteen.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
Okay, three wins. Yeah, sure, they've.
Speaker 3 (05:45):
Had three wins in total, but like, yeah, they're an
incredible block. I think what makes them stand out so
much is that they have like people who are really
dedicated to the arts on their block. The block captains
co block captains are like artists and designers and people
who really have an eye for like color palettes and
design and like creativity. And I think that's something that
(06:07):
has really stood out, but even more so to that point,
because I know, like not everyone is going to be
an artist who's like getting into that. They have a
very strong community and they are really really tight knit.
Everyone knows each other on that block. One of the
things that I've talked to them about them that they
talked about at our panel was when like new people
would move onto the block, they'd always take notice and
(06:29):
bring them like something like a welcoming gift. When people
were expecting children on the block, they went out of
their way to throw baby showers for like several different mothers.
So it's really just like that sense of community that
like they've really worked hard to build and to cultivate
very intentionally and very mindfully over these last several years.
And I think that's something that like everyone can take
(06:51):
a note from. Not everyone's going to be a painter,
not everyone's a designer, not everyone can do all those things.
But when you have people who go out of their
way to make you feel welcome and go out of
their way to make you feel like this block is
a place where you belong, this block is home. You
see that neighbors that may not have an interest in
gardening or may not feel particularly equipped to be gardeners
(07:11):
will still give to like the cause that they're kind
of championing with gardening and with greening their community and
their environments. A lot of people will donate and provide
support in that way.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
Well, I had heard some of the gardeners they help
mentor other gardeners. Do the participants do that every year
or and how does the Brooklyn Botannic Garden itself sort
of help with that?
Speaker 3 (07:33):
Yeah, with our mentorship, it's not been a formal thing
that's happened in the past, although I'm currently, like very
currently in the words of like trying to make it
more of a formal thing because so many blocks have
reached out about like mentorship and working with people who
have done this contest for a long time. But yes,
plants being linking places like at God Gardening Committee that
(07:54):
does the contest, they have like done incredible work with
mentoring other blocks in their area. One of the blocks
they mentor was Hampton Place between the part Place and
Sterling that was also a panelist that this most recent
making Brooklyn Bloom. Mentorship is like a really big part
of Greenish Block in Brooklyn, and just like supporting, I
(08:15):
think it so far has existed in informal capacity, but
we do offer things like classes and lead up to
Greeness Block in Brooklyn where myself and to my colleagues
Neda Brown and Carolyssen Heisler. Classes are literally titled how
to Green Your Block, and where we invite blocks from
past years to like come deep to everyone and we
say like, hey, like you know, don't just take our
(08:36):
word for it. Us being like the people who administer
the contest. Here's someone who has done this and who
has like been the contest for a long time, has
experience with it. We also offer these things called walkin talks,
which is where myself and like my team we go
out to blocks and like give them a one on
one like formal consultation on like what are the areas
(08:58):
of greening opportunities that they see that people see on
their blocks, and like what are some of the things
that they would like like to accomplish with this gardening season.
We really do believe that people are the experts on
their blocks themselves, rather than us coming in and like
telling everyone like what to do. It's really supposed to
be like you're building this with your neighbors.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
I think it's also interesting to note, at least for me,
when I look at it, that the winners, you know,
Brooklyn has got some really fancy spots and some spots
that neighborhoods that aren't so fancy, right, could you talk
a little bit about the neighborhoods who participate. I assume
it's spread out across all of Brooklyn and in lots
of different areas. You don't have to have like a
fortune to participate.
Speaker 3 (09:37):
Yeah, no, you don't have to have a fortune to participate.
It does spread out across like several areas of Brooklyn.
There are definitely neighborhoods that enter the contest a lot
more regularly than others. I think we see a big
concentration of contest entries, and like Bedstide, Bedside has been
like an anchor for the contest. Flatbush where the contest started.
Flatbush is also the home of East twenty fifth Street,
(09:58):
who are our twenty twenty three winners. You see a
lot in Crown Heights as well, also, like some like
East New York. I think it kind of speaks to
what like the backbone of the contest has been, like
what the origins of the contests. A lot of how
the contest started was kind of like bolstered by black
and brown homeowners in Brooklyn. So I think those are
those tend to be the spots where like you have
(10:20):
a ton of participation, you have a ton of like
just community that have either been in their areas for
like a very long time or are like coming together
and like really trying to like build something for the
future and provide, like make it an intergenerational experience and
provide for like the kids who are like coming up now.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
In our last few minutes, I just want to go
over a couple of the rules again. You can find
all the rules on the website, the Brooklyn Botanic Garden website.
But a couple of things. So these are not backyards
we're talking about. People have amazing backyards. You're talking about
window boxes and front stoops and the spaces on the
street where there's trees and that kind of thing. It's
residential and commercial. You can if you're a commercial street,
(10:58):
you can also enter their separate categories.
Speaker 3 (11:00):
Yes, everything that you can see that the judges can
see from the sidewalk is eligible for judging the contest.
I've had people invite me to their backyards before, and
they have lovely blackyards, awesome backyards, But like that's not
what we can't judge that. It's everything we can see
from the sidewalk. Because it is supposed to be like
a community thing, it's supposed to be. You know, people,
just a random person walking down the middle of the
(11:20):
street should be able to like walk by and see
the amazing gardening and see the amazing greening and environments,
and like what is capable here in Brooklyn. And yes,
we do have a residential and commercial category. Commercial blocks
can enter, so a lot of times they'll get like
bids business improvement districts coming and like entering the contest,
all like together in an effort to green and like
(11:43):
get some more just attention for like the stores and
like the different commercials that are in the area.
Speaker 2 (11:49):
And what if everybody on the block doesn't want to participate,
how are you judged or are you judged based on
the number of people who join in?
Speaker 3 (11:58):
Even on our Lincoln Place block who won first place
this past year. Not everyone's a gardener. Not everyone's into
like getting their hands dirty and like working with plants.
But you still have people who like support and like
who are okay with like the main gardeners, like putting
a plant in front of like their house or something.
There's different ways to participate, like even if not everyone
(12:20):
on your block is like interested in being a gardener
and like whilthough we do like judge on like participation.
We would like to see a majority of the residences participate.
We understand that like these things take time. It's not
all going to happen overnight. People take a very long
time to like you know, change their minds or like
update their perspectives on things. So if you're starting out
(12:41):
with just like one or two houses that are participating,
and like we really see you're going for it, like
we're gonna commend you on that because we understand it
is like a big undertaking. It's not small, like it's
a lot of work, but like it's worthwhile work. We
know that this is something that takes time, and we
want you to build it sustainably rather than everyone just
like go as hard as possible in an effort to
(13:01):
like win out and just like do everything with the contest,
and then you know, next year you're kind of like
burnt out from everything.
Speaker 2 (13:08):
When is the judging how much about how much are
the prizes? You don't have to be exact, but about
how much are the prizes?
Speaker 3 (13:14):
Judging starts in like early June and ends at like
late July roughly, and that's where the contest overall it
has three rounds. First round judging is justin June. Second
round judging is like in early July. Final round judging
is in late July. And how much of the prizes
first place gets like three hundred, honorable mention gets around
(13:37):
like one hundred dollars, and like it varies depending on
what prize you win, you win.
Speaker 2 (13:41):
For you, I don't know how long you've been doing this,
but how long have you been doing this? And maybe
what's the coolest thing that you've seen so far.
Speaker 3 (13:48):
I've been doing this since twenty twenty two, and the
coolest thing I've seen so far, I feel like I've
seen like a person who had like a Koi pond
just like in their front yard on their block. But
like that's not like gardening necessarily, it's like a cool
thing that I've noticed, Like ka. The coolest thing that
like i've that's personally like touched me is someone saying
like I would have never like made these connections with
(14:10):
my neighbors if not for this contest, if not for
seeing this email that you put out, And that is
something that is like really really.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
Cool to me, which at the end of the day
is really the reason for it. Yeah, do you know
anything about the other four boroughs. Do they have any
sort of programs like this that you know of?
Speaker 3 (14:25):
Uh? Yes, Manhattan is going to be starting this year
and I've like talked with them a little bit about it.
They'll be starting a Coolest Block in the Lower east
Side contest, all right, so it's going to be different
than what we do with Greenest Block, but like, yeah,
they are like starting their own form of the contests.
So I'm excited to see that.
Speaker 2 (14:46):
The annual Greenest Block in Brooklyn program is on. You
can enter now and you can find out about all
the details, all the rules, all the prizes, all the
stuff at BBG dot org slash community slash Greenest Block.
Our guest has been Community program Manager Jabriel Cooper. Thank
you for being on the show.
Speaker 3 (15:04):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (15:06):
This has been get connected with Nina del Rio on
one oh six point seven light Fm. The views and
opinions of our guests do not necessarily reflect the views
of the station. If you missed any part of our
show or want to share it, visit our website for
downloads and podcasts at one oh six to seven lightfm
dot com. Thanks for listening.
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