Jackson Heights Life

 Hooray for green open spaces!! JH has had them forever but the overly restricted use baffled many. Now precedent can
be used with more co-op boards to loosen the reins. Lawns are high maintenance, luxury items and should be shared by
all if they are that buildings asset. Play dates at your house/lawn coming right up.
 On another note, our co-op has been in a constant project phase hopping from one major improvement to the next. We
would like a break from this omnipresent urge to change it all up.

I remember reading the house rules on the Berkley's website a couple of years ago, after I looked at an apartment there. There were specific restrictions about behavior in the garden area, including some about walking on the grass. Overall their big list of rules was so unfriendly and intimidating, it made me wonder if that was the sort of place I wanted to move to. 

This must have been a number of years ago. On a recent Jackson Heights Beautification Group garden tour (one is coming up
again in early June) the Berkeley was super friendly. Wide open lawn with picnic tables and I think they were the group that had
cookies too. Friend from another JH co-op and me both agreed that this was one to choose based on their inclusivity.

I think some people who live in the Berkeley are still having problems there because a friend of mine went out of his way to post that article on social media, and his family lives there.  That NYT piece made me feel happier about moving.  Having experienced the garden police myself it is disturbing and unnerving to live with a beautiful garden and not be allowed to walk in it with your child.  I wish I was exaggerating, but I assure you, I am not. 

As a resident of the Berkley Gardens for well over 20 years I can tell you that residents along with their guests are allowed to walk on the grass! Pets are welcomed as well on the south end of our lawn, and lastly the Berkley does hand out cookies to all during the Garden Tour.

BBQs allowed in Hawthorne Ct in a house's individual "bay" only. Each house, however, can outlaw them for their own house, because of cooking smells that might disturb other residents, etc. Each house is its own coop. BBQs not allowed in the common areas (north end, south end, center circle) except for court-wide occasions. Reason is that it is not fair for individuals to take over common areas for their own exclusive use for an evening, or whatever. Common areas are common areas, and should be open to all Hawthorne Court residents at all times, thus they are not to be used for private parties. Each house has its own bay for that purpose. People who are outraged at any limits on garden use are not thinking clearly. These gardens have to be maintained and cared for at considerable expense to the coops. They are not public parks. The noise made by groups of children or by private parties is genuinely disturbing to other residents at times, who have the right to have their needs considered, too. There have to be limits on garden use. Ball playing, for instance, is a legal risk. It once happened that a resident was hit by a ball thrown by a child in the garden, and his nose was broken. He was holding his infant at the time and the infant could have been hurt. I hope everyone can understand why that would be a problem. There could be a lawsuit. There could be a tragic injury. That's why there is no ball playing allowed, ever, no matter what kind of ball is involved. It's the same reason there are traffic laws. I find it astounding that some people seem to think that they should have total freedom to do whatever they want in a common, jointly owned, shared garden.

I live in a private home but have been following this conversation.  When people buy into such coops don't they read the house rules?  These private spaces are gardens, not playgrounds.  I imagine if the demographic changes within a coop  then house rules can be amended.  Personally,  I would not want to spend all that money and have to be disturbed by kids screaming outside my widow. That's what I'd be looking to get away from.  That plus all the noise pollution from the street. To me, a garden is a refuge. A place of peace and reflection.  Bar-b-ques??   I don't think so.  I have friends in the Towers and they have a separate area for kids away from all the buildings.  That seems to be a better solution rather than destroying a garden.