NYC’s Joe Holzka Community Garden Creates A Cooler, Greener Future

Joe Holzka Community Garden on Staten Island is a valuable community green space that provides the surrounding neighborhood with cooler, cleaner air, and contribute significantly to offsetting the heat island effect that afflicts urban areas across the city.

On September 17, the community garden received a boost when more than two dozen landscape contracting professionals and community volunteers came together as part of Project EverGreen’s GreenCare for Communities initiative to revitalize this beloved community space.

The specifics of renovation, which is valued at $50,000, included:

• Installing new paver walkway and patio.
• Installing gravel base and diamond grid.
• Laser measurements, staking, grading, leveling using skid-steer loaders and buckets.
• Excavating a new path connecting the two garden spaces and weaving through the existing garden to draw people into the community garden.
• Planting about 200 native perennials.
• Clearing brush from the fences.

Named for life-long Staten Island resident Joe Holzka, a prominent figure in social and political spheres, over 17,000 square feet garden is a green oasis and gathering place for community members. Holzka is remembered for his work on the Staten Island Greenbelt and other public spaces such as Snug Harbor helping create a living legacy of his commitment to municipal improvement.

“Project EverGreen has partnered with NYC Parks GreenThumb for 10 years to renovate community gardens across the city,” said Cindy Code, executive director of Project EverGreen. “It’s vital that residents have access to healthy parks and gardens to offset the negative effects of urban heat islands. Well-maintained trees, plants and grass sequesters more carbon leading to the production of more clean air that everyone benefits from.”

The lead donor for the project was ConEdison with support from GreenThumb, the community gardening program of the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation.

Green industry volunteers and donors included Artisan Gardens, Angels Contractors, BCLS Landscape Services, Greengage Urbanscape, Landscape SEO, Mike Darling Construction, Plant Detectives, Twin Resources and Urture.

This is the ninth GreenCare for Communities project in New York City since 2014. Previous projects have included Liberty Island (2014), Neighbors of Vega Baja (2017), Clinton Community Garden (2018-19), Jackie Robinson Community Garden (2020), Carolina Community Garden (2020), Wishing Well Community Garden (2021), Bradhurst Community Garden (2022) and Poppa and Momma Jones Historical Garden (2023).

About the GreenCare for Communities Initiative

Parks, lawns, landscapes and maintained green spaces help to mitigate temperature increases in communities and significantly reduce energy use and cooling costs. Project EverGreen’s GreenCare for Communities initiative has made a significant impact. Since 2008, Project EverGreen and its partners have renovated community parks and public green spaces totaling more than 200 million square feet of living green space.

Through its nationwide base of professional volunteers, Project EverGreen has connected people, plants and their communities to maximize the health of grass, plants and trees, which in turn sequesters carbon and cleans the air. The initiative supports healthy green spaces in neighborhoods and cities, enabling maintained green spaces to function as the lungs of the city and offsetting the negative effects of a warming environment.