The Garden of Hope is wonderful. Social change working through outdoor design of reclaimed space. The before and after shots show the power of artistic vision and philanthropy, and how dramatically it can reshape a neighborhood. Ellie Cullman is a gifted designer. Love her statement: "It's not a landscape -- we designed this as an outdoor room."

My personal story -- which is not as profound as the NYC example of social change on a neighborhood, but does reveal improvement: After we sold our car in 2007, we transformed our 34ft. wide interlocking driveway into a 24ft. wide lush garden and 10ft. green driveway. So many neighbors have commented on the positive lift it gives to our neighborhood. It is so good for the environment -- and our eyes.

Thanks for the inspiration. Next up: Our carport is going to be an outdoor dining room.

Bette Midler and her New York Restoration Project have done lots of good work establishing spaces of greenery in many overlooked neighborhoods in NYC.  What a mitzvah!

The Garden of Hope space, according to the photos in the NYRP website, is elegant and cool.  Not very colorful, yet, though; and one might wonder why so much of it, relatively, was covered with flagstones -- very nice ones, to be sure.  Perhaps it is still a work in progress, and pots of flowers will be coming, once the funds are there.

Also, there are no chairs in place.  For what Midler wants the garden to be used for, chairs will have to come from somewhere -- and it is not clear that people in the community can be counted on to bring their own.

...are definitely present on that patio, caniscadia -- I saw them at the opening. I'm guessing NYRP features the picture you refer to emphasize the geometrics of the design (Midler's still recruiting designers for the gardens!).

There really is a lot of lawn at the garden, too -- that photo foreshortens the space considerably.

As to how much patio there is, I think that reflects the needs of the neighborhood for a nice outdoor sitting space, for otherwise homebound seniors for instance, in a neighborhood without a ton of such spaces or services. People told me they expected it to be a great space for seniors and children to spend time together, too.

 In my experience here in NYC, people have really divergent ideas of what a "nice" or "useful" park is for.  I am very fortunate to live by Prospect Park in Brooklyn, and during summer weekends the outer edge of the park is full of people having day-long barbeques.  This is not my idea of what people ought to be doing in this big chunk 'o green -- but hey, I'm not the only type of person living here, and the park has to serve all of us. (I never ever saw a cookout in a park during my five years in Portland, Oregon -- maybe they happened somewhere, but it also reflects a really different ethos about the uses parkland -- as well as the fact that there are a lot more backyards in PDX.)

While I did not dig deeply into the ongoing financial arrangements for maintaining this garden, I can say from my general knowledge of NYRP's activities that it remains involved with its gardens and will support the block association in its management of these spaces -- NYRP owns the land in trust for the neighborhood, after all.

At the party, Ellie Cullman told me that she expected to remain involved as well; she said clients tend to become "clients for life" and she didn't make a distinction between the residents of this block of Hancock Ave. and her firm's clients.  Also, she seems to have a very strong emotional attachment to the space, since it is in her "home town" of Brooklyn, and dedicated to the memory of her late (and much-missed) business partner, Hedi Kravis.

I love your story, Frankie -- and envy you the future outdoor dining room!  (Maybe I should go have a cookout in the park once in a while. ;)