To Whom It May Concern, An Open Letter To Person Who Tore Up Our Garden - What Motivated You To Steal Planting From Roosevelt Island Tree Pit Ask Roosevelt Island Volunteer Gardener

M. A. Witt is one of the volunteers contributing a great deal of time, effort and resources to make Roosevelt Island bloom by tending to the flowers and trees in the Southtown Riverwalk area. These efforts are enjoyed and appreciated by most residents but unfortunately there are exceptions. Ms Witt reports:

An Open Letter to the Person Who Tore Up Our Garden

On Monday September 26, I arrived back to the Island to find that someone had come in the middle of the night, prepared with a large bag and a garden spade, to steal one of the mature growth very large ferns from our building tree pits in front of 455 Main Street. This individual was caught on film. 

There is no doubt from the footage, and the late hour, that she knew she was stealing. My question is what motivates someone to come in the dark and steal from/vandalize a garden that is planted for the enjoyment of an entire community. What kind of un-reflected selfishness makes someone think that is okay?

A little background. When I am out working in the garden, the overwhelming majority of people who stop are kind and always express their appreciation for volunteers who give their time to make the Island beautiful. They share their thoughts and experience and chat for a brief moment: gardening is an activity that brings people together, that forges community. One gentleman, however, stopped to tell me that "big corporations plant the tree pits." I need to make clear that big corporations have nothing to do with the gardening on this island, at least not at our building. A small group of very hardy volunteers goes out in all kinds of weather weekly to tend these beds. They do it because they love gardening, to bird watch or from a sense of service to the community. What they are not is big corporations. They are not deep pockets. In short, this was not a victimless theft from a faceless entity. Individual people were harmed when this garden was vandalized. People I know and care about.

More importantly, these volunteers garden to conserve resources and to preserve the environment -- both social and ecological. This island could not afford the plantings we enjoy without the labor of volunteers. RIOC does not plant or tend flowers in the Commons by the Subway. The few that are planted there are courtesy of the tireless generosity of one woman.

Ironically, the fern that was taken is seasonal. It will die indoors in someone's apartment. The lasting impact of this will be limited to the sadness it caused to the volunteers who care for these plants, and in diminished expectations.

The area below circled in black

is where the fern was removed.