470 Ocean Avenue Tenants Celebrate A Hard-Won Garden

The 470 Ocean Avenue Tenants Association will be officially presenting their new garden this Saturday, June 22, with a ribbon cutting ceremony in their front courtyard between St. Pauls Court and Caton Pl. The ceremony will run from 10-11am, and will celebrate the completion of the OATA’s first major project since their founding in February 2012.

470 Ocean Avenue is managed by the notorious Pinnacle Group. The OATA was formed when tenants’ initial request for small changes to landscaping around the building were rebuffed, and over 15 months of what the organization calls a “full-out-effort campaign” including weekly phone calls, petitions, and the assistance of Brooklyn Housing and Family Services’ Larry Jayson, their request was finally granted.

The organization says:

OATA President, Anjanette Levert, undertook the garden as a community project while enrolled in the course “Self-Expression in Leadership” at Landmark Worldwide. New to the building and a public and green space advocate, Ms. Levert saw the need to upgrade the conversations of resignation, and frustration experienced by her neighbors with the building management and other neighbors.

“This was a project born out of one person’s vision and then expanded on and inspired by a community,” said Ms. Levert. “Through this project lives have been positively altered. People who would have never met, did. Lingering repairs got made. Things that historically had never moved, moved.”

All are invited to the celebration, which will include a light breakfast, plus special recognition for the building’s superintendent and porter.

This is a huge win for Pinnacle tenants, and will hopefully prove inspiring to underserved tenants elsewhere. Bravo to the residents of 470 Ocean and everyone else who made the garden a reality.