By Connor Adams Sheets
A section of land in Flushing’s Kissena Corridor Park used in recent years as a makeshift parking lot for New York Hospital Queens is reverting to parkland and civic and conservation groups in the area are working to bring a meditation garden to the space.
The meditation garden, which would use half an acre in the 3- to 4-acre space, was given the go-ahead last week by Community Board 7’s Parks Committee, which voted unanimously to support its creation.
Consisting of a paved space with benches and surrounded by evergreen hedges and cedars, the wheelchair-accessible public garden would be a quiet, solitary place for hospital patients and nearby residents to reflect, meditate or just spend some time alone. The space is located near the intersection of Main Street and 56th Avenue.
“A lot of people who are undergoing treatments at the hospital, especially for cancer and so forth, it’s very disturbing for them, so this will be a place where people can get some fresh air and solitude,” said Roland Wade, a horticulturist who came up with the idea for the garden and president of the Kissena Corridor Park Conservancy, the group which is spearheading the effort to create the park. “It’s for anyone who enjoys a natural, peaceful setting.”
The hospital obtained permission from the city Parks Department to use the area as a parking lot for three years and according to an agreement between the two parties will now restore the soil there and put in some plants.
Now that the community board committee has approved the project, the garden’s key boosters — the conservancy, the Queensboro Hill Civic Association and the Holly Civic Association — are looking for ways to raise the $300,000 or $400,000 needed to fund its construction.
The people involved in advocating for the garden will be soliciting money from private citizens, companies, the hospital and elected officials in coming months.
“The question is can we raise the money?” asked Don Capalbi, president of the Queensboro Hill civic. “The community is unanimously in support of the garden.”
To make a donation to support the construction of the garden, send checks to state Assemblywoman Grace Meng’s (D-Flushing) office at 136-20 38th Ave., Suite 10A. Make checks out to the Kissena Corridor Park Conservancy and write “meditation garden in Kissena Corridor Park” in the memo line.
Reach reporter Connor Adams Sheets by e-mail at csheets@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4538.
