Migrants take over, trash beloved NYC community garden — transforming greenspace into heap of beds and human feces
By Katherine Donlevy, Marie Pohl and Georgett Roberts
Published Dec. 13, 2024, 2:50 p.m. ET
Migrants have planted themselves in a Long Island City community garden — transforming a once vibrant greenspace into a littered heap of beds, suitcases and human feces.
The situation at Smiling Hogshead Ranch on Skillman Avenue has gotten so bad as more and more migrants live on the site, that the organization came close to having the plot taken away by the MTA, which owns the property.
But the operators of the Queens ranch say there is little they can do as the immigrants are flowing in from an overcrowded nearby shelter and the property has no fence, gate or security. In fact, they say that it’s the MTA that should do more, as a major public institution.
“We are a small, volunteer-based organization. We cannot provide 24/7 security. The MTA has a police force. We don’t have those kinds of financial means or the volunteers in a workforce who can do something like that,” board member Raido Oja told The Post.
https://nypost.com/2024/12/13/us-news/migrants-take-over-smiling-hogshead-ranch-in-long-island-city/
