On the last day of March, the owners of the gardens in Vysočany gathered together for the last time to say goodbye to their beloved location and also transplant the last remnants of plants and trees that they did not want to be destroyed. Just a few days later, demolition excavators were supposed to enter the gardens and start liquidating the local cottages and planing the gardens.
“The church had us sign an addendum to the contracts in the winter, where the duration of the contract has changed from definite to indefinite, but a notice period of 3 months was set, which are inadmissible conditions for gardening. It turns out they only gave us these contracts so they could take advantage of having a three month notice period. We got fired almost immediately after signing the new contracts,” says Eva Vodňanská, who has rented a piece of land in her gardens for several years and doesn’t even have time to transplant all the fruiting plants.
Mrs. Vodňanská, as well as other gardeners, was therefore very surprised when the chairman of the association Rokytka Žije, which has been trying to save the gardens for a long time, an e-mail came from the developer JRD that he was postponing the planned work. “Developer JRD, which has so far refused any negotiations in the interest of preserving the valuable green area near the central park of Zahrádky, has started negotiations on an alternative solution,” informed Lukáš Příbramský, chairman of the Rokytka žieve association.
Even the developer JRD confirmed that he is willing to act. “We are willing to listen and want to come to an agreement. Our openness is also evidenced by the fact that during a total of four neighborhood meetings that we have organized in the locality over the past two years, we have collected suggestions from local residents and projected some of them into both the apartment building project and the project to improve and make green spaces more accessible on plot number 1805/3,” said Ivana Buriánková on behalf of the developer JRD.
The first meeting between Prague and the developer JRD should take place next week. By then, Prague should select several suitable plots of land for exchange. All involved understand that income from the sale of land is important to Dominicans and cannot be deprived of itt. That is why the land exchange should help and the gardens could be preserved. If it succeeds, the local associations would like to build a community garden here.
“The original gardeners are getting old and new they no longer prefer individual fenced gardens, but a community garden, where they will have their own beds, but will use the space together. This is an ideal use for me, as an expert in territorial development, given the valuable greenery, plants and animals that are in the place – including protected species, as well as the future of the neighborhood and neighborly relations,” concludes Anna Vinklárková from Arnika, who is involved in the rescue participates together with the association Rokytka lives.
The gardening colony in Vysočany is threatened with extinction. The Dominican Church wants to sell the land to a developer
Author: Park Zahrádky