Adam Purple, the legendary Lower East Side artist best known for creating The Garden of Eden, a world-famous "Earthwork," has been living without gas, electricity or running water for 17 years. Now he is being threatened with eviction from his home of 26 years.
On February 24, 1972, Adam moved to 184 Forsyth Street as a tenant, and later became the building superintendent for landlord Sol Janklowitz of Bermike Realty in Brooklyn. When Janklowitz abandoned the building in November of 1976, Adam and the building's residents took over and kept the furnace running. In February 1981, in an effort to get paid for utilities, Con Edison asked the city who owned the building. According to the Inner City Light newspaper, Con Ed was told the "Purple People" owned it, even though the City of New York had taken the building in an "In-Rem" foreclosure. As the landlord, the city is responsible for providing electricity for hall lights and the furnace, but it has refused. Con Ed then cut off all utilities to184 Forsyth. Soon, the water pipes froze and burst, and the water had to be cut off. Adam says that the tenants tried to get help from various city agencies, but "we got the runaround." The tenants then moved out one by one, until finally, only Adam was left. In July 1980, the city began billing Adam $2,400 per month for rent as "John Peter Zenger II". The bills stopped in August of 1992 when a reporter asked the city why they were charging rent while providing no services at 184 Forsyth. By then, the total rent charge had reached $352,706.
At the time Adam moved to 184 Forsyth, the city was facing bankruptcy. With the economy in a deep recession, insurance companies and banks "redlined" certain neighborhoods, making it impossible for small landlords to keep their buildings. Some landlords who were insured torched their buildings to cash out, while others simply walked away. At the same time, crime increased as heroin flooded the Lower East Side, further fueling the cycle of arson, abandonment, and "white flight" (the middle class moving from the city to suburbs). Throughout the 1970s, the City of New York amassed a huge portfolio of real estate. Instead of repairing their housing stock, buildings that were unsafe or burned out were either sealed or simply demolished.
Around 1974, Adam, watching kids at play in a rubble-strewn pit where two buildings had stood on Eldridge Street, decided that a garden would better serve his community. By the time he and his neighbors finished creating a garden, the city had taken down more adjacent buildings, and the garden expanded into those lots as well. At its peak, The Garden of Eden, with a large double yin-yang center, encompassed five lots, had 45 fruit and nut trees, attracted tourists from all over the world and was featured in National Geographic magazine (Sept. 1984).
By 1985, Adam says, the city considered The Garden of Eden a threat: "They couldn't just say `go away,' so they found a HUD project and got all the local poverty pimps to jump up and down and say `we need housing, we don't need flowers.' They divide the community, conquer it, and everybody loses." A transcript of testimony in an August 22, 1985 US District Court hearing provided to the SHADOW by Adam reveals false and contradictory testimony by "housing organizers," including Margarita Lopez, now city councilmember representing part of the Lower East Side. At the time, Lopez said: "our people don't go there...that garden never was put together in a way that included our children..." The purpose of this testimony was to support the false claim that Adam had created a private garden, unavailable to the community. One poverty pimp remarked "Well, it may be art, but his canvas is too big."
On January 8, 1986, The Garden of Eden was destroyed to make way for the "Infil" housing project, that Adam says was chosen for the site of the garden "because the garden was there. It was deliberately used by the city to smash something they found offensive.
On February 24, 1972, Adam moved to 184 Forsyth Street as a tenant, and later became the building superintendent for landlord Sol Janklowitz of Bermike Realty in Brooklyn. When Janklowitz abandoned the building in November of 1976, Adam and the building's residents took over and kept the furnace running. In February 1981, in an effort to get paid for utilities, Con Edison asked the city who owned the building. According to the Inner City Light newspaper, Con Ed was told the "Purple People" owned it, even though the City of New York had taken the building in an "In-Rem" foreclosure. As the landlord, the city is responsible for providing electricity for hall lights and the furnace, but it has refused. Con Ed then cut off all utilities to184 Forsyth. Soon, the water pipes froze and burst, and the water had to be cut off. Adam says that the tenants tried to get help from various city agencies, but "we got the runaround." The tenants then moved out one by one, until finally, only Adam was left. In July 1980, the city began billing Adam $2,400 per month for rent as "John Peter Zenger II". The bills stopped in August of 1992 when a reporter asked the city why they were charging rent while providing no services at 184 Forsyth. By then, the total rent charge had reached $352,706.
At the time Adam moved to 184 Forsyth, the city was facing bankruptcy. With the economy in a deep recession, insurance companies and banks "redlined" certain neighborhoods, making it impossible for small landlords to keep their buildings. Some landlords who were insured torched their buildings to cash out, while others simply walked away. At the same time, crime increased as heroin flooded the Lower East Side, further fueling the cycle of arson, abandonment, and "white flight" (the middle class moving from the city to suburbs). Throughout the 1970s, the City of New York amassed a huge portfolio of real estate. Instead of repairing their housing stock, buildings that were unsafe or burned out were either sealed or simply demolished.
Around 1974, Adam, watching kids at play in a rubble-strewn pit where two buildings had stood on Eldridge Street, decided that a garden would better serve his community. By the time he and his neighbors finished creating a garden, the city had taken down more adjacent buildings, and the garden expanded into those lots as well. At its peak, The Garden of Eden, with a large double yin-yang center, encompassed five lots, had 45 fruit and nut trees, attracted tourists from all over the world and was featured in National Geographic magazine (Sept. 1984).
By 1985, Adam says, the city considered The Garden of Eden a threat: "They couldn't just say `go away,' so they found a HUD project and got all the local poverty pimps to jump up and down and say `we need housing, we don't need flowers.' They divide the community, conquer it, and everybody loses." A transcript of testimony in an August 22, 1985 US District Court hearing provided to the SHADOW by Adam reveals false and contradictory testimony by "housing organizers," including Margarita Lopez, now city councilmember representing part of the Lower East Side. At the time, Lopez said: "our people don't go there...that garden never was put together in a way that included our children..." The purpose of this testimony was to support the false claim that Adam had created a private garden, unavailable to the community. One poverty pimp remarked "Well, it may be art, but his canvas is too big."
On January 8, 1986, The Garden of Eden was destroyed to make way for the "Infil" housing project, that Adam says was chosen for the site of the garden "because the garden was there. It was deliberately used by the city to smash something they found offensive.
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