Green Oasis

Green Oasis occupies a series of lots on East Eighth Street between Avenues C and D that were once mounds of rubble, abandoned cars, and trash. In nineteen eighty-one, neighbors Normand Valle and Reinaldo Arana cleared the debris to create a space for local children. They were joined by John Gilbert Ingram, who had been transforming an adjacent lot into a sculpture garden using found wood and stone. Together, these plots evolved into a single green expanse filled with vegetable beds, beehives, a koi pond, and a large gazebo.