Res. No. 2009

Resolution designating the Newtown Pippin as the official apple of New York City.

By Council Members Gennaro, James, Lappin, Koppell, Gioia, Comrie, Katz and Nelson

Whereas, The Newtown Pippin is the only world-famous apple variety originating in the five boroughs, yet its association with the city is known to few New Yorkers; and

Whereas, The Newtown Pippin is a delicious fruit esteemed by gourmet chefs and food writers as the “Prince of Apples” and the “Founding Apple;” and

Whereas, The Newtown Pippin was the preferred apple of Thomas Jefferson and George Washington, and is still grown in their gardens at Monticello and Mount Vernon; and

Whereas, Newtown Pippins are grown on small farms throughout New York State and are sold through the Council on the Environment of New York City’s Greenmarket program; and

Whereas, The right to grow and sell Newtown Pippins is open to all on an equal basis, without restriction or genetic patent; and

                      Whereas, The Newtown Pippin is a big, green apple, and therefore a fitting symbol of our city in the era of sustainable growth; and

                      Whereas, A return to a diet of whole, healthy foods is an urgent necessity; and

                      Whereas, Cities worldwide have enjoyed the benefits of growing food in community gardens and urban orchards, a movement which has been embraced by the White House under First Lady Michelle Obama; and

                      Whereas, This year, Green Apple Cleaners and Slow Food NYC are donating 50 Newtown Pippin saplings, with hundreds more to come in subsequent years, to New York City’s premier public spaces and institutions, as well as to neighborhood schools and community gardens; and

                      Whereas, GreenThumb, MillionTreesNYC, and the Green Belt Native Plant Center are partnering to help ensure the well-being of these trees; and

                      Whereas, The New York Botanical Garden, the Brooklyn Botanical Garden, the Queens Botanical Garden, the Staten Island Botanical Garden, the King Manor Museum, the Museum of the City of New York, the American Museum of Natural History, the CUNY Institute on Sustainable Cities, the Columbia Earth Institute and the American Cancer Society are planting these donated Newtown Pippin saplings to help this local cultivar enjoy a central place in our civic culture; and

                      Whereas, Apple blossoms and fruits could be as much of a signature image for New York City tourism as cherry blossoms are for Washington, D.C.; and

                      Whereas, The Newtown Pippin was developed by Gershon Moore, whose farm is now the site of a New York City Department of Parks and Recreation playground and whose direct descendent was Clement Clark Moore, author of the classic “A Visit from St. Nicholas;” and

                      Whereas, The Newtown Pippin could be a resource for educators to teach history, natural science, nutrition, folk lore, biodiversity, and sustainable development; and

                      Whereas, Flowering trees are essential contributors to our ecosystem and provide calming pleasure to New Yorkers; and

                      Whereas, The Newtown Pippin is a key cultivar in the Slow Food USA “Ark of Taste,” program, which protects agricultural biodiversity threatened by agribusiness monocultures; and

                      Whereas, The Newtown Pippin’s increased fame would aid community activists, government agencies, elected officials, and nonprofit groups in their work to reclaim the Newtown Creek from centuries of neglect and assault by polluters; and

                      Whereas, Newtown High School, the First Presbyterian Church of Newtown, Newtown Road and other features of the New York City landscape keep this historic name in circulation; now, therefore, be it

Resolved, That the Council of the City of New York designates the Newtown Pippin as the official apple of New York City.

DMB

LS#7424

6/4/09