Art of the Environment

Barry Benepe: Mr. Greenmarket
Jane Jacobs Medalist

Barry Benepe is proud to be a born-and-bred New Yorker. The son of a linen importer, he grew up on Gramercy Park, walking daily under the Third Avenue El to attend Friends Seminary on Stuyvesant Square.

In 1966, Barry organized demonstrations to have Central Park Drive closed to traffic on weekends. Galvanized by the success of their campaign, Barry and his cohorts founded Transportation Alternatives, a group that promotes city cycling and advocates greater use of public transportation and car-free parks. Many in the group see themselves carrying out the legacy of Jane Jacobs, who wrote scathingly about Americans’ dependence on cars, and stated, “Are we building cities for people or for cars?”

It is the Greenmarket program, however, that has been Barry’s greatest passion for the past thirty years. Following his work for developers who were buying up farmland in Orange County, NY, in the early 1970s, he was inspired to combine his experience in working on his family’s truck farm on the Eastern Shore of Maryland as a child with his expertise in planning. His goal was to marry the economic needs of struggling farmers upstate with the desire of city residents for fresh and affordable produce. Barry enlisted the help of a fellow planner, Bob Lewis, and the two obtained the sponsorship of the Council on the Environment of NYC to start Greenmarket.

Here's a recent video interview with Barry Benepe and the full article on Future of New York.org