In another break with his rivals, Zohran Mamdani said he intends to evict the beloved Elizabeth Street Garden from a city-owned lot in Little Italy, undoing an agreement made between Mayor Adams, Council member Christopher Marte and the nonprofit that runs the garden.
That deal, which was only unveiled in June, ended a long-standing legal battle over the city’s plan to build affordable senior housing on the city-owned land.
Republican nominee, Curtis Sliwa, and former Governor, Andrew Cuomo, who is running as an independent, have both said they would preserve the garden.
One long-time Soho resident, Susan Wittenberg, was upset that the hard-fought battle to get the city to reverse its plan to evict the garden could be in jeopardy. “This neighborhood has worked together for years to create the win-win solution that resulted in the commitment from Mayor Adams to preserve ESG,” said Wittenberg, a filmaker who moved to SOHO 47 years ago. “We now have a solution that would continue to provide a much needed and beloved green space plus we get more housing. This has always been our goal.”
For over a decade Elizabeth Street Garden, which is open to the public and offers free cultural events and weekly Yoga classes, has been in a fierce battle with the city to keep its gates open. In June 2024, New York’s highest court, the Court of Appeals, sided with the city and granted it the right to sell the property which had an estimated value of up to $40 million to three developers for one dollar.
In return the developers—Pennrose and the nonprofit organizations, RiseBoro Community Partnership and Habitat for Humanity— pledged to build a 123-unit affordable rental apartment complex for senior citizens and a public park, while also renting retail stores to cross-finance the affordability.
Supporters of the garden, including school children, seniors, local businesses, as well as New York icons like the singer Patti Smith, the actor Robert DeNiro and the film director Martin Scorsese sent over one million letters to Mayor Adams, begging him to save the cherished community space.
As Straus reported in June, Mayor Adams and Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro agreed to save the garden, if council member Marte would keep his promise to find space to build 620 affordable homes across three alternative sites in his district, which spans across Downtown Manhattan and includes Little Italy.
But in a recent appearance on a live podcast with the local news outlet Hell Gate, Mamdani vowed to revoke that deal.
“In your first year will you evict Elizabeth Street Garden and build affordable housing on that lot?” Adlan Jackson, one of the staff writers at Hell Gate asked the Democratic frontrunner, without mentioning the fact that Marte has secured three alternate sites to build 600 affordable housing units, five times as many affordable housing units as the developers had originally proposed.
“Yes,” Mamdani answered firmly and without hesitation, adding that “my mother really disagrees with me, she tells me all the time.” (Mamdani’s mother is the Harvard University educated Mira Nair, an award winning Indian-American filmmaker.)
Sliwa told the Village Sun last year that he was willing to “get arrested” to stop any eviction attempt, boasting that he had been arrested 80 times for civil disobedience.
“My wife loves that place,” Sliwa said of the serene sculpture garden. “When she’s stressed, she goes to Central Park and Elizabeth Street Garden. When you sit there, the world stops.”
New York’s former Governor Andrew Cuomo agreed with Sliwa. He called Mamdani’s position to close the garden “a mistake” on his X account.
“The Elizabeth Street Garden is one of NYC’s most cherished treasures, a green oasis in the middle of a concrete neighborhood that has brought joy, education, and community to residents, especially children, for decades.” Cuomo wrote.
“I am committed to saving this precious garden and to delivering affordable housing – not by destroying what’s beautiful, but by building smarter and better.” He added.
“This is how we move forward: protecting what makes New York unique while creating the homes our families need. A win-win for everyone.” Cuomo concluded.
The nonprofit that runs the garden released a statement on October 28, saying that “despite having overcome a divisive false choice imposed on our community, the Garden is now a subject of the Mayoral race… again.”
Joseph Reiver, the son of Allen Reiver, an art and antiques dealer, who created the space in the early 1990s, has repeatedly described the choice between saving the garden and building affordable housing a “false narrative.”
“No one was ever against housing.” Reiver told Straus News in July, “it was just about achieving affordable housing in the neighborhood without losing green space.”
In its statement, the garden community said it does not “endorse or support any candidate in any political race.”
“We can confirm that the campaigns are informed on the solution that saves the Garden and secures nearly 1,000 units of housing, at least 623 of which are permanently affordable at nearby alternative sites.” The statement continued. “One of these sites is 2 blocks away from the Garden. Not only is this much more affordable housing, but it’s permanently affordable, which the planned development over the Garden is not.”
Council Member Marte, was an earlier supporter of Mamdani, but could not be reached for a comment since Mamdani’s stance on the garden was revealed.
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