NEW YORK — Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani has incurred the wrath of New York City gardening enthusiasts by saying he’d reverse Mayor Eric Adams’ decision to save lower Manhattan’s Elizabeth Street Garden from being converted into affordable housing.
At the end of a candidate forum hosted by the Hell Gate news site last week, Mamdani was asked a “lightning round” question: “In your first year (in office), will you evict Elizabeth Street Garden and build affordable housing on that lot?”
After briefly laughing, Mamdani answered, “Yes.”
A progressive like Mamdani might typically be expected to find strong support among the generally liberal crowd that backs the garden.
But his position has turned some against him.
The Elizabeth Street Garden is a nonprofit and doesn’t endorse political candidates. But on Tuesday it posted its latest newsletter on Instagram — including a video clip of Mamdani’s statement — saying the struggle is not over.
“Perpetuating the false hope of housing vs. community gardens is a divisive tactic weaponized against communities across NYC. … We will continue to do everything we can to protect Elizabeth Street Garden from anyone who seeks to destroy it,” the post said.
As of Friday afternoon, the post had racked up a whopping 139,000 views, more than 2,400 likes and 265 comments — most of them addressed directly to @zohrankmamdani and decrying his stance. In particular, Mamdani’s outburst before answering the question was deeply galling to many.
“You have lost my vote,” declared one commenter.
“The laugh is a terrible dismissal,” the Downtown environmental group Earth Celebrations posted. “It shows his ignorance to not see the big picture to protect healthy wellbeing of communities which requires balancing green open space and community cultivated gardens that serve a myriad of direct vital needs within the city and urban solutions to the climate crisis.”
Joseph Reiver, the garden’s executive director, declined comment, instead referring The New York Daily News to the garden’s Instagram post.
Magali Regis, a board member of the New York City Community Gardens Coalition, representing an estimated 20,000 Big Apple gardeners, admitted she was thrown for a loop by Mamdani’s statement — to the point she now plans to “sit out” this election.
“It would have been a no-brainer: ‘Let’s vote for this young, energetic candidate who wants to get rid of the status quo,’” Regis said. “People are really unhappy and there are a lot of people calling Mamdani and saying, ‘Keep off the garden.’”
She said the Elizabeth Street Garden holds a special significance, calling it “the poster child of community gardens in New York.”
Mamdani has so far declined to answer NYCCGC’s mayoral questionnaire, which includes a question on whether to save or develop the Little Italy garden, she said, adding that candidates Andrew Cuomo and Curtis Sliwa have told the group they would save the garden.
Some Mamdani-supporting gardeners are saying online they aren’t abandoning him, but hope they can persuade the hard-line leftist to change his position if he’s elected.
A Mamdani spokesperson did not respond to requests for comment.
Mamdani’s opponents in Tuesday’s general election, independent mayoral candidate Cuomo and Republican Sliwa, both strongly support saving the garden.
Posting on X on Tuesday, Cuomo said, “@ZohranKMamdani wants to evict the Elizabeth Street Garden — that is a mistake. 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…
“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.”
For his part, Sliwa told The Village Sun a year ago that he would get arrested to save the beloved garden, if it came to that.
“All the hipsters and millennials love that spot,” Sliwa said. “The old-timers, they love it. It’s so tranquil. It’s a mood elevator, just sitting there.”
The Little Italy green space, between Spring and Prince Sts., has been the center of a heated struggle — marked by lawsuits — pitting the Downtown Manhattan community and garden advocates versus City Hall ever since the plot was designated for an affordable senior housing project a dozen years ago.
The project appeared to be moving forward earlier this year. But in a stunning reversal, Adams in June changed city policy and scrapped the senior housing project, Haven Green, slated for the garden.
Instead, working with local Councilmember Christopher Marte, the administration identified three nearby sites where a total of more than 1,000 units of housing would be built, with 623 of those slated for permanently affordable housing — contrasting with Haven Green’s much smaller amount of affordable housing, which would not be permanent.
Marte did not respond to requests for comment.
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