Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani is facing a bumpy transition — courtesy of Mayor Eric Adams.
“It is no surprise that Mayor Adams is using his final weeks and months to cement a legacy of dysfunction and inconsistency,” Mamdani said Thursday.
What You Need To Know
Mayor Adams designated the Elizabeth Street Garden to be parkland, presenting an obstacle to Mamdani’s incoming administration
Mamdani said “he actions the Adams’ administration have taken have now made [building affordable housing there] nearly impossible”
The decision marks a surprising end to a years-long saga over the green space that included Adams once pushing for 123 units of affordable senior housing at the site
Mamdani will now need the state legislature to give him permission for any future development on the site — a process known as alienation
Adams designated the Elizabeth Street Garden to be parkland, presenting an obstacle to Mamdani’s incoming administration.
“I have made clear over the course of the campaign what my vision would be in meeting the urgent need of building affordable housing, especially for seniors across New York City, and the actions the Adams’ administration have taken have now made it nearly impossible,” Mamdani said.
Louis Molina, commissioner of the Department of Citywide Administrative Services, which has authority over the land, put the move into action in a letter earlier this month.
Molina wrote, in part: “By this notice, the City unequivocally and permanently dedicates this property to public use as parkland.”
“I’m the mayor until Dec. 31,” Adams said.
Adams defended the move Thursday morning, speaking exclusively to NY1.
The decision marks a surprising end to a years-long saga over the green space that included Adams once pushing for 123 units of affordable senior housing at the site.
That plan was abandoned this summer for a new agreement that will see more than 620 affordable units built across three alternative sites in Lower Manhattan.
“Mayors make decisions. The decisions he makes when I hand off the baton to him, I’m going to look at some of them and say I disagree with them and some of them I’m going to say, ‘hey I agree with them.’ It’s not about a legacy of dysfunction. It’s about protecting a legacy and promises that I made.”
Mamdani will now need the state legislature to give him permission for any future development on the site — a process known as alienation.
“What I am coming to terms with is the lengths the Adams administration has taken to ensure that they are cementing the position they held the opposite view of just earlier this year,” Mamdani said.
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