BY ANGELINA BANEK
After losing its 11 year legal battle with the city, The Elizabeth Street Garden waits to receive a legal eviction notice. The city has designated the Little Italy land plot for a new affordable housing complex. Neighbors of the park, celebrities, and park volunteers are still trying to save it.
On June 18. 2024 the New York State Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the city proceeding with its plans to demolish the Elizabeth Street Garden. The garden is represented by former Executive Director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, Norman Siegel.
Siegel’s main argument was that The New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development failed to take into account local sustainability policy. In a 6-1 ruling the court found these arguments lacked merit.
“Here, HPD identified appropriate areas of concern, took the necessary ‘hard look,’ and rationally determined that the project would not have a significant adverse impact on the environment,” the court wrote in its decision.
According to a 2019 City Planning Commission document, the new structure that will replace this volunteer-run community garden will have 123 units of affordable housing for seniors and at least 6,700 square feet of public open space.
The Elizabeth Street Garden is a community-run green space open daily to the public. It is rich with greenery and decorated with dozens of antique statues. On any day, one can visit and find individuals sitting in quiet contemplation, friends gathering to talk, and children playing.
The garden is also filled with stone benches and metal folding chairs, heavily contrasting with hostile architecture seen throughout New York City.
Celebrities Martin Scorsese, Robert De Niro, and Patti Smith have all written letters to Mayor Adams voicing their concerns.
“Resources like the Elizabeth Street Garden serve the people who make our city great,” Robert De Niro wrote. “Taking away The Elizabeth Street Garden is erasing part of our city’s unique culture and heritage.”
Robin Kahn, a local resident who has been visiting the garden for over 10 years, described herself as heartbroken and furious over the issue.
“We downtown people, we don’t have Central Park. We don’t have Riverside Park. We have Elizabeth Street Garden,” she said. “For us it’s devastating to lose it.”
Although Elizabeth Street Garden expected to receive an eviction notice as early as Sep. 10 2024, as of Sep. 12 it has received no such notice. Poetry readings, a tea ceremony, and Bowery Mission food drives are still scheduled well into September. It is clear that supporters of the garden have not given up hope.