Little Italy residents are fighting to save a rare oasis of grass, flowers, trees, ornate benches and statues slated to be bulldozed for housing.
The Elizabeth Street Garden, a 20,000-square-foot city-owned lot, was tapped for affordable housing in a push by Councilwoman Margaret Chin. But residents say the deal went “under the radar” and caught them by surprise. Community Board 2 has called its first hearing on the project for Monday and residents have launched a “Save the Garden” petition.
“We need affordable housing, but this is already a beautiful garden. Let’s make it a park,” said Jeannine Kiely, a resident and mother of two. Little Italy and Soho have .07 acres of parkland per 1,000 residents — one of the lowest ratios citywide, she added.
Neighbors learned only last summer that the garden — leased for $4,000 a month to the adjacent Elizabeth Street Gallery — is city land and asked gallery owner Allan Reiver to open it to the public. A first-ever Harvest Fest last month drew 1,500 for pumpkin painting, the planting of 2,000 daffodils, food donated by local eateries and a live band.Since summer, the Elizabeth Street Garden has been a popular space. Workers use the spot to eat lunch, parents take kids to do homework, and other residents relax or tend to the planting beds.
“It was really a coming together of all types of people, and showed us what this garden could be for the community,” said Emily Hellstrom, a mom of three.
But city officials say Reiver is violating his month-to-month lease, which specifies the lot can be used for “storage” only.
The lot development plan was tacked onto discussions for the $1.1 billion Seward Park Urban Renewal project at the foot of the Williamsburg Bridge, a mixed-use complex to include 1,000 housing units with 500 for low- and middle-income tenants.
The city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development will create a separate plan for the Elizabeth Garden lot and
could not say what mix of affordable and market-rate units it may bring, a spokesman said.