What’s going on with the Elizabeth Street Garden?
Ask the average Downtown Manhattanite about their favorite NYC garden, and you’re likely to hear about Elizabeth Street Garden, a beautiful green oasis near SoHo featuring statues and hedges that look like they were pulled straight out of a British film set.
But if you’ve been on social media at all in recent weeks, then you know that the green space is in danger: the city, which owns the property on which the garden sits, wants to sell it to a developer that is looking to transform it into housing for senior citizens, according NBC New York.
RECOMMENDED: Here is why the famous Cyclone rollercoaster in Coney Island is closed indefinitely
If the plan to demolish the garden goes through, the current tenants will be evicted on September 10.
In a last ditch effort to save the entity, several prominent New Yorkers, including Patti Smith, Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro, wrote letters to Mayor Eric Adams this week. But even before that, local senior residents and elementary school students signed a letter to halt the garden’s destruction.
Elizabeth Street Garden’s website currently includes a link to a legal fund to help the garden stay open, as well as a proposal to Mayor Adams that presents alternative locations where the housing complex could be built, including 388 Hudson Street in the West Village. According to the advocates of the garden, the address is comparable to the garden in size and features.
The proposal notes that the Elizabeth Street Garden serves as a resting spot for migrating Monarch Butterflies, contains native plants and is a wildlife habitat that is recognized by the National Wildlife Federation.
But the history of the destination is important to note as well: Elizabeth Street Garden as we know it today was created in the 1990s. Since then, the venue has been the site of different events, including yoga classes and concerts that are free and open to anyone passing by.
In 2012, the New York City Housing Authority took over the space and made plans to build a public housing facility for homeless seniors on the property. The garden’s executive team took the city to court and won in the State Supreme Court but lost in appeals twice, according to the New York Times.
As of now, it seems like the city is still intent on destroying the garden in a couple of weeks. Here’s to hoping officials will have a change of mind.