Community Corner
Plans To Build Housing On Soho's Elizabeth St. Garden Protested
Several elected officials opposed a plan to raze the Elizabeth Street Garden and replace it with affordable housing.
MANHATTAN, NY — Plans to raze a Soho garden and replace it with senior housing were protested by city officials Monday.
The Elizabeth Street Garden, located between Elizabeth and Mott streets near Prince Street, has long been the source of a heated debate over whether the green space should be converted into desperately needed affordable housing for seniors amid a housing crisis in the city.
The park’s supporters, which includes James, city comptroller Scott Stringer, and other elected officials, say that the park is beloved and should be preserved because green space is so infrequent in the dense Soho and Little Italy neighborhoods. The park’s advocates have repeatedly pointed to an alternate empty lot, on Hudson Street, that they say would provide more affordable housing units and allow the garden to maintain untouched.
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“This is a false choice,” Stringer said Monday. “Affordable housing can not come at the expense of green public space.”
Monday’s rally was organized after the city confirmed plans to move forward with gutting the garden. On Friday, the city’s said the new complex, Haven Green, would be developed by Penrose Properties, Habitat for Humanity NYC and RiseBoro. The development would provide 121 affordable apartments and a small garden space. At least 37 of the apartments will be reserved for formerly homeless seniors, according to the proposal.
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The development of the garden has brought a fraught debate over the last year, and was a divisive issue during the City Council elections for the area, which incumbent Margaret Chin narrowly won after an a challenger from the pro-garden upstart Christopher Marte.
Other elected officials who voiced support for the garden on Monday include Assembly Member Yuh-Line Niou, and newly-elected State Senator Brian Kavanagh, both Democrats. The chairwoman of local advisory group Community Board 2, also lambasted the plan to raze the garden. She noted that the board had repeatedly voted to search for alternate plots of land to save the garden.
Both Mayor Bill de Blasio and Chin, who represents Soho in City Council, have expressed support for the plan in the past.
Image credit: Ciara McCarthy / Patch
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