Organisers trying to save a community sculpture garden in New York’s Nolita neighbourhood won a small victory this week when an appellate judge paused its eviction notice and gave the garden two more weeks to appeal the decision.
Since 2013, the non-profit that runs Elizabeth Street Garden has been fighting New York City’s plan to demolish the garden and build a housing development for low-income seniors called Haven Green. Earlier this month, after a decade of legal wrangling, the city finally issued an eviction notice that would have been enforceable as soon as Thursday (17 October)
On Wednesday (16 October), the group that manages Elizabeth Street Garden announced that the Appellate Term of the New York State Supreme Court stayed the eviction, pending a decision from an appeal in housing court. The pause is temporary and will end on 30 October.
Elizabeth Street Garden, New York City Photo: Beto Motion
Elizabeth Street Garden
The garden is owned by the city but has been leased since 1991, first to Allan Reiver, the Nolita gallerist who turned what was once an abandoned city lot into a sculpture garden as a sort of extension of his Elizabeth Street Gallery, located next door.
“It really became a work of art in its own right,” Allan’s son Joseph Reiver, who now leads the Elizabeth Street Garden nonprofit, told The Art Newspaper in August.
The gallery first opened to the public in 2005 through the gallery, and in 2013 Reiver created a public entrance to the garden from the street after learning the city planned to develop the site. Today, the garden hosts more than 200,000 visitors per year, and around 400 volunteers run daily programming on-site, like free yoga classes, movie nights and other activities.
Elizabeth Street Garden organisers are focused on a letter-writing campaign that has resulted in more than 1 million letters calling on the garden to be saved being sent to officials like New York City Mayor Eric Adams and New York State Governor Kathy Hochul. Some of the high-profile New Yorkers to send letters in defence of the garden include the actor Robert De Niro, film-maker Martin Scorsese and musician Patti Smith.
“Once Elizabeth Street Garden is gone, New York will never have something like this again,” Reiver told The Art Newspaper in August.
A mock up of the Haven Green development Courtesy the mayor's office
Haven Green
The proposed development being pursued by the city would create 123 affordable studio units for seniors, with 30% earmarked for those who were once homeless, according to the city. The Haven Green development would also include ground floor retail spaces and offices for Habitat for Humanity, a partner of the city on the development. One often-criticised component of the project is the fact that the initial regulatory period for the affordability restrictions will only last 60 years, at which point the property will be rent stabilised in perpetuity, which limits how much rent can be raised each year.
“People tend to forget that affordable housing can often be used as a Trojan horse to acquire land,” Reiver told The Art Newspaper in August.
A city hall spokesperson told The Art Newspaper that “there are enforcement measures in place to strongly incentivize extended affordability” after that 60-year period. The spokesperson added that the development will also include some open space, which will be accessible to the public in perpetuity (proponents of the development often criticise the garden for being privately leased, saying the garden could shut its doors to the public at any time).
The day before the stay was announced, mayor Adams said he was set on evicting the garden to build the development.
“The garden is a beautiful place, but there's a great beauty to be able to house New Yorkers,” Adams said. The mayor is currently facing federal charges including bribery, wire fraud, conspiracy and campaign finance crimes. One of his aides also allegedly pressured the Brooklyn Museum to stage an exhibition in order to gain favour with China. Adams has denied any wrongdoing.