Op-Ed | An open letter to Mayor-Elect Mamdani: Why we must preserve Elizabeth Street Garden

Dear Mr. Mamdani,

As you prepare to bring New York City into a new era, we urge you to reconsider your position and join the community in our strong support for the plan that preserves Elizabeth Street Garden and secures 5x the amount of affordable housing and nearly 1000 units total.

Against all odds, the people have proven that the garden could be saved and affordable housing could be built right in our neighborhood, without any loss whatsoever.

Public school students, over 130 seniors, and over 300 local businesses & organizations joined people from across the city & the world to send the Adams administration over 1 million letters to save ESG.

We, the many people of our community, did this with a remarkable grassroots campaign that endured well-funded propaganda from developers and political interests for over 12 years.

The plan that saves ESG produces over 1000 units of housing, at least 623 of which are permanently affordable at nearby alternative sites. One of these sites is 2 blocks away from the Garden. Not only is this much more affordable housing, but it’s permanently affordable, which the planned development over the garden is not. Evicting and destroying ESG not only ignores the outcry of an entire community but also results in the loss of significantly more housing.

We’ve shown that building a truly affordable New York never has to come at the expense of community greenspace. New Yorkers deserve both without old political ploys and false choices imposed upon us.

Mr. Mamdani, your administration has an opportunity to set a new precedent for prioritizing both community gardens and affordability. We urge you to listen to the people of this community, to meet with us, and support the new plan for more permanently affordable housing while preserving Elizabeth Street Garden.

Signed,

Elizabeth Street Garden, 1000 Cities, American Society of Landscape Architects – NY Chapter, Art Against Displacement, Bowery Alliance of Neighbors, Chinatown Working Group, Coalition To Protect Chinatown & LES, Common Ground Compost, Downtown Independent Democrats, Earth Celebrations, East River Park Action, Farm School NYC, Green Guerillas, Human Scale NYC, Inside Out Project, Loisada United Neighborhood Gardens, Metro Area Governors Island Coalition, Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space, National Lawyers Guild NY, New York City Community Garden Coalition, Our Communities Count, Pathway 2 Paris, Preservation Alumni, Preserve Our Brooklyn Neighborhoods, SoHo Alliance, Sunrise Movement NYC, The Cultural Landscape Foundation, Think!Chinatown, Time’s Up, Village Independent Democrats, Warriors In The Garden, Youth Against Displacement