{"id":1004669,"date":"2026-08-16T15:36:23","date_gmt":"2026-08-16T15:36:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1004669\/"},"modified":"2026-08-16T15:36:23","modified_gmt":"2026-08-16T15:36:23","slug":"residents-celebrate-saving-elizabeth-street-garden-in-lower-manhattan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1004669\/","title":{"rendered":"Residents celebrate saving Elizabeth Street Garden in Lower Manhattan"},"content":{"rendered":"

On a sunny day beneath blue skies with shadows splashed on benches and sculptures, local residents and visitors from across New York City on Aug. 15\u00a0 joined for a special garden party to celebrate the saving of the Elizabeth Street Garden.<\/p>\n

They walked past signs saying \u201cThe garden is saved\u201d in the nearly 20,000-square-foot space filled with trees, columns, sculptures and benches to celebrate an oasis saved from oblivion.<\/p>\n

They also celebrated 180 affordable housing units the Mamdani Administration said is slated for 22 Suffolk Street, with hundreds more expected at 100 Gold St. and 156 Bowery St.<\/p>\n

The Zohran Mamdani administration days ago said it would not seek to build affordable senior housing on the land, but instead build at 22 Suffolk St.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cThank you all for celebrating with us and joining us in the space,\u201d Joseph Reiver, the garden\u2019s co-creator and director of Elizabeth Street Garden Inc., said \u201cIt\u2019s been a long, long, long effort, 13 years, so many amazing people involved in it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"manJoseph Reiver and Renee GreenPhoto by Claude Solnik<\/p>\n

The land, transferred to the Department of Parks and Recreation<\/a>, Reiver said, would remain preserved<\/a> as a garden in perpetuity.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIf everyone could just close their eyes and appreciate this garden that we\u2019re in,\u201d he said. \u201cIt represents so much for the community, but also nature, art and the spirit of New York, what we fight to preserve and celebrate about this city. Appreciate that we\u2019re under these trees, in this oasis in the middle of the city.\u201d<\/p>\n

Councilmember Christopher Marte (D-Lower Manhattan), said he grew up going with his family to this garden, whose preservation he called a personal, as well as political, victory.<\/p>\n

\u201cTake a massive breath in and a huge sigh of relief out, because we did it,\u201d Marte added. \u201cWe saved Elizabeth Street Garden.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Marte called this \u201cone of the most unique green spaces in the city in Lower Manhattan\u201d and one of the area\u2019s \u201cfew oases.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s all done by volunteers, community members, friends of the garden,\u201d he said. \u201cIt really builds a sense of community.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

While The New York Times coverage cited celebrities\u2019 and the community\u2019s efforts, Marte called it a local community victory.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to thank advocates and neighbors who have been part of this struggle for over a decade,\u201d he said. \u201cThese are my celebrities, people from my community who give their time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Norman Siegel, who represented the garden for eight years in state and federal courts, said developers Pennrose Development, Habitat for Humanity and RiseBoro on Thursday at 6:50 p.m. filed a \u201cnotice of discontinuance with prejudice,\u201d dropping their suit seeking to block park land designation.<\/p>\n

\"peopleOn a sunny day beneath blue skies with shadows splashed on benches and sculptures, local residents and visitors from across New York City on Aug. 15\u00a0 joined for a special garden party to celebrate the saving of the Elizabeth Street Garden.Photo by Claude Solnik<\/p>\n

\u201cElizabeth Street Garden lives on,\u201d Siegel said, adding the court on Aug. 14 dismissed the case. \u201cIt will continue to serve the people of New York City as a needed public gathering place.\u201d<\/p>\n

Renee Green, 94, who chairs the Elizabeth Street Garden Inc. Board and lives across the street, watched from her wheelchair.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was just such a long, long battle and we never got distracted from our goal, which was to have this garden remain in perpetuity and get housing not only for seniors but affordable housing<\/a> for all people,\u201d said Green. \u201cIt\u2019s never been this beautiful. Over the years, it\u2019s just flourished.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reiver led the crowd in applause for volunteers who maintain the garden, keeping the \u201cspace alive,\u201d because \u201cit is a living, breathing space,\u201d and helping fight to save it.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are so many fights along the years that you see that are mixed, aren\u2019t successful, that don\u2019t make it,\u201d Reiver said. \u201cMy mom last year said she believes in miracles. This is a miracle here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reiver said \u201cfalse dichotomies\u201d such as housing or green space pit people against each other. \u201cThere is so much division in this city, this world,\u201d he said. \u201cThere really is a pathway forward without falling into that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Siegel said \u201cYou can have affordable housing and open green space\u201d which \u201cco-exist in this case perfectly.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

He believes the city began to soften when a private Bowery Street landlord agreed to work with the city, if it saved the garden. \u201cI thought that was one of the turning points,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re talking about at least five times more, if not ten time more, affordable housing units as well as ore senior affordable housing units,\u201d Siegel said. \u201cThoughtful planning produced a resolution much better from any angle.\u201d<\/p>\n

Marte said he looks forward to working with Mayor Mamdani \u201cto push these developments through quickly.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

He said as many as nearly 200 affordable units are planned for 22 Suffolk; at least 128 units on Bowery site and at least 300 on Gold Street.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s more affordable units than have been built in lower Manhattan in over 40 years,\u201d Marte said \u201cWe can have hundreds, maybe thousands, of units of affordable units of housing in lower Manhattan, and preserve this garden.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reiver said his father Allan created the garden initially as an extension of his Elizabeth Street Gallery on a vacant lot once part of a public school.\u00a0
\n\"fiveAdvocates called the garden a unique green space in Lower Manhattan.Photo by Claude Solnik\n<\/p>\n

He helped his father, who leased the land in 1992, turn it into a garden lined with sculpture. His father passed away in 2021.<\/p>\n

The lease was terminated, but eviction was dropped when then Mayor Eric Adams transferred the land to the Department of Parks and Recreation. Mayor Mamdani sought to develop housing there, before dropping plans to focus elsewhere.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fight drew attention to it,\u201d said East Village resident Sekita Ekrek. \u201cIt\u2019s one of those places you don\u2019t\u2019 want to tell too many people about. You don\u2019t want it to turn into a mini Central Park.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jennifer Romine, who since 1997 has lived in low-income housing next to the garden, said nearby elderly residents benefit.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have fought tooth and nail for park space,\u201d Romine said. \u201cThis is for the older people, a place where little old ladies in walkers come.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

She said 600 low-income residents live next door, including children \u201cwho need a place to play.\n<\/p>\n

Max Rothstein, a Brooklyn resident at the garden for a friend\u2019s birthday, sang the garden\u2019s praises.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a special place,\u201d Rothstein said. \u201cThe community. The greenery. There\u2019s not a lot of greenery around here.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Amhad Ghon, an Uptown resident, sees it as a place to rest and relax. \u201cIt\u2019s like an oasis in the neighborhood,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s a small park and it\u2019s nice sitting here.\u201d<\/p>\n

The space with two sculpted lions from Italy, Roman-style sphinxes, columns and a statue of Greek harvest goddess Demeter by the gates, all salvaged and reclaimed, feels like a sculpture garden.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s in perpetuity. It still hasn\u2019t really dawned on me,\u201d Reiver said. \u201cI\u2019ve been in fight-or-flight for so long. I\u2019m going to take these moments in the garden to really breathe and appreciate the trees.\u201d<\/p>\n

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