Elizabeth Street Garden has been served with an eviction notice by New York officials. Advocates still plan to fight to stay open

NEW YORK – The Elizabeth Street Garden in New York City’s Little Italy has been served an eviction notice by the city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD).

The city says the nonprofit that manages the garden has two weeks to vacate the property. The city’s plan for the property is to build 123 units of affordable housing for seniorswith 40% of the units going to people who have been homeless and are coming out of shelters.

More than 400,000 letters, including one from actor Robert De Niro, have been sent to city officials asking them to save the garden.

Advocates call on NYC to preserve Elizabeth Street Garden

The gates are scheduled to close for good on October 17, but those who cherish the garden still have hope.

“It’s just peaceful and wonderful. You just want to spend some time here,” said one visitor.

“It’s terrible. It’s terrible. It’s a garden for New York. It shouldn’t be taken away,” another person said.

“They have an opportunity to build truly affordable housing in this district and use spaces that would otherwise be market-rate housing and preserve Elizabeth Street Garden,” said Joseph Reiver, executive director of Elizabeth Street Garden.

City officials say space is needed for affordable housing

City officials say they need all the space they can get and that the lot is theirs.

“It will help populations that are struggling with housing access and affordability in a city where we have a 1.4 percent vacancy rate,” said Ahmed Tigani with the HPD.

He added: “The housing crisis is so deep and so serious that we can’t just build one place and go somewhere else. We have to look at all spaces.”

The city says the parcel is 20,000 square feet, and 140,000 of that will still be green space, but some say that’s not enough.

“We need every square meter of green space we can get because it protects against the effects of climate change,” said one.

“We are not done fighting yet. There are still fourteen days. We expected this. We were hopeful that the mayor would consider the proposals for private locations that we presented to him,” Reiver said.