Somehow, I'd never been to the Elizabeth Street Garden in 20+ years of living in New York City, despite having spent plenty of time in the Lower East Side. At least, I don't remember ever going there, and it's a memorable place. But when I heard it was in imminent danger of succumbing to yet another development plan, I made a point of visiting to check it out for my "Before It's Gone" series.
In 1990, an antiques dealer named Allan Reiver leased an abandoned city-owned lot next to his gallery/store to serve as overflow storage for his stock. He kept antique busts and oversize sculptures on it, and eventually began to plant perennials, grass, and trees. People started to come through the store to hang out in the green space, and eventually, in 2013, he added a public entrance to the garden. Besides being a green space, in recent years it has become a community space, hosting yoga classes, concerts, movie nights, readings, and the like.
A few years ago, the city announced plans to turn the lot over to a developer who would build housing units. The pitch is that it would be very affordable housing for senior citizens. They also promise that units will be set aside for the homeless, and that it will be a green eco-friendly building, and LGBTQ-friendly. A lot of promises. And apparently this lot is the only site anywhere in the city that this can be built. Last month, the city served the garden with an eviction notice. Some neighborhood locals, including the late Allan Reiver's son, Joseph, are attempting to fight it in court, but I imagine that will go the way it usually does.
As to the question of whether this place is worth saving, I was a bit agnostic, and still am. After visiting this garden, it really did strike me as a special spot, especially in this area of the city, which is really lacking green spaces. It helped that it was a particularly beautiful, unseasonably warm Autumn day when I went. The garden was full of people of all types, enjoying the day and chilling in this peaceful, beautiful spot. What makes it especially attractive is that it has such a quirky, individual, organic character, as opposed to all the generic, cookie cutter plazas that get plopped down by planners.
On the other hand, truly affordable housing really is very, very needed. I'm a bit skeptical of all the promises this developer is making, but it sounds really great on paper. At least it's not just another luxury condo or overpriced retail space. Also, there's a lot of anti-development sentiment that seems to me borders on fetishization. Some people want to preserve every single building, every site, every inch of the city, no matter what, just on some principle.
Recently, I've been reading a book called Lost New York, and it's striking in how many things have existed in this city which were, in their time, considered iconic and irreplaceable. Much more so than this garden, and with a lot more history . . . it occurred to me that perhaps the reason I wasn't familiar with this garden is because actually it's only been open to the public for less than a decade. So, that puts it into some perspective. It will still be a sad day when this gets bulldozed - I wish the garden's defenders luck, but I don't think they have a chance. So go check it out while you can.
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