In a world on fire every bit of green counts. Elizabeth Street Garden in Lower Manhattan is a tiny sliver of green in the mostly asphalt and concrete expanse of New York City.
It was targeted by the city for a housing project, albeit a much needed affordable one.
But after a 13 year legal battle the word has come down that the garden will live.
With little sense of irony, back in 2012 the city backed a proposed development called "Haven Green." had it gone ahead would have been plonked atop an actual green haven.
Battle between the city and supporters of the garden duly commenced.
It concluded a few days ago when Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s administration abandoned plans to pursue housing on the site. Mamdani had been ambiguous with regard to the garden and this had raised fears that the development would ultimately go ahead.
His predecessor, Eric Adams, had opted for preservation but that was then and Mamdani was now. Nevertheless Mamdani underpinned the Adams decision.
The Adams administration had flagged an agreement to create over 620 new affordable homes in Lower Manhattan while retaining Elizabeth Street Garden as a publicly accessible park. That agreement was brokered between the Adams administration and New York City Council Member Christopher Marte.
That agreement is now fixed. As reported in The New York Times a few days ago, developers filed a notice of discontinuance last week and the court officially dismissed the case on August 14.
During the battle to save the garden supporters had pointed to a number of alternative sites for the needed housing. Hopefully those sites will now be utilised.
The garden, according to an online posting, is an "L-shaped space located on Elizabeth Street in the Nolita neighborhood, between Prince and Spring Streets. The garden is a public green space that's been a recreational and educational resource for the community since the 1800s. It's the only public green space in Little Italy and SoHo. The garden is known for its sculpture garden, leafy hedges, and whimsical features like pear trees, cement lions, and black-eyed Susans."
The neighborhood is in Little Italy but, as the Echo reported previously, it also has a rich Irish heritage. Saint Patrick's Old Basilica is only a few minutes walk from the garden. The Ancient Order of Hibernians once patrolled these streets on the watch for Nativists and Know Nothings while the Irish Brigade set out for the Civil War hereabouts.
In an editorial last year this page stated: "The city wants to pave paradise, though this time not to replace it with a parking lot as might have once been the case with Grand Central and the New York Public Library. Where's Jackie Kennedy when she is so much needed?"
Perhaps she is looking down now and smiling.
It might all seem to be much ado about not very much at all. Elizabeth Street Garden is a tiny dot in a vast urban landscape. But given the expanding ravages of climate change it looks like we might have to fight for even the tiny dots in a world made up of countless such precious specks.
