Robert De Niro, Martin Scorsese and Patti Smith join fight to save Little Italy garden from affordable housing
Big Apple celebrities Robert De Niro, Martin Scorsese and Patti Smith have joined in the fight to save the decades-old Elizabeth Street Garden from being torn down to make way for affordable senior housing.
The three cultural icons penned letters this summer imploring Mayor Eric Adams to have a change of heart and maintain the leafy green haven and sculpture garden in the heart of Nolita.
“The Garden is not only an oasis of greenspace within our city, but truly stands as a work of art,” Smith, 77, who has performed in the green space to raise awareness of its impending doom, wrote in her Aug. 14 letter.
“Our great city is in danger of becoming a developer’s unchecked haven, and we look to you to help us set a lasting precedent for how New York City will protect public art and green spaces for the future.”
The trio’s last-ditch pleas were made public Thursday just three weeks before the expected Sept. 10 demolition date.
The project — which would replace the 20,000-square-foot sculpture garden with 123 units of affordable housing for the elderly — has endured years of heavy litigation and public protests, but Adams has the power to shut down construction before the bulldozers break ground.
Academy Award-winning legends Scorsese and De Niro, both 81, were raised in Little Italy and have produced numerous films inspired by the rough-and-tough past of the neighborhood — including the appropriately-named 1973 classic “Mean Streets.”
“When I was growing up, Little Italy was more or less a concrete jungle. We used to play in the alleys. There was no shade, no greenery, no respite-something that every neighborhood needs. The make-up of Little Italy may be different, but the need for a beautiful, refreshing oasis like the Elizabeth Street Garden has not changed. I wish it had been there when I was young,” Scorsese wrote in his letter, dated July 22.
De Niro pointed to his creation of the Tribeca Film Festival as his dedication to revitalizing the character of Manhattan, and claimed the destruction of fixtures like the garden would negate the work he and countless other artists have contributed over the decades.
“I support increasing the availability of affordable housing (community leaders have identified alternate locations for development), but l’m also passionate about preserving the character of our neighborhoods,” wrote De Niro in his letter to the Mayor.
“Taking away the Elizabeth Street Garden is erasing part of our city’s unique cultural history and heritage.”
To drive her message home, rock’n’roll legend Smith wielded her Key to New York City, bestowed upon her by outgoing mayor Bill de Blasio in 2021.
“Mr. Mayor, my key is in your hands. You have the power to grant our garden the right to remain,” the “Gloria” singer said.
The New York City stars’ calls, however, have seemingly landed on deaf ears — a spokesperson for the city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development emphasized that plans to demolish the park will go on as planned.
“The fight over this land highlights how difficult it can be to build affordable housing, especially in neighborhoods that offer strong economic opportunities, but HPD and the Adams administration is undeterred,” the spokesperson said.
“We look forward to delivering new affordable homes for older New Yorkers and we will continue advancing projects in every corner of the city to tackle the severe housing shortage driving this affordable housing crisis.”
The aging artists aren’t the only senior citizens who have publicly pleaded that Adams reconsider the neighborhood-altering project — last month more than 130 senior citizens petitioned to halt the project.
The gray-haired garden enthusiasts ceremoniously forwent their eligibility for the forthcoming affordable housing units, claiming the garden was too essential to their quality of life to be lost.
The green space — originally the site of a schoolhouse 120 years ago and converted into a sculpture garden in 1990 — provides them with a rare patch of grass undisturbed by recreational sports or playground noise.
Its destruction would be a devastating quality of life loss to residents “in our remaining years,” the seniors wrote.
The garden could be evicted as soon as Sept. 10.
