BY LINCOLN ANDERSON | Republican mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa says destroying the Elizabeth Street Garden would be a crime.
In stark contrast to Mayor Adams, the crime-fighting Guardian Angels founder said the embattled Little Italy green oasis is a beautiful, natural and unique refuge that deserves to be saved. Dating back to Mayor Bloomberg’s tenure, though, City Hill has been set on building a new affordable housing development for seniors, Haven Green, on the beloved spot.
“And Adams is about to give it away to a developer for a dollar,” Sliwa scoffed.
In fact, he said he’d gladly be arrested in civil disobedience to try to preserve the iconic, statue-dotted green spot, adding he has 80 civil disobedience arrests under his belt.
“All the hipsters and millennials love that spot,” he said. “The old-timers, they love it. It’s so tranquil. It’s a mood elevator, just sitting there.”
His wife, Nancy Regula, is a huge fan of the garden and has been visiting it for years, he said. The couple live on the Upper West Side in an apartment full of rescue cats.
“My wife loves that place,” he said of the Little Italy natural haven. “When she’s stressed, she goes to Central Park and Elizabeth Street Garden. When you sit there, the world stops.
The red beret-wearing activist and WABC radio personality said he is definitely running for mayor again.
“Oh, absolutely,” he said. “We need to spend more on our parks. When I ran against Adams for mayor, I said 2 percent of our budget should go to parks. Adams said 1 percent — and he’s cut back on it. … Without parks, we’re Houston, Texas.
“He claims there’s no affordable housing for seniors — he’s right, we need it,” Sliwa said. “Look at all these empty office buildings. They will never be occupied. That should be his target [for residential conversions]. We don’t have enough parks.”
He added that right now, with Adams and some of his top commissioners and associates under investigation, it would serve the mayor well to try to curry favor with the broad swath of voters from Downtown and beyond who love the garden. Nearly 1 million have signed a petition begging Hizzoner to save the Elizabeth Street Garden.
“He could be a hero instead of a heel,” Sliwa said. “I think it would be an excellent gesture — and just save the park for the people.”
Otherwise, he warned, developers will be emboldened, like blood in the water for sharks.
“Once they take that park — the crown jewel — nothing will stop them,” he said.
He recalled how, as a kid, his grandfather would take him to the annual San Gennaro Festival and they would always make a stop at nearby Sara D. Roosevelt Park. Some advocates for Haven Green say the garden lovers can just walk a few blocks farther to S.D.R. Park. But Sliwa said there simply is no comparison.
“If you go to Roosevelt Park now it’s filled with drug addicts — filled,” he said. “Unfortunately, it’s become junkie park now.”
The city has told the garden it must vacate the space by Wed., Sept. 11. However, Joseph Reiver, its executive director, said he expects it will be a process that takes a while, and that the garden is also mounting a new legal defense.
The Mayor’s Office did not respond to a request for comment.
The mayor’s office did not respond to the Village Sun for a comment. The Sun has been running Mayor Adams’s propaganda editorials for a long time now, so why no comment? I guess they are kinda too tied up with the raids and the federal investigation to respond. How about a story on Adams’s corruption? I bet Sliwa would give you some good quotes. Speaking of Sliwa…where did he buy that awful, cheap suit he is wearing? He mentions “the suits” all the time on his radio show, so now it looks like he wants to be one of them. Advice to Sliwa — I bet those other “suits” don’t get theirs at the Salvation Army and you should try Macy’s.
Strangely….Curtis Sliwa and current Queens DA Melinda Katz were in a long-term relationship.
https://nypost.com/2021/10/23/the-many-wives-of-curtis-sliwa/
I wanted to add that I also respect Sliwa for doing civil disobedience and getting arrested, which he does for many reasons I don’t agree with. The upside to all his arrests is that it keeps him tied up going to court and gives him less time for causing more trouble in the streets for Democrats, migrants and houseless people.
This is the first time that I have ever agreed with Curtis Sliwa on anything. Good for him.
No green or open space should be removed from the city anywhere. We need every inch of it. Buildings have alternative locations. Parks do not. This area is devoid of green open space, so the garden is a much cherished and unique area for the residents. Alternative locations have been offered for building the housing but the government refuses to consider looking at alternatives.
You are correct in that we need more natural areas but the alternative space they mention in relation to ESG, is 388 Hudson, which was also promised parkland. The Hudson River Park consists of small lawns where you can hear the six-lane highway 20 feet away. The park the community used to use, JJ Walker, has been artificially turfed for league sports. We need natural areas, but the land that we were supposed to gain will instead be affordable housing. Our area (the West Village and Hudson Sq) also has very few natural areas and the least amount of trees in the entire city.
The “affordable housing carrot” has long rotted and this donkey will not be fooled again. As if this garden is the last spot on Manhattan with which to solve the housing problem. Huge corporate developers get tax breaks for building condos for the wealthy with no requirement for affordable homes. The City of Yes is another con job backed by either the most naive mayor in decades or just the latest corrupt one.