By New York Post (U.S.) | Created at 2026-08-12 21:41:06 | Updated at 2026-08-12 22:45:46
1 hour ago
Mam’s not happy with the garden.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani begrudgingly confirmed Wednesday that he’ll break his campaign promise to build housing on the Elizabeth Street Garden in Lower Manhattan — blaming his predecessor Eric Adams’ move to save the beloved greenspace.
The acknowledgement came before a court hearing scheduled for next week signaling a potential settlement between the city and developers, that would allow them to build 180 affordable homes elsewhere.
Mamdani said he wanted to stick by his pledge to build the homes on the site of the garden, but argued that Adams’ first deputy mayor Randy Mastro’s legal maneuvering made that “nearly impossible.”
“Those actions made it nearly impossible for us to move forward,” Mamdani told reporters during an unrelated press conference in The Bronx.
The garden-saving Mastro-stroke was to designate the Nolita property official city parkland — a move that could only be reversed by the state Legislature.
Mastro and Adams administration officials did so a day before 2025’s mayoral election that Mamdani won.
A week before his victory, Mamdani told local news outlet Hell Gate he’d evict the garden and move forward with the plans to build much-needed affordable housing there.
After the parkland parry, Mamdani told reporters on Nov. 13 for the first time that it’d be “nearly impossible” to put housing in the 20,000-square-foot space.
The Elizabeth Street sculpture garden over decades became a green haven in concrete-covered Lower Manhattan.
But the property sat on city land, making it a prime location for potential affordable housing — which former mayor Bill de Blasio ultimately pitched in 2017.
The proposed 123-unit housing project for seniors drew opposition from many neighbors and celebrities such as Robert De Niro and Patti Smith.
Adams initially supported the project, but abruptly reversed course in June 2025. Negotiations led by Mastro instead proposed to keep the garden and build 600 affordable units at three other locations.
The deal angered advocates for affordable housing, who accused Adams of putting the interests of garden-loving celebrities over the pressing need for homes in the city.
Mamdani, as he made his eviction vow, noted the divide between anti-garden advocates and showbiz types, such as his film director mother Mira Nair.
“My mother really disagrees with me on this, she tells me all the time,” he joked.
The potential settlement, which emerged this week, will give the thwarted project’s three developers — Pennrose, Habitat for Humanity, and Riseboro — the go-ahead to build homes at 22 Suffolk Street.
Mamdani, when asked why he didn’t press state lawmakers to reverse the parkland designation, again pointed the finger at Adams and Mastro.
“I think we’ve been clear that the actions of the prior administration made it nearly impossible to proceed on that vision and proceed on it in a way that would be realistic,” he said.
Mastro — who has spent his post-Adams life undertaking several causes at odds with Mamdani’s new administration — scored a temporary legal victory earlier this week against the mayor’s pied-à-terre tax for luxury second homes.
“Even when Mayor Mamdani does the right thing and I praise him for it — like maintaining Elizabeth Street Garden as dedicated parkland and producing even more affordable housing in the process (just as our administration proposed) — he still takes a swipe at me,” Mastro said in a statement to The Post after Mamdani name-dropped him Wednesday.
“So, another legal battle won, but apparently can’t win with him.”
