Zohran Mamdani has waded into a bitter and long-running fight over New York City housing, saying that if he is elected mayor, he would turn a city-owned garden in Lower Manhattan into affordable housing.
The city has been trying to build housing on the site, currently home to the Elizabeth Street Garden, for at least a decade. Neighbors and activists in the community, including several celebrities, have waged a ferocious battle in response, filing lawsuit after lawsuit to stop the development.
To advocates for more housing, the fight over the one-acre plot in the Nolita neighborhood became an emblem of how difficult it is to build in wealthy areas and address the city’s dire housing shortage. To supporters of the garden, the struggle felt like a desperate stand to preserve a sliver of green space.
The matter seemed settled earlier this year when a judge ruled in favor of the city. Mayor Eric Adams, who has styled himself as a pro-housing mayor, said he supported the housing development. An eviction of the lot’s nonprofit tenant, which had fought the city, was scheduled for March.
Then, in June, Mr. Adams reneged. The nonprofit’s website now declares “The Garden is Saved.”
Mr. Mamdani’s comments, which came during a live taping of a podcast with the news publication Hell Gate on Friday, indicate the saga might not be over.
Mr. Mamdani, a state assemblyman and the Democratic nominee, said he would evict the nonprofit in his first year in office, if elected, and restart the housing project. Earlier, in June, he told The New York Times that the garden should be closed to build affordable housing on the site.
Mr. Mamdani’s comment reinforces his pro-development leanings. It contrasts with his chief rival in the race, former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, who is running as an independent and has said it is a mistake to close gardens.
Mihir Zaveri covers housing in the New York City region for The Times.
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