A big reason Democrats are witnessing an erosion of their traditional working-class base is that the people who depend most on government have lost faith in government.
A dramatic current example of this phenomenon is the saga of the Elizabeth Street “Garden,” a New York City-owned site in Nolita, Lower Manhattan.
It was first planned for senior citizen affordable housing during the Bloomberg administration. Now, during a universally acknowledged citywide housing emergency, a group of influential insiders in one of the wealthiest districts in New York — a Community Board district containing Greenwich Village, SoHo, NoHo, Hudson Square and the Meatpacking District that produced zero affordable apartments and only 24 apartments overall last year — have persuaded the Adams administration to put the project “on hold” and “under review.”
A short history is in order.
In 1991, at a time when New York was in a severe recession, the city issued a month-to-month license for the Elizabeth Street Garden site to Allan Reiver who used it for his sculpture storage and landscaping business. Reiver would allow his customers and friends to use the garden he established at the back of his premises.
After the Bloomberg administration proposed housing on the site as part of the broader Seward Park Redevelopment Plan, the de Blasio administration issued a Request for Proposals for the site.
A joint venture led by Habitat for Humanity was chosen to erect a seven-story building with 123 units of deeply affordable senior housing (for those with incomes below 60% of the area median income), a community facility, a small retail space, and 6,700 square feet of public open space. The project was supported by the local councilmember, the borough president, and approved by the City Council in 2019.
Reiver, then opened his “garden” to the general public, and joined by local opponents, sued in state and federal courts to stop the project and prevent his eviction. These lawsuits were ultimately determined to be without merit and a warrant of eviction was issued in March.
After more than a decade, the project is “ready to go”, has lined up the necessary subsidy and financing, and is scheduled to break ground by the end of the year.
But despite the Adams administration’s focus on housing as manifested by its commendable “City of Yes” zoning changes, and the mayor’s personal, public support for it, the Elizabeth Street project is now “under review” by a new first deputy mayor, Randy Mastro.
No programmatic reason has been given for this review, but according to the Times and the Daily News, progressives such as Robert De Niro, Patti Smith and the former head of the New York Civil Liberties Union, Norman Siegel — individuals who should be actively promoting affordable housing in the city — have joined forces with the mayor’s campaign advisor, Frank Carone, to stop the project.
Apparently, their argument is that affordable housing should be built elsewhere, just not in their backyard. It is particularly ironic that prominent senior citizens are opposing a project that will assure less well-off senior New Yorkers can live in high quality, affordable units with access to services, a beautiful new green public “backyard” and remain in their community.
A more constructive approach by those who want to preserve open space would be to deploy their money and influence to support and enhance the 7.8-acre Sara Delano Roosevelt Park two blocks away from the Elizabeth St. site.
Opponents of the project and Mastro are looking for “alternate” sites in the district. But in view of the city’s housing crisis, housing needs to be built on all appropriate sites, especially in districts like Community Board 2 that have failed to produce their fair share of affordable housing or, indeed, their fair share of any housing whatsoever.
Given these facts, is it any wonder that people who expect government to address their needs grow cynical when those who are, or should be, their advocates sell them out? While liberal icons espouse the importance of equitable growth and the government’s duty to help those most in need, when it comes to specifics, these same individuals often thwart progress.
This tragic development has been recently highlighted by a wave of recent books by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson (“Abundance”), Marc Dunkelman (“Why Nothing Works”) and Yoni Appelbaum (“Stuck: How the Privileged and the Propertied Broke the Engine of American Opportunity”).
Klein, Applebaum, Dunkelman: look no further than the Elizabeth Street Garden project. You can rest your case.
Weisbrod was president of the city’s Economic Development Corp. and chairman of the City Planning Commission.
