Good morning. It's Thursday. Today we'll look at a last-minute effort by three celebrities who oppose the city's efforts to reclaim a garden in NoLIta for an affordable housing project. We'll also get details on the state attorney general's response to Donald Trump's appeal of his $454 million civil fraud judgment.
A little park in NoLIta is getting last-minute support from some big names — Robert De Niro, Martin Scorsese and Patti Smith. They have written letters to Mayor Eric Adams protesting the eviction of a nonprofit group that turned the city-owned lot into a green space known as the Elizabeth Street Garden in the 1990s. Smith, who noted that she had read poetry and had performed there, called the garden "an entirely unique public sanctuary." De Niro wrote that "taking away the Elizabeth Street Garden is erasing part of our city's unique cultural history and heritage." The city said that it was moving ahead with its plan for the site: an affordable housing complex with 123 apartments for older New Yorkers. About 50 apartments will go to older people who are homeless. The letters are the latest salvo in the garden's campaign to save itself. The letters come on top of thousands of others that have gone to city officials, as the group tries to sway public opinion after losing a legal challenge. But Adolfo Carrión Jr., the housing commissioner, was unmoved. "They are a tenant that's about to not be a tenant," he said, adding that "until the moment this site is ready for development, it could be used by this group." He said that the city's housing crisis made this moment the time to destroy the garden. "It really doesn't matter who sends a letter," Carrión said. "I'm sure that the letter writers they've recruited in some cases don't have the whole context of the history of the site, let alone the understanding of the crisis that we're facing." The housing crisis — which Carrión said had driven the rental vacancy rate down to 1.4 percent in the city — was the subject of an executive order that Adams signed on Wednesday. The order directed municipal agencies to see whether their holdings included properties like parking lots and garages that could be developed for housing. The mayor's office said that any location that could go for housing "without disruption to critical municipal operations" would be considered — and would help reach Adams's target of building 500,000 new homes by 2032. But as my colleague Mihir Zaveri pointed out, new projects could face obstacles — parking garages might need to be rezoned, for example. And building on city-owned land won't alleviate the housing shortage; various estimates say that the New York area needs hundreds of thousands of homes. On Elizabeth Street, the City Council approved plans to use the lot for the affordable housing complex in 2019. The nonprofit went to court to fight eviction and won the first round in State Supreme Court in Manhattan but lost the next round when the city took the case to the Appellate Division. And when the group appealed to the state's top court, it lost again. Norman Siegel, the lawyer for the group, said he was looking into possible options involving issues not covered by the court decisions. But he said the eviction could come as soon as Sept. 11. The city has spent more than a decade trying to build the apartments. The lease with the garden dates to when Allan Reiver, a gallery owner who lived across the street, struck a deal with the city: He would clean up the lot and use the space as an outdoor showroom for his antiques business. He set up the nonprofit to oversee the garden after the city moved to take back the lot. Reiver died in 2021.
"No one's saying don't build housing in the neighborhood," said his son Joseph Reiver, who is the executive director of the nonprofit and who took issue with Carrión's claim that the arrangement all along was that the city could take back the parcel back for housing. He said his group had suggested other sites where the city could build affordable housing. Carrión said, "They're not in a position to offer alternative sites." He added, "This is a publicly owned site that was intended to be public housing." Carrión said there would be 14,000 square feet of open space once the building was completed and the lot was merged with the courtyard of the building next door. How the space is used will be determined by groups including Habitat for Humanity, officials said, with the current design providing space for a vegetable garden and public art. Sabrina Lippman, the chief executive of Habitat for Humanity New York City and Westchester County, said in a statement on Wednesday that the project was "a win-win-win development" that would provide green space along with apartments for "seniors enduring housing insecurity." Reiver said the new green space could not take the place of the garden, which he said was unique, "not just generic open space." "The city will never build something like Elizabeth Street Garden," he said. "I don't think something like Elizabeth Street Garden can be built in the New York we know today." WEATHER It's a mostly sunny day in the high 70s. The evening is mostly clear, with temperatures in the mid-60s. ALTERNATE-SIDE PARKING In effect until Sept. 2 (Labor Day). The latest New York news
We hope you've enjoyed this newsletter, which is made possible through subscriber support. Subscribe to The New York Times. Letitia James argues that Trump's $454 million fraud penalty should stand
Letitia James, the New York attorney general, told an appellate court that the $454 million civil fraud judgment against Donald Trump should stand. Trump is appealing the penalty, set by a judge in February, that could drain his cash reserves. "Mr. Trump indisputably participated in the fraud," James's office wrote in a court filing in response to Trump's appeal. Her office has argued that Trump exaggerated his net worth by as much as $2.2 billion in any given year. My colleagues Kate Christobek and Ben Protess write that James's filing was the latest move in a battle that has gone on for the better part of five years. The appeals court will hear oral arguments on Sept. 26. Its decision could come during the final stretch of the presidential campaign, in which Trump is seeking to return to the Oval Office. The trial before Justice Arthur Engoron began 11 months ago, but even before it started, Engoron ruled against the former president, saying that Trump had committed fraud. The trial was largely about how much Trump, his company and his adult sons should pay the state. After 11 weeks and 40 witnesses, Engoron ordered Trump to pay $355 million plus interest, a total of more than $450 million. In their appeal, Trump's lawyers argued that the judgment was excessive and that his habitual exaggerations were business as usual. They also asserted that Trump's purported victims — the banks that had given him lower interest rates based on his inflated claims of wealth — had made a profit. James's office countered in the filing on Wednesday that she had not needed to show that they had lost money. METROPOLITAN DIARY Extra-large letters
Dear Diary: As I approach the 20th anniversary of receiving my senior MetroCard, the getting of it is absolutely vivid in my memory. I was at a mobile unit on 14th Street at Union Square, and it took about three minutes. A woman there processed my information, printed my card and slid it to me under the window. I looked at it and then held it up to her. "Why does it say 'senior citizen' in such extra-large letters?" I asked. The woman leaned toward the window. "That's so you can read it," she said in a very loud voice. God, I love New York. — F. Murray Abraham Illustrated by Agnes Lee. Send submissions here and read more Metropolitan Diary here. Glad we could get together here. See you tomorrow. — J.B. P.S. Here's today's Mini Crossword and Spelling Bee. You can find all our puzzles here. Melissa Guerrero and Ed Shanahan contributed to New York Today. You can reach the team at nytoday@nytimes.com. Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox.
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N.Y. Today: Pleading for Elizabeth Street Garden
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