Gardens are Great, but not at the Expense of New Housing
By Mayor Rudy Giuliani
New York City is thriving and our population is now at the highest
level in our City's history. That's great news for our economy and
our future. But it also means that it can be difficult for some New
Yorkers to find a decent and affordable place to live.
New York City works hard to encourage the development of affordable
housing, but right now the construction of 2,350 new homes and apartments
across New York is in jeopardy. These developments are designated
for middle-income families looking to buy their first homes, and for
working families and low-income senior citizens who need apartments.
So what's stopping their completion? A lawsuit filed by Eliot Spitzer,
the State's Attorney General, who wants to keep the housing sites
for gardens that have sprung up in the vacant lots that now exist
on these locations. These gardens however, were created with the explicit
understanding that they were temporary uses of vacant city-owned property.
Gardens are great, but not at the expense of new housing.
As a recent New York Times poll points out, New Yorkers now
have a fundamentally more positive outlook on their City's economy,
the safety of their streets, and the best view of their City's future
in nearly a quarter of a century. And if given the choice to move,
more and more New Yorkers would choose to stay and live here in the
capital of the world. As the number of people who want to make New
York their home continues to rise, we must take the necessary steps
to provide them with affordable housing. With a citywide vacancy rate
of just 3%, we need to do everything we can to increase the amount
of affordable housing in New York City. That is why we are so anxious
to move forward with the construction of these 2,350 new housing units,
which have thus far been held up in court.
Attorney General Spitzer has alleged that these gardens need to be
kept due to a lack of open public space. This claim is simply unfounded.
In fact, over the past seven-and-a-half years we've added more than
1,900 acres of new parkland to New York City - more than any administration
since Robert Wagner's nearly 40 years ago. And unlike community gardens,
these public spaces are open to all New Yorkers, not just to a select
group of neighborhood residents.
In any event, the majority of community gardens in our City will
not be affected by these new housing plans. In fact, the City plans
to build on only 131 - or 18% - of the original 711 "Greenthumb"
community garden sites. Many of these developments already have the
approval of their local community boards, and in most instances the
construction will be on land that previously was home to housing units
which were lost through landlord abandonment. This will strengthen
and benefit communities, and that's why the communities themselves
want this new housing.
I've listened to people across the City express the urgent need for
affordable new housing. One powerful example of this need is the fact
that the City recently received 6,000 applications for just 96 new
homes in the East Village of Manhattan. We're aggressively working
to meet the need for affordable new housing, but Eliot Spitzer's ill-conceived
lawsuit is unnecessarily stopping the new construction, while jeopardizing
$48 million in state and federal funds in the process.
It's not right. And it's not in the long-term best interests of New
York City. My administration is committed to building new housing
and encouraging home-ownership, just as it has been committed to developing
large amounts of parkland across the City. There are times when we
have to make tough decisions in the interest of what is best for all
New Yorkers, but we can't do this with frivolous lawsuits blocking
our path. If you would like to see the City build more housing for
you, your friends, or your family, let the Attorney General know that
gardens are nice, but affordable housing doesn't grow on trees.
