Big Apple celebrities Robert De Niro, Martin Scorsese and Patti Smith have joined in the fight to save the decades-old Elizabeth Street Garden from being torn down to make way for affordable senior housing. The three cultural icons penned letters this summer imploring Mayor Eric Adams to have a change of heart and maintain the leafy green haven and sculpture garden in the heart of Nolita. “The Garden is not only an oasis of greenspace within our city, but truly stands as a work of art,” Smith, 77, who has performed in the green space to raise awareness of its impending doom, wrote in her Aug.
14 letter. “Our great city is in danger of becoming a developer’s unchecked haven, and we look to you to help us set a lasting precedent for how New York City will protect public art and green spaces for the future.” The trio’s last-ditch pleas were made public Thursday just three weeks before the expected Sept.
10 demolition date. The project — which would replace the 20,000-square-foot sculpture garden with 123 units of affordable housing for the elderly — has endured years of heavy litigation and public protests, but Adams has the power to shut down construction before the bulldozers break ground. Academy Award-winning legends Scorsese and De Niro , both 81, were raised in Little Italy and have produced numerous films inspired by the rough-and-tough past of the neighborhood — including the appropriately-named 1973 classic “Mean Streets.
” “When I was growing up,.