Opinion: The David vs. Goliath Battle Over Public Land in Chelsea

Anyone concerned about the unchecked power of private companies to orchestrate sweeping change in our communities should pay close attention September Jackie Lara at a protest at the Fulton Neighborhood Center and the district board hearing in Manhattan A David versus Goliath battle is at this moment raging over extremely valuable general land in Manhattan s Chelsea neighborhood While the outcome will affect thousands of local residents it has huge implications for populace housing across New York City and the country Anyone concerned about the unchecked power of private companies to orchestrate sweeping change in our communities should pay close attention This cautionary tale offers myriad lessons to ensure proper safeguards and fair participation of all key stakeholders when such opportunities or attempted land grabs depending on your perspective emerge in the future The Goliath in this saga is Related Companies the firm that developed ultra-luxury Hudson Yards the largest private real estate project in United States history Valued at over billion dollars Related has a spotty record of fulfilling group promises having lately withdrawn a casino proposal after heated opposition and delivering far fewer housing units than promised when Hudson Yards received approval in Our Davids are the Fulton and Elliott-Chelsea FEC community housing tenants fighting Related s planned demolition of their homes function d u ac var s d createElement 'script' s type 'text javascript' s src 'https a omappapi com app js api min js' s async true s dataset user u s dataset campaign ac d getElementsByTagName 'head' appendChild s document 'zwcugqstyjmfwec wgkn' With its partner Essence Growth Related proposes to demolish all of the New York City Housing Authority NYCHA buildings in Chelsea with total units housing tenants across two campuses spanning th and th avenues between th and th streets Constituents housing residents will be segregated into three new -story high-rises on each campus An additional market-rate and permanently affordable units will be built on the other percent of the land A lottery for new affordable housing nearby previews how expensive those permanently affordable apartments may be with several one-bedrooms listed for and two-bedrooms per month highlighting the deep chasm between so-called affordable housing and the rentals several low-income residents desperately need Construction is projected to last years minimum with earliest completion in but could stretch up to Despite the project s fast-rising construction costs now a staggering billion developers and elected leaders have charged ahead with the controversial plan touting it as the future of populace housing While everyone agrees on the shameful decades of deferred maintenance and Congressional disinvestment in general housing arguments and counter-arguments have flown back and forth about the necessity of a complete tear-down only the third in NYCHA history versus renovating existing units Proponents such as Mayor Eric Adams claim the buildings are beyond repair while critics dispute the blight narrative as a ploy to execute a land grab pointing to developers and NYCHA s assessments of the FEC buildings as structurally sound The proposal transitions complexes to Section funding a subsidy voucher activity for private rentals under the relatively contemporary Permanent Affordability Commitment Together effort or PACT which allows NYCHA to lease citizens housing to private developers for years and transfer management to private companies While PACT has facilitated building upgrades and repairs a lengthy Human Rights Watch statement documents how privatization has reduced tenants protections against eviction and ensured less oversight and recourse to seek redress PACT tenants also released feeling pressured to sign leases they didn t fully understand A latest Comptroller s Office audit finds that evictions in PACT developments have significantly increased with rates almost five times as high as other NYCHA properties and that PACT property managers pursue evictions at significantly higher rates than NYCHA and private landlords Ultimately NYCHA plans to convert one-third of its housing to PACT Instead FEC tenants are calling on NYCHA and elected bureaucrats to repair and preserve their existing homes under current Section funding allocated by the U S Housing Act of which established a federal funding system for general housing Milagros Lugo a lifelong Chelsea resident who s lived in Elliott-Chelsea nearly years is fighting demolition and lamented They re erasing society You could build brand new buildings anywhere That doesn t make sense to me But as women in our s born into this neighborhood from poor and working-class backgrounds we understand that while tearing down a -year-old society may not make moral sense Chelsea is no longer just anywhere The industrial Chelsea of our girlhood has become an international tourist destination renowned for its art galleries and High Line Park home to affluent residents who can pay median market-rate monthly rents ranging from to for one- and two-bedroom apartments Our residence in deeply affordable housing complexes is the only reason that we and our longtime neighbors can afford to stay here With the joint record of decision signed by NYCHA and the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Expansion HPD residents of two buildings slated for demolition this fall have received their -day vacate notices One building Chelsea Addition houses older adults who must move first and twice subjecting them to considerable distress and disruption in their final years Apparently Related Essence would rather menace the terrible optics of forcing disabled elder residents to vacate amid much opposition and confusion with no plan to replace their desirable senior-only NYCHA housing in order to swiftly relocate tenants perhaps perceived as more pliable given their vulnerability Chelsea Addition resident Aleksandra Jargilo shared I m scared But fear hasn t weakened her and various of her neighbors resolve to stay Like a large number of NYCHA residents Aleksandra has a history of prior displacement arriving in the U S in as a Polish refugee I escaped communist Poland Beating her chest she shouted And I m not moving The Legal Aid Society has warned the proposal will cause considerable harm and could lead to permanent displacement especially of seniors relocated in advance of the demolition Staff attorney Lucy Newman explained This plan is unequivocally not resident-led and is guaranteed to uproot the lives of thousands of vulnerable New Yorkers multiple of whom have resided in the FEC region for generations Who will protect tenants and ensure their voice is heard So far various feel frustrated ignored and unsupported by their elected representatives At a new Town Hall the district s Councilmember Erik Bottcher who supports the project notified a booing crowd I would never help a plan that I didn t believe the majority of the tenants supported And yet Bottcher and other elected leaders who favor the plan including Congressman Jerry Nadler District Assemblymember Tony Simone Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine State Sen Brad Hoylman-Sigal and Mayor Eric Adams have taken no approaches to reassess the proposal based on constituents concerns But in a contemporary full board meeting Manhattan Public Board has taken a stand against the current demolition proposal They have voted to approve a letter which states that the board does not assistance the NYCHA plan s current plan alternatives and calls for a vote on each campus monitored by a third party neutral organization to arrive at consensus on how to proceed with redevelopment among other guidance outlined to govern a new path forward Residents fighting demolition reject the drumbeat from politicians and private real estate developers claiming the process is resident-led and argue the developer-funded survey produced an inaccurate picture of tenant preferences pushing back against the collective gaslighting that they have chosen the wrecking ball They identify a deliberate lack of transparency in a survey distributed by NYCHA and Related Essence as misleading residents The survey inquired FEC residents to choose among different construction renovation and rezoning options but never once mentioned demolition or a complete tear-down to make way for new construction Materials only mentioned five to eight years of construction not the -year timeline for project completion Decisively the survey didn t offer tenants the choice to keep their Section housing Only percent of residents participated Of surveys submitted selected renovating existing units and the other chose new construction It s unclear whether tenants fully understood the survey or the consequences of not participating and that responses counted as a vote rather than administrative information gathering Residents rejected a plan to demolish just two buildings with new infill construction begging the question of how a majority could swing towards a complete tear-down only a limited years later Plan opponents collected at least signatures for their own petition against demolition They cite evidence of strong anti-demolition patronage in the polling of Elliott-Chelsea tenant association president Renee Keitt who opposes demolition and outcome of the City Council primary for Jackie Lara another society leader and Fulton resident who ran on an anti-demolition platform Lara defeated incumbent Erik Bottcher in the two voting process districts home to the FEC campuses Of her decisive wins she commented These numbers send a crystal-clear message The people most of impacted by the plan NYCHA tenants do not want their homes demolished their land privatized or luxury towers built on masses housing campuses And the broader Chelsea population stands with them Given deep discontent with the current plan and unresolved questions about the survey s validity a new and fair vote with a questionnaire revised for clarity carried out by an independent third-party is a reasonable and necessary safeguard to ensure that the demolition and rebuild reflects the will of tenants The future of several thousand residents hinges on the difference of survey responses that ultimately amounted to a crucial vote after the fact Fabricated urgency to rush demolition not only harms populace housing residents on the front lines but their surrounding neighbors who will also endure the strength and environmental hazards from noise dust corruption and the loss of green space and mature trees over decades of construction The significance of Chelsea s land battle transcends one neighborhood It s a chilling affair survey in how a private real estate developer could upend housing rights and district self-determination for generations to come in New York City and across America Time s running out for residents who continue the fight to preserve their homes It s not a done deal urges Milagros who drags out a large banner to district meetings and masses hearings to raise awareness and rally her neighbors She humbly admits sometimes lacking the facility to reel off smooth speaking points letting her banner speak for her and her society Save Our Homes NO DEMOLITION Fulton and Elliott-Chelsea Houses They face steep odds against a powerful real estate company with every source at its disposal to move them out of the way But they persist leafleting protesting testifying at hearings asking hard questions no one wants to answer and fundraising for the Chelsea Constituents Housing Defense Fund to assist senior neighbors facing the bulldozers first No matter the outcome FEC tenants and their neighbors deserve accountability and to have their concerns addressed with full disclosure of the financials behind oft-repeated contends that the only way to save their homes is to destroy them If a land grab can happen here it can happen anywhere in America But so can a miracle if those in power have the political courage to slow down and correct subject if necessary before tearing a gaping hole through the heart of Manhattan and specific of the last large-tract deeply affordable housing left in New York City Stacy Torres is an assistant professor of sociology at UC San Francisco and author of At Home in the City Growing Old in Urban America The post Opinion The David vs Goliath Battle Over Constituents Land in Chelsea appeared first on City Limits