NYC tenants fight billionaire land grab

March against public housing demolition in NYC

The fight to save public housing brought people to the streets of New York City on Nov. 8. They gathered at three Manhattan locations — the Fulton, Elliott-Chelsea and Amsterdam houses — to stop urban removal.

These communities are home to thousands of people, including seniors and people with disabilities. Real estate tycoons want to make big bucks by tearing them down to build high-priced luxury apartments.

That’s what the Related Companies is seeking to do with the Fulton and Elliott-Chelsea homes in the Chelsea neighborhood. The outfit’s founder, Stephen Ross, who has a $17 billion stash, is determined to extend his Hudson Yards project along the west side of Manhattan.

Ross has already gotten $6 billion in government subsidies and wants $2 billion more for Hudson Yards, where the cheapest one-bedroom apartment rents for $4,500 per month. Among these handouts was the $3 billion spent by former mayor and fellow billionaire Michael Bloomberg to extend the No. 7 subway line to Hudson Yards.

A rally was held inside a courtyard at the Elliott-Chelsea homes. Talks were given in English, Spanish and Chinese.

Speakers included an elderly blind man who denounced the proposed tearing down of the seniors’ building, the newest structure there. A woman fighting cancer described the harassment of tenants— which includes the pounding of doors — who are being urged to leave.

“This is so painful,” she said, urging people to “don’t sign the lease.” Developers want tenants to sign away their Section 9 subsidized apartments —which protects them from being evicted— by offering a temporary 8 lease that can be canceled.

Dr. Jesse Fields reminded people of that grand old freedom song, “we shall not be moved.” “Housing for people, not for profit!” was the message of Oliver from the Young Communist League.

Other groups and individuals helping to build the protest were the Parents to Improve Safe Transportation (PIST); trade unionists; the Party for Socialism and Liberation; and Workers World Party.

Marching on the billionaires and trillionaires

Folks from the Fulton Houses, Amsterdam Houses in Harlem and the Holmes / Isaacs Houses on the East River had already arrived. It was time to start marching up Ninth Avenue to Hudson Yards.

Manhattan’s West Side was once filled with workplaces that employed thousands, including the biggest Nabisco cookie factory. Around 900,000 manufacturing jobs have been eliminated in New York City since 1958.

Thousands more were employed on the docks, whose jobs were destroyed by containerization. Now the area is being seized by real estate developers who are building housing for the well-to-do.

City officials have allowed public housing administered by the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) to deteriorate. A frightening example was the Oct. 1 partial collapse of a Mitchel Houses building in the Mott Haven neighborhood of the Bronx, which was probably caused by a gas explosion.

The ending rally was held across from the Related Companies H.Q. at Hudson Yards. People gathered in front of the financial octopus BlackRock, which controls over $13 trillion in assets.

That represents around $1,600 for every person on the planet. It’s obscene that this fantastic amount of social wealth is controlled by a handful of power brokers. So is the trillion dollars being spent by the Pentagon on war, not for human needs?

Among those who spoke truth to power there were representatives from the Coalition to Protect Chinatown and the Lower East Side, who spoke in both Chinese and English. They described their successful struggle to protect the Bowery tenants.

Tenants from the Holmes / Isaacs Houses told of how they fought off attempts to seize their courtyards and playgrounds. That’s what the authorities want to do with the basketball courts at the Fulton Houses.

Real estate interests consider these “infill” areas, where people can relax and enjoy themselves, to be wasted space that should be filled with luxury housing instead.

Johnnie Stevens of the Direct Action committee concluded by inviting people to join the informational picketing outside the HOU trailers. They’re located on West 17th and 19th Streets and West 27th Street between 9th and 10th avenues.

Picketing is being done Mondays through Fridays, to encourage tenants to exercise their legal rights not to sign away their Section 9 subsidized apartments prematurely. Please sign up at tinyurl.com/DefendHome.

Organizers will distribute signs to hold and “know your rights” pamphlets to explain why nobody has to sign anything or even enter the trailers being operated by the developers.