Hell No to ‘Elder Abuse’ in Chelsea: CB4 Rejects Demolition of NYCHA Houses
Elderly Chelsea residents took the streets this week to oppose the City of New York’s plan to privatize and demolish their homes. Photos courtesy of Lizette Colón
By Joe Maniscalco
It’s an inconvenient truth that Mayor Eric Adams, NYCHA, and the big money developers hoping to level the Fulton and Elliott-Chelsea Houses on the lower west side of Manhattan do not want to acknowledge—but the majority of residents actually living in the public housing complex do not support the plan.
And if the pro-privatization crowd needed any further evidence of that fact the full board of Community Board 4 gave it to them on Wednesday night when they voted to reject the demolition plan.
About 30 Chelsea residents delivered blistering testimony before the vote on Sept. 3, each blasting the “public-private” scheme to erase the Fulton and Elliott-Chelsea Houses over the next 16 or so years and reimagine the entire community as a gleaming collection of glass-encased towers and other buildings—70 percent of them filled with “market-rate” luxury housing.
Vulnerable elderly residents living in the Chelsea Addition—the public housing apartments located between W. 26th St. and W. 27th Drive and devoted to seniors—have already been given 90-day vacate notices.
But on Wednesday night, a diverse cross-section of Chelsea residents rose up one after another to vehemently oppose what Mayor Adams calls the “future of public housing.”
Chelsea residents fighting the demolition of their homes had to travel all the way to Mt. Sinai on 10th Avenue by bus on Sept. 3 to speak out at a meeting of Community Board 4.
Michelle Spinner, a representative from the nearby London Terrace Tenants Association, expressed the group’s outright “disgust about how dishonestly and shamefully NYCHA, the developers, and especially our electeds have treated and continue to treat the FEC residents—and especially the senior residents.”
“They have made a sham show, paid lip-service, and cynically checked off HUD requirement boxes—but in truth they have given no material voice to the FEC residents,” Spinner said. “And the misinformation, intimidation, and scare tactics perpetrated on the FEC seniors border on elder abuse.”
NYCHA, however, has worked hard to convince everyone that there’s been what it calls an “extensive public engagement process conducted from 2019 to 2023,” which has included “consultations with NYCHA residents, elected officials, community representatives, and housing organizations and advocates.”
But before taking a vote on the looming demolition and reconstruction project this week, Chelsea Addition tenant Shirley Cook told Community Board 4 that NYCHA’s plan was always presented to vulnerable residents as a “done deal” and that “renovation was spoken of loosely, but not likely.”
“Senior citizen are leaving their homes out of fear of being evicted or having the tenancies terminated all together,” she said. “Demolition was always the only option.”
About 30 Chelsea residents delivered testimony on Wednesday night’s Community Board 4 meeting in opposition of NYCHA’s plan to allow Related Companies and Essence Development to demolish the Fulton and Elliott-Chelsea Houses. No one spoke in favor of the plan.
Another Chelsea resident opposed to the demolition and reconstruction plan charged local elected officials, along with Related Companies and Essence Development—the developers poised to cash in on what many consider a naked land grab—with treating the community like a bunch of “suckers.”
“We are being manipulated by the real estate big dogs and our elected officials into giving up our precious public land and public housing—it’s a sucker’s game and we’re the suckers,” she said.
Susan Palmer Marshall, head of the Council of Chelsea Block Associations, called for a “real independent vote” on whether or not Related and Essence get a 99-year lease and the green light to bulldoze the Fulton and Elliott-Chelsea Houses.
“And if holding a true vote can derail the plan,” she added, “it shows the plan itself is broken.”
Council Member Erik Bottcher [D-3rd District], Assembly Member Tony Simone [D-75 District], and State Senator Brad Hoylman-Sigal [D,WF-47 District] all represent constituents living in Chelsea. None of them, however, responded to Work-Bites’ repeated requests for comment on this story.
In July, Bottcher and Simone, along with a representative for retiring Congress Member Jerrold Nadler [D-12th District], attended a special Town Hall with Chelsea residents held at P.S. 33 [located 281 9th Avenue] to discuss the demolition plan which left many with a “profound sense of dismissal and a pervasive feeling that their concerns were disregarded.”
Community Board 4 on Wednesday night ultimately backed residents’ call for a vote on the demolition plan amongst other recommendations when it officially rejected the project.
Among the many other objections Chelsea residents expressed during Wednesday night’s meeting included the impact prolonged demolition and reconstruction would have on children attending nearby P.S. 33.
A NYCHA spokesperson Work-Bites reached for comment on this story sought to minimize those very real concerns, however, while pointing to an Environmental Impact Statement [EIS] containing “significant adverse environmental impacts and any measures to minimize them to the greatest extent practicable.”
“The project would not result in a significant adverse impact on public schools, libraries, and childcare facilities,” the spokesperson offered.
Chelsea residents opposed to the privatization and demolition plan are hoping to take the fight to court. So far, the Chelsea Public Housing Legal Defense Fund has raised $25,500 through a GoFundMe campaign.