Posted on

Protest against Erik Bottcher to save NYCHA from RAD/PACT privatisation and demolition

Protest outside Erik Bottcher's apartment building in Chelsea to save NYCHA from privatisation and demolition.

Protesters Oppose RAD/PACT Privatisation and Demolition Public Housing Plan in Chelsea

A group of NYCHA public housing tenants and preservation activists gathered for a protest march on Thursday, Oct. 2. The protest began in the area in front of 224 W. 30th St., where Councilmember Erik Bottcher (D-Chelsea) maintains a district office.

Councilmember Bottcher has discretion over the approval or rejection of the RAD/PACT privatisation and demolition of Fulton Houses and Elliott-Chelsea public housing developments in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan. He supports the upward transfer of wealth from a cash-strapped Local Public Housing Authority to MAGA billionaire Stephen Ross, who owns Hudson Yards. There plan is disastrous to public housing residents on many levels, including that this is a naked land grab by a donor and supporter of President Donald Trump’s White Nationalist agenda. The march concluded at Councilmember Bottcher’s apartment building, located at 415 W. 24th St.

The protest march was broadcast from both locations via the Citizen app, where it accumulated over 17,000 views amongst residents primarily concerned with quality of life issues in Chelsea.

Councilmember Bottcher faces a Nov. 4 general election against community activist Dominick Romeo, an independent.

Posted on

We’re seeking a Temporary Restraining Order to stop the forced relocations of NYCHA tenants until our Article 78 Petition is adjudicated

An Order to Show Cause with TRO in a Civil Action was filed today.

Petitioners sought emergency relief from the actual and imminent harm stemming from the forced relocations of public housing residents at two public housing developments, Fulton Houses and Elliott-Chelsea.

Before we showed up to file the Order to Show Cause, attorneys for Essence-Related filed a letter with our Judge, threatening to submit a motion of their own to oppose our TRO.

Attorneys for Essence-Related, the front-puppet and the puppet master, respectively, submitted a letter to the Judge in our case, notifying the Court that the RAD/PACT Landlord planned to file a motion to intervene in our updated Article 78 Petition and to oppose our TRO.

For its part, NYCHA filed a letter with the Court in opposition to our Order to Show Cause.

We sought emergency relief from the Courts after NYCHA and Essence-Related began forced relocations of senior citizens to further its plan to empty out and demolish two public housing apartment buildings before the ULURP and RFP questions could be decided in our case.