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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.

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NYCHA tenants in the Chelsea Houses senior building have received notices of 90-day forced relocation over looming RAD/PACT privatisation and demolition scheme

Seniors waited in a line to speak with a reporter about the forced relocation by NYCHA over the looming RAD/PACT demolition of public housing.

Over a dozen seniors lined up last week outside to speak with a reporter. One senior citizen had to go rest upstairs after becoming overcome by stress.

Last week, the New York City Housing Authority began delivering notices to residents of the senior building at the Chelsea Houses public housing development known as the the Chelsea Addition. The notices informed tenants that they had 90 days to agree to forced relocations do to the looming demolition of the Chelsea Addition. Residents of a public housing building on 19th Street in nearby Fulton Houses received similar notices on or about the same day.

A narrated video of part of the gathering was shared on Facebook Live and was reshared on the X social media microblogging site.

Seniors waited in a line to speak with a reporter about the forced relocation by NYCHA over the looming RAD/PACT demolition of public housing.
Seniors waited in a line to speak with a reporter about the forced relocation by NYCHA over the looming RAD/PACT demolition of public housing.

The reporter moved a report, published by Gothamist, in which it was confirmed that, “Residents of a senior housing complex in Chelsea are receiving vacate orders as the New York City Housing Authority moves forward with its plan to replace and modernize a sprawling public apartment complex with both new public housing and market-rate units.”

The Democrats in the District are supporting the upward transfer of wealth from a cash-strapped NYCHA to a MAGA billionaire.

Everyone from U.S. Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y. 12, State Sen. Brad Hoylman (D-N.Y. 47), Assemblymember Tony Simone (D-A.D. 75), Councilmember Erik Bottcher (D-Manhattan 3), and LGBTQ progressive activist Allen Roskoff are complicit in the RAD/PACT demolition of public housing.

We call the American style of Government a Duopoly, because both corporate political parties agree on major issues. For example, Democrats support the wholesale end of Section 9 public housing by transferring all public housing residents to Section 8 rental assistance vouchers at the same time when President Donald J. Trump, Sr. (R) has advocated for ending Section 8 rental assistance vouchers as part of his administration’s implementation of Project 2025, the MAGA blueprint for shredding the social compact.

Although New York Democrats claim to oppose Trump’s MAGA White Nationalist agenda, in actuality, Manhattan Democrats actually support Project 2025 given the RAD/PACT demolition facing NYCHA in Chelsea. Democrats, protected by LGBTQ progressive acctivist Allen Roskoff, for example, take it a step further by supporting the upward transfer of wealth to MAGA billionaire Stephen Ross, the owner of The Related Companies, which stands to profit from the demolition and displacement of public housing residents in Chelsea.

Thus far, the only NYCHA preservation group, which has filed a lawsuit to review the RAD/PACT privatisation and demolition of Fulton Houses and Elliott-Chelsea, has been Fight For NYCHA.

Fight For NYCHA have helped organise several news reports about the looming evictions. Our Article 78 Petition is now fully-briefed and is pending before Manhattan State Supreme Court. We’ve also been asking other groups to help residents in the Chelsea Addition and the 19th Street building to begin proceedings in Housing Court. Please donate what you can to our Go Fund Me to cover our expenses.