STOP EXTELL DEVELOPERS FROM CREATING POOR DOORS

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THEY WANT A CITY FOR THE RICH ONLY

Story By: James Edstrom
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One Riverside Park



We are disgusted that Extell wants to buy up the city which we built, rich, poor and middle class and create housing only for the rich with POOR DOORS for affordable Housing. These developers buy up our affordable housing stock, evict the tenants, then make deals with the city for a certain amount of affordable housing. Then they have the balls to make separate doors for lower income tenants. 


Extell is a big player in the real estate game in New York City. Memories are short in The Big Apple, but they are the company who was building on 57th street when the crane collapsed atop one of their projects. I remember talking to my friends who lived on the street, they had to go to hotels for days, had no access to their apartments and their lives were a nightmare for a week. 


I urge all my readers to follow the link and sign the petition to stop Extell and other developers from building in our city and making their projects only for the rich.


THE FOLLOWING LETTER WAS SENT TO TIMES SQUARE GOSSIP.


Income inequality has made New York more divided than ever. But now a development company called Extell wants to make this divide even more literal by requiring low-income residents at its One Riverside Park development in Manhattan to enter the building through a separate door.



Income-based discrimination is wrong and we have to speak out now to stop it. That's why I worked with my commmunity organization, New York Communties for Change, to launch my own campaign on CREDOMobilize.com, which allows activists to start their own petitions. My petition, which is to the Extell Development Company, says the following:



The days of ‘separate but equal’ are long gone. We demand that you withdraw your plans for a separate door for your affordable housing tenants at the One Riverside Park development and all other projects you develop.



Tell Extell Development: Stop discriminating against low-income New Yorkers.



My family has lived in Manhattan for over 40 years and we are appalled that Extell plans to have a separate door for low-income tenants. My community benefits from affordable housing that developers are required to offer to the overwhelming majority of New York residents who are ‘not-so-wealthy’ – but forcing working families to enter through a separate door is just wrong.



New housing developments in New York should maximize economic diversity. As we trade denser buildings for much greater affordability, we need to ensure that we are creating truly mixed-income communities for low-, moderate-, middle-, and high-income New Yorkers who not only live together, but freely enter and exit their buildings through the same doors.



Economic diversity makes our city better, and provides a brighter future for low-income and middle-income families. Extell, and all developers, should not only treat their residents equally, but work with City officials to offer greater affordability -- not ‘poor doors.'



While Mayor Bill de Blasio has already vowed to end ‘poor doors,’ the bill that will protect tenants from discrimination would not come into effect until next year. That’s why we need to fight back now and make sure Extell Development knows income segregation is unacceptable. 



Will you join me and add your name to my petition urging Extell development to scrap its plans to make low-income residents of a Manhattan apartment complex enter the building through a separate door?



Thank you for your support.

Elzora Cleveland

Comments

Anonymous said…
It's not "income inequality." It's proper building security. I as a middle-class individual wouldn't want to pay market rate to have the crime/social issues of a housing project deposited literally on my doorstep. Extell has the right to choose how best to keep its customers safe, and if this is how they choose to do it, it's their building and in the end you have no right to interfere. As frustrating as this is to "politically correct" people like you, this is still a free country.