Real estate developer Extell received permits to build mixed-income housing at 40 Riverside Drive under Mayor Bloomberg with two important caveats: tax breaks for Extell and segregated entrances for the residents. While we appreciate Borough President Brewer, Councilwoman Rosenthal, and Mayor de Blasio expressing their disapproval of this policy, we would like to make clear that this will NOT be tolerated and that there are many people in NYC and around the country fervently against this. We demand the revocation of permitting for any and all housing in process with segregated entrances until such errors are fixed, and the modification of the law to ensure housing plans such as this will not be allowed in the future.
Why is this important?
In the opinion of many, this "poor door" is a slap in the face to lower income people, symbolizing a growing divide in a city where affordable housing dwindles daily and in a country where wealth is being consolidated to an historic degree. It also shamefully recalls Jim Crow-era policies which we know to be dehumanizing and degrading. While politicians have come out against the allowance of such housing, we must motivate them with our actions and our passion to stop such building immediately: no equivocation, no exceptions.
