Written by: Jesse Lin

Emotions were on full-throated display last Wednesday night at the Manhattan Community Board 4 town hall. Protesters opposing the polemic redevelopment proposal of Fulton Elliott-Chelsea Houses clashed with supporters as MCB4 struggled to maintain decorum.

The event at Fulton Houses picks up where a July forum left off, when New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) and project developers, Essence Development and Related Companies, presented their final proposal to MCB4 for NYCHA’s first ever mixed-income apartments. 

MCB4 stressed the September town hall was just the start of the proposal’s public process and future opportunities for public input will take place during the community board’s Chelsea Land Use and Housing committee meetings. 

For MCB4, which has yet to support or oppose the developers’ proposal, the public process is crucial to learning more about the redevelopment. MCB4 chair Jeffrey LeFrancois cited that last August, MCB4 sent a six-page letter to NYCHA with an extensive set of questions about the redevelopment (the answers will be publicly shared following NYCHA’s response). 

Minutes in, tension erupted. 

“No demolition!” chanted a group of protesters wearing yellow shirts from Fulton Elliott-Chelsea Tenants Against Demolition for the first half hour.

“You are right to be angry, you are right to have emotion,” MCB4 member Joe Restuccia yelled against the din. “But this is a proposal, not a done deal. This is part of a long public process and tonight is one of the first times the public can speak,” he said, urging protesters to file behind the microphone on the large room’s left. 

The microphone did not keep the peace; Restuccia’s body was the only thing keeping a protester speaking at the microphone from the fist of a woman sitting in the front row. 

“Take the fight outside,” said MCB4 member Maria Ortiz as police officers broke up the scuffle and residents argued over who started the incident.

“This is out of control already,” remarked an attendee in the back. 

Developers in matching navy suits stood stiffy against the room’s right. Jamar Adams, managing principal of Essence Development, furrowed his brows for most of the meeting. Jonathan Gouveia, NYCHA Executive Vice President of Real Estate, wrote vigorous notes as residents listed off their support or opposition, denunciation or adulation, against a background noise of disorder. 

“We had choices, whether we wanted new apartments or tear them down. They had a vote,” said Fulton resident Mary Joel at the microphone, who supports the redevelopment proposal. 

30% of Fulton Elliott-Chelsea residents voted in last May’s non-binding survey on various redevelopment plans. Joel was one of the 60% who voted in favor of the redevelopment plan up for MCB4 approval. 

As Joel sat back down, some protesters responded that, “it wasn’t a real vote.”

“This is a massive gentrification plan that everyone in the Chelsea neighborhood should be concerned about,” said housing advocate Kristen Hackett through the town hall’s Zoom call, referring to the redevelopment’s plan to temporarily displace current residents while demolition and reconstruction are scheduled over six years. Meanwhile, police removed a heckling protester out of the building. 

The MCB4 chair concluded the town hall forty minutes early over murmurs and chatter, announcing that the next meeting on this subject will take place on October 5th at the Hotel Trades Council. 

As people began to pack up, a woman in the back commented, “We got nowhere.”