The New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) has announced plans to building luxury apartment towers at eight public housing developments in Manhattan, including Douglass Houses. Such a plan would deprive Douglass residents of open space, greenery, light, and air. It would add further congestion to already overcrowded streets, bus lines, and subways in the neighborhood.

Income earned from the leasing of this open space would not be re-invested back into Douglass Houses, but rather would be used to cover general NYCHA expenses. Only 20% of the units in the proposed towers would be set aside as affordable, and even these would mostly be out of reach of families with the lowest incomes.

The money earned from this plan could easily be recouped by less damaging means. The City could simply stop charging NYCHA for policing (an expense it does not put on private buildings), and for “payments in lieu of taxes” (which non-profit housing developers are not required to pay).

We demand the following from Mayor Bloomberg:
* Halt the rush to push through irrevocable contracts for this development plan before the next mayor takes office in 2014;
* Immediately make public the RFPs which will be sent to developers, and
* Make the residents of Douglass Houses full partners in any planning for future use of land in their development, with ample opportunity for them to provide input and have their opinions heard and respected by NYCHA.