ACORN Protesters Storm The Beacon Tower
The anti-gentrification movement stepped it up a notch yesterday with ACORN protesters storming the open house at the Beacon Tower, Shaya Boymelgreen’s 23-story condo development at 85 Adams in Dumbo. What a shame! What a pity! We can’t live in New York City, the 50-odd protesters chanted while blanketing the sales office with flyers that…
The anti-gentrification movement stepped it up a notch yesterday with ACORN protesters storming the open house at the Beacon Tower, Shaya Boymelgreen’s 23-story condo development at 85 Adams in Dumbo. What a shame! What a pity! We can’t live in New York City, the 50-odd protesters chanted while blanketing the sales office with flyers that read, Beacon Tower developers get rich off the backs of working families.” The protesters main gripe? That luxury projects like the Beacon still receive tax breaks in a holdover from a program started in the 1970s to stimulated development. The ambushed Corcoran agents manning the open house called in the cops who removed the protesters. Prospective buyers didn’t appear to be too sympathetic to the cause. “Tell them to get jobs and go live in the projects,” said Jenny Malone, who was there checking out apartments. “People just want something for nothing.”
Activists Protest Dumbo Condos [Metro]
More coverage in the print edition.
newyorker, enough with the ad hominem remarks, make a substantiated point. all you did is praise “cunt-nest” and ridicule those in opposition.
im sure that is the intelligent “newyorker” thing to do.
Right on, newyorker, jism, tinarina and Drew. I’m glad not everyone on this blog has joined the Jenny’s of this city. While I have some large problems with a lot of ACORN’S past policies and alliances, they are correct in this case in that tax subsidies for luxury housing is criminal, and in this case, inexcusible. There is no trickle down in today’s housing market.
I fail to see how anyone can think that the creation of luxury housing is going to benefit anyone other than the developer and the buyers/renters. No developer is going to bask in the glow of his largesse and then go out and build low income and market rate housing because he made a nice chunk of change. Incentive programs are the only carrot that the city can dangle in front of large developers that work, and even then, they have to be dragged kicking and screaming to the table.
What really distubs me more is that people like Jenny, and those who agree with her on this blog, have no clue and don’t give a crap about “those people” (I hate that phrase) Most of “those people” are the true worker ants of this city. They are the ones who are answering the phones, delivering the mail and everything else, cleaning offices, protecting our streets, buildings and picking up the garbage. They take care of our kids, they teach our kids, they are nurses, hospital aides, check out clerks, and phone linemen. The list goes on and on and on. These people already live in the projects and work to get out, they already live in the Bronx, Queens and Brooklyn. I don’t think anyone at the demonstration was saying “I want someone to give me an apartment in DUMBO”, rather that they want the opportunity to have decent affordable housing built, especially if the tax abatements available for that purpose are not being used for them.
The increasing attitude of entitlement and snobbery between the haves and have nots in this city is going to cause more problems than race alone has ever done, and is much more dangerous on the whole. I don’t want to live in a city that looks like Haiti – barricaded rich enclaves surrounded by increasing amounts of poor, desperate and increasingly angry poor people. People like Jenny couldn’t give a damn as long as they don’t have to look at it.
I agree that tax incentives should be given to developers that create low income housing but the 421a abatements help to contribute to city coffers well before the abatements run out. Remember the additional tax revenues in the last few years that came from the RE boom were substantially made up of transfer taxes on sales of these kinds of properties as well as any other. Transfer tax is based on price sold and there is no kind of rebate on this.
The abatements helped spur the generation and capture of a substantial portion of these transfer taxes.
This thread has gone way off course, becoming a fight of rich versus poor. That is not the problem. The problem is an undeserving developer getting an unneeded tax break.
Shaya Boymelgreen is a scumbag. His funding comes through his development partner Lev Leviev, who made his money off of African blood diamonds. They cheat their workers (there’s a case against them with Spitzers office right now) and do sub-standard work.
The question is: in this frenzied real estate market, why is someone the caliber of Shaya Boymelgreen getting tax breaks that could go to above-board developers?
“Tell them to get jobs and go live in the projects”?
There’s nothing wrong with Jenny that I couldn’t fix with five minutes and an ax handle.
Is there nobody else out there who thinks NEITHER side deserves an entitlement?
developers shouldn’t be getting a public subsidy to build luxury condos in dumbo.
protesters do not deserve public help to live in a neighborhood they can’t otherwise afford.
“It’s interesting how paternalistic liberals have such low expectations of poor people in terms of behavior.”
Actually we liberals have low expectations of rich, conservative, neo-con types who, so far, have not surprised us with their behavior.
Not complaining? You must be kidding. Why do you think there is a huge influx of suburbanites moving back to the City?
The pro-poverty attitudes on this blog are so patronizing. Give up your own apartments if you think it will make a difference. I’m assuming most of you went to college; fork over half your salary so someone else can go.
This country is so neurotic. I’m sure most of the people buying into the Beacon Tower, and most of the people commenting here, come from some kind of poor immigrant history. I certainly do.
Yes, there are many disenfranchised groups in this country. Do you really think protesting about housing in a condo sales office has much meaning to any of them?