The Mayor’s office and NYCHA have condemned a wave of bigoted flyers targeting a Manhattan housing redevelopment.
The posters, which have appeared near the Fulton and Elliott-Chelsea Houses in Chelsea, attack the public-private partnership between the New York City Housing Authority, Essen Development and The Related Companies with antisemitic, racist and homophobic slurs. Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s spokesman Sam Raskin and NYCHA spokesman Michael Horgan both issued statements blasting the materials after they were found scattered through the neighborhood.
One flyer lambasted “foreign wealth dirty zionist money” and dubbed the project “Related (to zionist) Cos.” Another warned, “BEWARE: TALMUDISTS ARE TRAINED TO CHEAT.” A bizarre poster framed the redevelopment fight as a “SOS NYCHA Holocaust Battle.” Yet another disturbing sign read, “Locals vs. Zionists, ‘Locals vs Epstein Clowns…Locals vs. Rothschilds, Locals vs. Talmudists….Locals vs. Foreign operatives.”
The campaign of hate also targeted individuals by name. One poster hurled a sickening homophobic slur at state Sen. Erik Bottcher, 42, who is gay. Another took aim at Lakeesha Miller, NYCHA’s executive vice president of leased housing, who is black, with “DEI hire?!…Unqualified?!…Incompetent?! Compromised?!” And quizzical emojis. Miller, according to her LinkedIn bio, has 27 years of experience in the housing sector, including with NYCHA since 2012.
Sources said they believe one provocateur is behind the bigoted posters, which also call for supporters of the redevelopment to be “prosecuted” and include other bizarre rantings.
“These are vile, antisemitic, racist and homophobic posters, and this kind of bigotry has absolutely no place in our city’s political discourse,” Raskin said.
“New Yorkers can express their views without resorting to antisemitism, racism, homophobia and dehumanizing imagery and rhetoric. As the mayor has said, the Mamdani administration will continue using every tool at our disposal to stamp out hatred of all kinds and build a city where every New Yorker is not only safe, but experiences a true sense of inclusion and belonging,” he continued.
Horgan fired back, “We strongly condemn the targeting and harassment of staff members, who are dedicated public servants working every day to assist New Yorkers.”
“As always, we remain focused on carrying out the Authority’s work and on delivering this forward-thinking project as it was promised to the benefit of 2,056 NYCHA households. Since 2019, residents have helped to outline the plan that addresses over $900 million in mounting physical needs at Fulton and Elliott-Chelsea while maintaining their rights and protections,” he added.
The massive overhaul is expected to bring 3,454 new, mixed-income homes — including up to 1,038 permanently affordable units — and has the backing of a variety of local pols, including Rep. Jerry Nadler, 77, Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal, 55, and City Councilman Carl Wilson. The project first refurbishes all 2,056 existing units as permanently affordable homes for NYCHA residents, then begins construction on the thousands of new units.
Residents and workers said there were legitimate concerns about the project, which requires demolition and massive construction — but agreed that the posters crossed the line.
Amy Powell, 54, a resident who works in corporate training, called the placards “very incendiary.”
“Not only do they directly target individuals by name, they bring up, questions about Jewish- American relations in a really inflammatory way and it seems to me that it distracts from the actual important issues more than helping people be more informed about the community,” Powell said.
She continued, “It just feels like slinging accusations and just saying things that are gonna make people get fired up and angry.”
“They’re definitely just trying to get people agitated and upset,” Powell added.
A man who identified himself as Seth B., 66, an animator, slammed the posters as “nonsense” for demonizing Jews.
“I think it’s nonsense,” he said of the posters. “What does Zionism have to do with housing… I don’t see the connection at all.”
“It’s not good to just turn Zionism into some bad word,” he added. “It’s already an issue.”
Nei Cruz, 64, a freelance make-up artist, said it was wrong for opponents of the project to target certain groups of people.
“[It] sounds like they are targeting certain groups of ethnicity and that may not be right. I’m anti-Zionist but my family is Jewish… See what I mean?” He said. “You have to be careful before you put these messages out.”
In the viral moment that sparked this broader controversy, the Fulton and Elliott-Chelsea redevelopment has faced sustained opposition from tenant advocates who argue NYCHA failed to complete required review procedures and that market-rate housing violates public housing law. A coalition of tenants filed suit against NYCHA, and the project was briefly stalled until a New York State Appellate Court found the lawsuit was not legally sound and lifted a temporary restraining order. Tenant leaders have vowed to continue fighting through harassment suits in housing court and potentially by refusing to vacate their apartments, with some saying they would chain themselves to radiators before moving out.
The construction plan will be phased in to minimize disruption to current residents and the community. Nearly every resident — 94% of households — will be able to remain in their existing apartments until their new homes are built and ready for occupancy. The remaining 6%, just over 100 households, are being relocated to refreshed units on the Fulton and Elliott-Chelsea campus during this phase. Residents will be returning to newly constructed buildings in approximately three years at Fulton and approximately four years at Elliott-Chelsea.