IGX

It would be difficult to come with a more on-the-nose metaphor for New York City's income inequality problem than the new high-rise apartment building coming to 40 Riverside Boulevard, which will feature separate doors for regular, wealthy humans and whatever you call the scum that rents affordable housing.

http://gawker.com/nyc-approves-apartmen ... socialflow

Because Manhattan's wealthy shouldn't have to mix with the sort of people who don't earn six figures.

There are a lot of reasons that I left New York. That Manhattan was, even fifteen years ago, becoming a playground for the super-wealthy was one of them.

Bud Charniga's gaping asshole wrote:There are a lot of reasons that I left New York. That Manhattan was, even fifteen years ago, becoming a playground for the super-wealthy was one of them.

Brooklyn is going fast.
There's a brand new building at the corner of Franklin Ave and Eastern Parkway. One bedrooms start at $2,700/month.
Three years ago they had a cop in a box over there just about 24/7.

From the article:

The city's Department of Housing Preservation and Development approved Extell's Inclusionary Housing Program application for the 33-story tower this week, the New York Post reports. The status grants Extell the aforementioned tax breaks and the right to construct a larger building than would ordinarily be allowed. According to the Daily Mail, affordable housing tenants will enter through a door situated on a "back alley."

Normally, nobody wealthy wants to live anywhere near public housing.

It doesn't exactly sound like a housing project to me.
I have a good friend, a college educated white boy, who bought an affordable housing apartment in Fort Greene a few years ago. Nobody here would mind having this guy for a neighbor.

Give me a break. If you've got the money there's nothing preventing you from living in the apartment on the nice street with the nice entrance with the doorman that tips his hat to you and the sculptures and waterfalls in the lobby. I didn't read anything here that suggests they will selectively choose people who shell out the $$$ because of the way they look or talk but if they do, it'll be grounds for a lawsuit.

Last I checked, luxury services were a luxury. And if they're in the same building, they're probably in the same zipcode, same police precinct, same fire dept, same school district, have access to the same parks, same library, and the same trendy coffee shops as the luxury side of the building. Pay affordable rent and send your kids to the same schools as the filthy rich? Some people would consider that a good deal.

As for me, I'll take my modest apartment across the river. There are still plenty of safe and inexpensive places to live in NYC. Immigrant communities promote family values and scorn "hip" areas... not a bad deal.

The Ginger Beard Man wrote:It doesn't exactly sound like a housing project to me.

For those accustomed to looking that far down their noses at people, it may be.