Antisemitic, racist and homophobic flyers attacking a major Chelsea housing redevelopment have appeared around the Manhattan neighborhood, raising alarm among residents, a Post investigation found.
The proposal is a public-private partnership involving the New York City Housing Authority, Essen Development and The Related Companies, with plans to tear down and replace deteriorating buildings at the Fulton and Elliott-Chelsea Houses.
The sweeping redevelopment would create 3,454 new mixed-income apartments, including as many as 1,038 permanently affordable units. It has drawn support from a range of local elected officials, including Mayor Zohran Mamdani, Rep. Jerry Nadler, Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal, state Sen. Erik Bottcher and City Councilman Carl Wilson.
But the project has also become the target of a troubling poster campaign, with hateful signs repeatedly surfacing near the NYCHA complex.
One flyer denounced “foreign wealth dirty zionist money” and referred to the developer as “Related (to zionist) Cos.”
Another warned: “BEWARE: TALMUDISTS ARE TRAINED TO CHEAT. “
A separate, bizarre poster described the redevelopment dispute as a “SOS NYCHA Holocaust Battle.”
One more disturbing sign read, “Locals vs. zionists, “Locals vs Epstein Clowns…Locals vs. Rothschilds, Locals vs. Talmudists….Locals vs. foreign operatives.”
One poster hurled a sickening homophobic slur at Bottcher, 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.
The overhaul of the dilapidated Fulton and Elliott-Chelsea Houses will first refurbish all 2,056 existing units as permanently affordable homes for NYCHA residents, and then begin 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 added, “It just feels like slinging accusations and just saying things that are gonna make people get fired up and angry,” Powell added.
“They’re definitely just trying to get people agitated and upset.”
A man who identified himself as Seth B. a 66-year-old 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.”
Reps for Mayor Zohran Mamdani and for NYCHA slammed the bigoted flyers.
“These are vile, antisemitic, racist and homophobic posters, and this kind of bigotry has absolutely no place in our city’s political discourse,” said Mamdani spokesman Sam Raskin.
“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.”
NYCHA spokesman Michael Horgan said, “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.”
The construction plan will be phased in to minimize disruption to current residents and the community, project planners said.
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.
