NY Times Comment, Michelle Spinner, July 14, 2026

Under this plan, public land will effectively be removed from full public control for 99 years. Tenants will be moved from traditional Section 9 protection into Section 8, which ultimately provides significantly less protection. Long-term public accountability will be diluted, if not erased. Billions in public subsidy would be redirected into private balance sheets. 

The Related Companies has a history of breaching their agreements with us in West Chelsea/Hudson Yards. They have engaged in delays and bait-and-switch tactics with both the current NYCHA project, which was required to be a renovation project NOT a demolition project, as well as the development of the Western Hudson Yards project (which was not only changed completely from the original agreement, but where former Mayor Eric Adams acquiesced to Related’s demand that the City pay the $2 billion for the “platform,” which should have been paid for by Related).

So what happens if Related breaches their agreement on this project, too? What if Related walks away without completing it? If they do, their financial liability amounts to virtually nothing. The taxpayer would be left holding the bag! And Chelsea might end up with a giant hole in the ground (and contaminated ground at that!) for decades. Think the Atlantic Yards Development: 14 years after the completion of the Barclay Center, a giant empty space remains where the required affordable housing has never been built.