"Sorry, poors. This door is for Rich Folk only!"

[Brandon's Impotent Rage]

(via Newsweek)

NYC recently approved a plan for a 'poor people door' in a luxury apartment complex in the Upper West Side. (http://www.newsweek.com/new-york-city-approves-poor-door-luxury-apartment-building-260218)

Basically, with the Inclusionary Housing Program application, developers can build larger, more posh apartment complexes if the also provide low-income housing either on- or off-site.

The low-income housing in this case is part of the very same complex....but the inhabitants of said housing will not be allowed access to perks like the gym or swimming pools (yes, pools as in plural). And that's ON TOP of being forced to endure the indignity of having to use the 'poor people' door.

*sigh*

And people wonder why I think developers and landlords are scum.

[consuming negativity]

I don't care who you are, I'd consider a local who cleaned that place up with a few bricks and spraypaint to be worthy of positive recognition.

[Trap Queen Voxxy]

This is fucked but I kinda 'rofl'd' while reading this tho. Their putting people like me together with yuppies? That's like asking for trouble and id be in that pool and gym in 5 minutes, quit playin, lmao, sign me up foo, frfr, I need some hot tub time.

[LiaSofia]

I couldn't stop laughing at the suggestions for alternative names. My vote goes to ''portal of destitution''. And as for the inclusionary housing program, well I hope someone noticed the irony.

The claim usually given in these situations is that mixed-income housing stops the problems that arise when there is concentrated poverty, but IMO that's missing the point.

[Dagoth Ur]

They're putting on a show for us so we can build up our hate and exterminate them. Truly capitalism wants to become socialism.

[The Red Star Rising]

You can almost feel the mustache twirling. This is cartoon villain level douchiness.

[Kropotkinite]

I'll be optimistic and hope that any left-leaning privileged residents will use the "poor door" in solidarity and refuse to pay their rents until this changes.

[Sinister Cultural Marxist]

Well, at least they're honest. And at least we know which door to aim our guns at. And we can use this as an inspiration - every revolution needs its "rich person's wall". You know, the kind of wall which is the last thing they'll ever see.

[Sociocrat]

This story doesn't surprise me. In capitalist America, we already live in a society divided between the rich and poor. Every city has its bourgeoise apartments for the wealthy, while the poor can only afford to live in the slums. This fact alone already makes our income inequality more apparent, but a door for the rich and the poor? That just sounds discriminatory, which is why it's getting so much attention. If we let this spread, than public establishments across the country will be segregated between rich and poor. It'll be just like the Jim Crow South all over again.

[LiaSofia]

In capitalist America, we already live in a society divided between the rich and poor.

Reminds me of those Soviet Russia jokes. In Capitalist America door shuts you. :(

[Creative Destruction]

http://www.theonion.com/articles/nyc-approves-apartment-building-with-separate-rich,36520/


“Once again, the middle class gets ignored.”

...

“Wouldn’t it be easier just to make them crawl on their hands and knees through the regular door?”

...

“Oh great, so we’re just giving the poor free doors now?”

lol

[Kingfish]

Though ugly and repulsive like Sinister Cultural Marxist at least it is honest and not trying to cover up the unfortunate realities of the system we live with its "Ritz Equality" .On the plus side I think this is a far better alternative than having the poor concentrated off in ghettos. It is still "out of sight out of mind" but to a far lesser extent that it would otherwise be. Although Im sure no doubt this will be used as an example of free market fixing the problem of ghettos by libertarians unfortunately.

[Dennis the 'Bloody Peasant']

Same thing in UK, some Class War goons are having a lil protest at one of the buildings on Wednesday I think (I forget where, somewhere in London no doubt).

[LiaSofia]

Out of interest, how different are the poor people's apartments? I know they won't have use of the pools or gym but most people don't have access to those things for free (unless I've been lied to :blink:). I'm guessing they'll be a lot smaller. Are there any developers' plans so we can compare?

I know income inequality is hard to remedy, and the capitalist political structures are more to blame than individuals caught within the system, but I still don't see how people can live in these places and not feel uncomfortable about it. It's like living in a luxury gated community next to a favela.

[Dennis the 'Bloody Peasant']

Details of Class War protest about this practice in London

ONE COMMERCIAL STREET
WEDNESDAY JULY 30th
5.30pm

[Depardieu]

explicit acts of class violence are not good just because they highlight inequality. discrimination is violence and nobody deserves that shit just because they wanna live in a posh part of the city, most likely to work for rich people. this kind of thing should obviously not be allowed by authorities, tennants, protestors, vandals, arsonists, everyone

[bricolage]

So I think there's a few extra things to say about this beyond what the normal response has been:

So these aren't necessarily (in London at least) flats for poor people. They are 'affordable housing' not social housing so the rents are (I think) 80% of the market rate and seeing as the market rate is insane this isn't that cheap. Also One Commercial Street isn't really in a super posh bit of London, it's on the edge of the City of London but the whole Aldgate area has been kind of run down for a while now. It's only in the last couple of years when a series of new developments have gone up - and building on the 'edgy' proximity to Shoreditch/Brick Lane - that it's become desirable for the wealthy. Still, they probably refer to it as up-and-coming. The flip side to this is that there are tons of evictions taking place all the time in Tower Hamlets (the borough that Aldgate is in) as well as families increasingly crammed into smaller flats and strangers sharing two/three a room.

But the door bit. Ok, so on the one hand this is definitely because they don't want people from different classes having to bump into each other however it's also a reflection of rents. Rents for the affordable housing flats are lower so your rent isn't seen to include the swimming pool and lobby. I've also heard that the housing associations running these flats don't want the hassle of having the main entrance because it bumps up insurance costs. Anyway I still 100% in agreement that this is the increasingly common face of gentrification (actually there was one development in Elephant & Castle where the developers said they couldn't build affordable housing because they couldn't afford separate entrances and separate lifts, so they just didn't do it) but I also think there are some nuances to it all that are getting lost.