Our project is affordable housing. The topic is grand in that of itself, because of this, we focused our attention on one aspect of affordable housing; New York City Housing Authority, better known as NYCHA. NYCHA is the largest affordable housing corporation in the United States. With 325 buildings and over 175,000 apartments, this massive aid is an integral part in the survival of thousands of families. As good of an idea NYCHA is, its execution has been poorly at best, and many people suffer as a result.
In our project, we wanted to show the residents that are affected by the neglect NYCHA has been placing for decades. No matter how many times a resident request for help, they are constantly told that the issue is being worked on, despite the issue not being resolved at all. In the event that an issue is resolved, it usually takes months to resolve, sometimes even years.
Now that we knew our topic is NYCHA what better place than city hall park. The mayor is the one that makes changes to our city and to stage our performance as close to mayor DeBlasio’s ears as possible is the right decision.
Another great reason for choosing this area for our performance is that across the street from city hall park is the NYCHA headquarters. We found it quite fitting that the building looks evil.
Upon our first visit to city hall park as a group, we took notice to the flow of foot traffic. Most foot traffic went around the fountain at the center of the park, so we saw it fitting that we stage our performance in front of the fountain.
The next integral part of our performance is the NYCHA representative. The representative is the embodiment of NYCHA’s lack of care, unwillingness to fix any issues, and going above and beyond to show that its residents do not matter. The representative needed to be devoid of passion or empathy. All of his response needs to be cookie cutter responses that NYCHA constantly give to its residents. Comments such as “we are working to resolve this issue as soon as possible” and “do not worry sir/ma’am, this is being worked on as we speak” is what drives this representative. He is only interested in looking out for himself, and his comfort is paramount.
The suggestion box is an excellent way to show NYCHA’s lack of care towards its residents. On the outside, the box looks normal and it really does seem as if NYCHA is making an effort to help its residents, but when you peek inside this box, you will see NYCHA’s true motive.
Inside the box is a fire that is fueled by the suggestions that NYCHA residents insert, and because it is very cold, the NYCHA representative encourages anyone to insert as many suggestions as possible. This is all for the purpose of keeping the representative warm, and in no way has to do with taking these suggestions serious. The inside walls of the box are lined with men in suits laughing. This is supposed to represent that heads of NYCHA laughing at how its residents think that this suggestion box is serious.
During the performance, two NYCHA residents talk to the representative about the issues they are having in their residence. After a back and forth, the representative’s lack of care continues to rise, and he encourages the residents to take care of their own issues. An advocate on the side of the residents hears this and is offended by the representative’s remarks. While the residents lacked the facts and only brought their experience, the advocate brought all the facts.
The advocate has a poster displaying some of the many issues that NYCHA has, and in conjunction with the information, this makes the representative nervous. After being barraged with facts and figures, the representative does what do best, run away.
The point of our project is to inform people of the issues that NYCHA is currently facing. These issues are very serious, are currently happening right now, and is affecting thousands of people. They are people that struggle while living in one of the best cities in the world. Many of these people work hard and live their lives like the rest of us, yet they are given the short end of the stick. They are made to feel inferior and neglected as the people that are in place to protect them are in fact harming them.
If someone does not care about NYCHA and its people, we will still provide them with the information so that they can come to their own decision. We aimed to inform people about the issues NYCHA residents are facing. One of the best ways to solve an issue is to bring awareness to it, as light is the greatest disinfectant.
