The Mayor has released his plan for the redevelopment of Willets Point, and it doesn't include retaining the businesses that have been there for decades:“After a century of blight and neglect, this neighborhood’s future is very bright indeed,” Mr. Bloomberg said.
Mayor Takes Step To Redevelop Area Adjacent to Shea Stadium
Bloomberg Unveils Plan to Redevelop Willets Point
From Spare Parts, a Plan to Make Area in Queens a Gem
Mayor: Development plan for 60-acre site near new Mets stadium
WILLETS FACE LIFT ON DECK
Meet Mets' new nabe
The mayor promises relocation assistance, but the owners aren't buying it:
“There’s not a blade of grass, there is no empty land for us,” said Jake Bono, a co-owner of Bono Sawdust, a 74-year-old business in Willets Point. “Any empty land has a crane on it.”
Jake's a rather observant fellow.
Newsday reports on the plan, too:
Whole new ballgame for Willets Point
In Willets Point, change is coming, like it or not
Their video interview of the area's only resident is worth watching as well.
Read the mayor's press release.
Watch the video of the announcement in dial-up or broadband, if for no other reason that to watch his uncomfortable banter with Helen Marshall. Try not to vomit during the Great Gatsby ash heap references.
Photo from NY Daily News
7 comments:
A classic "pincer battle tactic" is almost at the final stages of implementation!
FIRST on the Western Front:
Jackson Heights got its historic district status years back. (Then deputy Boro Prez Peter Magnanni ....who lives there..... aided this push for Landmark designation to hold the drug dealing Colombian image at bay....and far away from JH.
SECOND on the Eastern Front:
Wellington Chen , and the other developers who are bidding on the project intend to push out those poorer Latinos etc. out of Corona.
The "blight" all of our covertly racist politicians are really talking about (behind closed doors) are not the junkyards but the lower class Corona residents.
Remove these "low class" folks and you can build luxury housing in its place! This has been a long term goal since the early 1960s!
Of course that over the hill "grandma" Shulman will head up the move!
It's interesting that we know what all of the components will be in this new neighborhood, yet a developer has not been chosen. Or has he?
The hotel, convention center, office space, housing and a school are what Wellington Chen has been spewing for years. The only componets missing from the mayors speech were the Border's Books and the rock climbing wall that Wellington loves so dearly. Also missing were Wellington's usual catch phrase...."international".
Parkside is doing a great job of forcing this project on us. They've dragged Shulman from the moth balls and got Mayor Mike opening his fat trap. TDC must be paying VERY well. After all, they have two proposals submitted for the area.
Crapper can you post some pictures, current and historical, of the eminent domain issue surrounding the building of the circular original Macy's on Queens Boulevard?...If you notice on the wall of the structure, there is a huge rectangular chunk missing...This is because the owner, an elderly woman, refused to sell to the builders...So, they had to build AROUND her...Maybe Mr. Ardizzone could use this case as ammunition to hold onto his property.
All I could find at the moment:
Macy's vs. Mary Sondek
Yup, that's it. If you look in the upper left quadrant of the black & white photo, where the 2 fences come together, THAT smidgeon of Mrs. Sondek's property was the contentious issue where Macy's was forced to build around and that's why there's a notch in their building, clearly visible from Queens Blvd. What with the Kelo eminent domain ruling, I wonder if Mrs. Sondek would have prevailed today.
Constituent to Bloomie: Get out of your townhouse! Any bit of history we shall consider the "stone ages." Willets Point may not have the most appealing infrastructure, but why throw out businessmen who are determined & struggling at times? Are you going to crush an entire industry just because you feel they're inferior to you? They appreciate the value of a dollar, but you're just pure greed. Work with them for crying out loud!
Hey Bloomberg...Remember being Juniper Park Civic Association's Man of the Year? That's ancient history! Go for a picnic on the future site of synthetic grass in Queens...Oh wait, that's just a superhighway to the Hamptons.
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