The WPIRA was formed over three years ago with the specific intent of communicating our needs to the City. With their redevelopment plan in jeopardy, a week before the final City Council vote, the City is now motivated to strike deals with the businesses.
Let's be clear – we are not "holdouts" and we have always encouraged our members to work with the City to try to negotiate a deal that is fair and equitable, but let's not kid ourselves, we wouldn't be having these discussions with the city if the threat of eminent domain wasn't on the table.
As of yesterday, the city falsely claims to have control of 40% of the property at Willets Point. But they have intentionally left out the fact that these deals are only good if the Mayor's plan is approved by the City Council.
They have included the streets which were always owned by the City to prop up the percentage. It is our belief that the EDC has contracts on less than 20% of the land. If the vote were today, the City would be asking the Council for authorization to use eminent domain on 80% of the land at Willets Point.
23 comments:
what is the Lie?
The City owns 14.5 acres of the 62 acres in the Willets Point Development area. They have another 20 some acres under contact which is over 40% of the land in the Development Zone.
why did the edc wait till 2 weeks left to make deals ? could it be to try and pull the wool over the council? how will they pay these people ? reports have it the seth pinky said people can't get any $$ till july 09 because the city is out of $$$ and needs to get the 09 budget approved 1st.so the 200 million is gone already and you only made 8 deals and maybe 8 more ? so how are the other 55 people getting paid? eminent domain !! its been a set up since the 1st day. why is the mayor twistig arms and having a nov 10th meeting with the council ?
my guess is he still beleves in bloombergism
word has it pinky said we have no$$$$ you have to wait till the 09 budget gets approved for your $$$ this means eminent domain for the other 60 people. word also has itthat the city is when swiching properties paying 1/2 on the willets point land and the giving the owner a boost up on city land so as to show a lower purchase price in eminent domain-- this will cost the edc dearly in the end as the city will have to pay . these people are plain and simple legal bank robbers
The city's desperate attempt to railroad through the Willets Point boondoggle in a faltering economy
demonstrate what a fragile house of cards this whole project really is!
Of course some manipulating
of the percentage figures of what the
city actually already owns
is SOP for the EDC!
It's little more than phony baloney!
The City-owned 14.5 acres are separate and distinct from the percentage of privately held property that is being contracted by the City, which by John Liu's standard is unacceptably low.
Liu suggests that if 90% of the privately held property is under contract at the time of the Council's vote, that might reduce the barriers to approval.
62-14.5=47.5.
47.5x0.9=42.75.
42.75-20=22.75.
Therefore, the City would have to contract an additional 22.75 acres (114% more than they allegedly already have), during the next week.
it took 3 years to get 20% how do we think they will get 70% more in 1 week? its all a dog and pony show led by leiber & pinsky to sway the council that it doesn't matter if there is another 60% left beacause we will continue to talk after ulurp. if you beleive that i have palm trees to sell you in the north pole. this has been a poorly run plan by the edc and if the were in private companies they all would be fired starting with mr pinky
WP will fall. Its only a matter of time. If its not 40% now, it soon will be. Eventually the holdouts will make a deal. This is all a ploy by the landowners to extract as much out of the city as they can. It is inevitable.
"WP will fall." Note how EDC is phrasing this now. As if it's Saigon. As if steamrolling profitable businesses during an economic downturn when a not-yet-to-be-named developer won't be able to get financing for the project is some kind of great victory. Disgusting and embarrassing. That's our mayor!
how do you assume any of these anonymous commenters are employees of the EDC?
Your assumptions are unfounded just like your arguments against the development.
Liu suggests that if 90% of the privately held property is under contract at the time of the Council's vote, that might reduce the barriers to approval.
Liu suggested no such thing. He made NO distinction between private and City owned property in his letter.
Besides, Liu is on board giving whatever help is necessary to get this important project approved.
Yes he absolutely did. "At the moment, it appears the plan would invoke eminent domain to seize over 90% of properties at Willets Point."
He wasn't talking about using eminent domain to take over the streets...
Oh come on it's so obvious you are a shill for EDC. No one else could be leaking info about who's going to be bought out next and jumping up and down with glee.
Liu's numbers in his letter were unclear.
The only thing clear from his letter is the last line
"I am available to assist you and the EDC in any discussions and negotiations to get the job done."
Oh, now his numbers are unclear. Spin, spin, spin!
Spin is saying someone "Lied" when they did not. Statistics can be used in any way you like. If the numbers are correct they are not a "Lie"
"There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics." - Benjamin Disraeli
Never thought I'd read you quote a career member of the British Political machine.
come on guys mr pinsky "pinky" has it all figured out did he tell you how he pays 1/2 price for peoples land then give them a boost on city owned land at a discounted buy so the contract only shows what the city paid for the businesses land? some set up for trying to set a price for eminent domain huh ! mr pinsky & mrs wills are 2 blowhard scumbags who try and destroy peoples lives. people are being told "we can't pay you till next july after we get our budget approved for more $$$ "" talk about liying to the public on how much this really cost. answer those questions mr edc since you think you know everything like you have this whole thing in the bag
so the city has feinstein & soni who cares there are 60 other land owners who will fight to the end. these guys are in for a shock when they find out the city can't pay them. they have no $$$
mr edc if you want the project so much why is the land deals all hinge on the ulurp? just buy them anyway you could always sell to a developer friend of yours
"Never thought I'd read you quote a career member of the British Political machine."
Well then how about Mark Twain who popularized the term in his autobiography?
See..."Crapper" is much smarter than
"Parkside"...eh Evan?
Instead of tugging at your putz you should have read more books
Mr. Stavisky!
As written above: The City "...pays 1/2 price for peoples land then give them a boost on city owned land at a discounted buy so the contract only shows what the city paid for the businesses land... some set up for trying to set a price for eminent domain."
Is that legal?
By doing that, the City is manipulating the recorded "price" of a real estate transaction, establishing an artificially low price-per-square-foot that will later become the basis for any eminent domain acquisitions.
If similar activity took place in, say, stock trading, it would probably land people in jail.
How is this legal? Anyone? EDC?
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