http://www.planNYC.org/ PlanNYC | New York City Planning Information Portal en-us ja3n@earthlink.net http://www.plannyc.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=Issues&file=index&catid=1&issueid=24#4764 City Council member John Liu wrote an open letter to Deputy Mayor Robert Lieber expressing his opposition to the Willets Point redevelopment plan. Liu is not opposed to the use of eminent domain to move forward with the project if it is truly beneficial to the public, but he is concerned that the city Economic Development Corporation (EDC) has only struck deals with a small percentage of the small businesses currently in the area. As it stands, 90 percent of properties would have to be seized to proceed with the plan. 2008-10-09 16:30:00 http://www.plannyc.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=Issues&file=index&catid=1&issueid=24#4751 City Council members are hesitant to vote for Mayor Bloomberg’s Willets Point redevelopment due to lack of knowledge about costs of the project, where displaced area businesses will be located to or what developer will be chosen for the project. $400 million of this year’s city budget was earmarked for Willets Point but few details have been provided about prices of the five land acquistion deals that have been struck so far with business owners. Greiner-Maltz president John Maltz stated that if the city were to disclose prices of past deals it would raise asking prices for future deals. 2008-10-07 18:35:00 http://www.plannyc.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=Issues&file=index&catid=1&issueid=24#4742 The Association of Communities for Reform Now (Acorn) and the Queens Affordable Housing Coalition organized a protest against what they feel is a lack of affordable housing being offered by the Willets Point plan. Two hundred Queens residents planned to set up cardboard “tents” outside of City Hall. Acorn spokesman Evan Thies said that "The average Queens family does not make enough money to afford even the lower-end affordable housing in this plan”. 2008-10-06 11:20:00 http://www.plannyc.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=Issues&file=index&catid=1&issueid=24#4741 A group of Willets Point business owners has filed a complaint against Claire Shulman, the president and CEO of the Flushing Willets Point Corona Local Development Corp. The business owners claim that Shulman is not properly registered as a lobbyist and therefore lobbying illegally on behalf of Mayor Bloomberg to redevelop Willets Point. The City Clerk’s office has said that they will look into the charges. 2008-10-05 17:30:00 http://www.plannyc.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=Issues&file=index&catid=1&issueid=24#4740 The City Planning Commission (CPC) has passed the Willets Point redevelopment plan, and on November 12th the City Council is expected to vote on the plan. A letter sent to council members by the Flushing Willets Point/Corona LDC states that Willets Point is currently polluted and under used, but area business owners disagree and some see it as a ploy to use eminent domain. Bono Sawdust Supply Co. owners Jack and Jake Bono think that the city did not make an effort to keep up the area or enforce building codes. The Bonos also believe that a portion of Willets Point will be used as parking for the new Mets stadium, but the city has not suggested this. Many of Willet’s Point’s 250 business owners are unwilling to be relocated and some council members say they will not vote for the plan if eminent domain is not addressed. 2008-10-02 23:00:00 http://www.plannyc.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=Issues&file=index&catid=1&issueid=24#4736 Twenty-five workers protested the job retraining program at LaGuardia College that is part of Mayor Bloomberg’s Willets Point redevelopment plan. Willets Point is currently mostly industrial, and the employees mostly work in the automotive industry. The city wants to retrain workers in the hotel industry, as the rezoning will change the area’s businesses. The protesting workers would prefer to move with the 260 businesses that are being forced out of the area rather than be trained in a new field. 2008-10-01 21:00:00 http://www.plannyc.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=Issues&file=index&catid=1&issueid=24#4717 A group of “opinion makers” including union leaders, community organizers and elected officials have sent a letter to all membes of the City Council urging them to act quickly to approve the plan to develop Willets Point. The group of 75 hopes to persuade members of the Council to vote in favor of the plan, despite the fact that a majority have already signaled that they will oppose it. 2008-09-30 00:00:00 http://www.plannyc.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=Issues&file=index&catid=1&issueid=24#4698 The City Planning Commission’s (CPC) vote this week in favor of Mayor Bloomberg’s plan to redevelop Willets Point moved the plans closer to approval under the city’s public review process, the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP). The City Council now as 60 days to debate and vote on the redevelopment plans. 32 of the 51 member City Council have already voiced concerns with the plans if the use of eminent domain is not removed. Critics of the plan pointed to the fact that Mayor Bloomberg is pursuing the redevelopment of Willets Point, a “pie-in-the-sky idea”, while having to cut millions of dollars from the city budget. 2008-09-25 00:00:00 http://www.plannyc.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=Issues&file=index&catid=1&issueid=24#4693 The City Planning Commission today approved the redevelopment of industrial Willets Point. The representative of Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum, Commissioner Karen Phillips, was the only dissenting vote. The City Council will vote on the plan in November and it is not expected to pass easily as 33 council members have expressed opposition. The redevelopment of Willets Point is expected to displace 260 businesses. Mayor Bloomberg’s administration has announced a job placement and training initiative for affected workers. 2008-09-24 13:30:00 http://www.plannyc.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=Issues&file=index&catid=1&issueid=24#4695 Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s administration has announced a plan to retrain some of the 1,700 Willets Point workers whose employers will be displaced by the city’s plans to redevelop the area for careers in the hotel industry. Willets Point is currently mainly industrial, and many who work in fields such as the automotive industry would prefer to move with their employers rather than change to a field in which they have no experience. Willets Point business owners and employees are expected to protest outside of the City Planning Commission hearing Wednesday. 2008-09-23 15:40:00 http://www.plannyc.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=Issues&file=index&catid=1&issueid=24#4682 If the Democrats take control of the New York State Senate in the November election, some believe that they will push to end the use of eminent domain. This would have particular implications for the expansion of Columbia University’s campus in Harlem, the Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn, and Mayor Bloomberg’s plan to redevelop Willets Point in Queens. Eminent domain has been a factor in all three projects. 42 states have revised their eminent domain laws since the landmark 2005 Kelo v. City of New London Supreme Court ruling and Michael Rikon, a land-use attorney, stated that it will difficult to change New York State’s eminent domain laws. 2008-09-22 09:00:00 http://www.plannyc.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=Issues&file=index&catid=1&issueid=24#4680 The New York City Economic Development Corp. (NYCEDC) is lobbying Queens Council members to support Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s plan to develop Willets Point. In August, 31 of 52 Council Members wrote a letter to the Bloomberg administration stating that they would not support the plan if eminent domain is used. Councilman Tony Avella met with NYCEDC president Seth Pinsky last week and said that he was given no indication that eminent domain would not be utilized, but that a number of Willets Point businesses would be moved. 2008-09-21 19:00:00 http://www.plannyc.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=Issues&file=index&catid=1&issueid=24#4676 An agreement made by the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) with Crown Container Co. to buy the 23,000 square-foot waste transfer facility in Willets Point may fall through. The deal was never formally announced, but Crown Container owner Jerry Antonacci said in August that he had consented to the agreement and was moving the facility to Maspeth. On Thursday, Antonacci said that nothing had yet been signed and that an agreement is no longer likely. The NYCEDC is attempting to buy out the 260 businesses in Willets Point to develop an environmentally sustainable neighborhood. 2008-09-19 10:30:00 http://www.plannyc.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=Issues&file=index&catid=1&issueid=24#4670 The New York City Economic Development Corp. (NYCEDC) has signed a property acquistion agreement with MA Realty, owner of 44,500 square feet of Willets Point industrial land. This is the fifth property acqusition agreement signed by NYCEDC as it proceeds through the city’s Uniformed Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP) for a 60-acre mixed-use community in Willets Point that will include housing units, restaurants, stores, parks, office space, and a public school. A developer is set to be chosen by spring 2009 and construction is scheduled to begin by 2010. 2008-09-19 09:00:00 http://www.plannyc.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=Issues&file=index&catid=1&issueid=24#4596 Two different groups have emerged in opposition to the city’s plan to redevelop Willets Point – one being the owners of the large businesses in the area and the other including auto shop workers and small shop owners who mainly rent their space. The city estimates that 90% of the 255 business in the area rent their space. The city has faced some roadblocks in working out agreements to relocate the larger businesses and since the city has said that it would only relocate tenant businesses once all of the land in Willets Point is acquired, many of the auto shop owners and workers have been left in limbo. 2008-09-08 00:00:00