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Protesters fight to save Willets Point

By David Freedlander | dfreedlander@am-ny.com

April 9, 2008

Elected Officials and Community Organizers held a march and rally protesting the enormous redevelopment plans for Willets point which sits adjacent to Shea Stadium and Citi Field. John Cho speaks out against the development in Willets Point. (Katya Pronin, Katya Pronin / April 8, 2008)

NEW YORK - Hundreds of opponents of the Bloomberg administration's plan to pave over Willets Point in Queens marched past Mets tailgaters yesterday during a rally to keep one of the city's grittiest industrial neighborhoods intact.

"This is a classic eminent-domain case where the city wants to push out small businessmen and working people so they can give it to a multimillion-dollar developer," said Queens councilman and mayoral candidate Tony Avella (D- Bayside.) "This neighborhood has been through hard times, and now that it's more economically viable the city wants to give it a swift kick in the butt."

In the shadow of the new $800 million CitiField, the "Iron Triangle," as Willets Point is known, is a rattletrap collection of chop shops, small factories, and warehouses that lacks sidewalks, sewers, and basic sanitation. Three years ago, the city started floating plans for a $3 billion makeover, including a million square feet in retail, housing, a hotel, and a convention center. The city has been negotiating relocation plans with some business owners, but has threatened to invoke eminent domain with the rest.

"It's an obscenely bad redevelopment plan," said Evan Thies, a spokesman for the Pratt Center, a research group on affordable housing and development, which helped organize the rally. "The city is going to displace hundreds of businesses and lose 1,500 jobs, and the plan doesn't include one single unit of affordable housing."

Where the city will find land to relocate the shops remains an open question. Many of the businesses, particularly the auto repair shops, need to be near each other to function.

"The American way is that if you own land, you are supposed to be able to keep it unless somebody pays you for it," said Dave Antonacci, whose family has owned a waste removal company in the area since 1959. "The city has no place to put us. I got permits to run a waste transfer station here. You want me to move to your neighborhood?"

The protesters did not receive a warm reception from the Mets fans, who tried to drown out the chants of "si se puede" (Spanish for "yes, we can") and "Let's Go Mets," "USA, USA!" and "We want bars." Some of the Mets' fans threw beer and other objects on the marchers.

"They ought to get rid of them all," said Ray Reilly, 51, of Staten Island, after the parade went by. "It's an eyesore."

Redevelopment plans for the area have stalled recently as the City Council has balked at the plan's lack of affordable housing. The city's Economic Development Corp. did not return multiple calls for comment, but officials said they had been waiting more than a year for the plan to be certified before the Planning Commission, which would begin the process of rezoning and then redevelopment.

"It's good to want to clean it up but they have to take into account housing, jobs, and schools," said Gladys Hernandez, 63, a 30-year resident of nearby Corona. "People have to be allowed to take care of their families."