Willets Point Owners Given In And Sell

City Makes First Buyouts at Willets Point

After months of trying to cut deals, the city has made its first two agreements to buyout landowners at Willets Point, the 61-acre site by Shea Stadium slated for redevelopment, the city announced today. The first to give in were Sambucci Bros., an auto salvage business, and BRD Corp.

Well the first question to ask is, is this a good thing or a bad thing for the area? Naturally there are pros and cons.

Pros:
That is two less properties that the city has to deal with perhaps making the process from "blighted" to "properly utilized".

This shows good faith by the city that they are willing to negotiate in good faith.

The sooner these properties are acquired the sooner the clean up begins.
Unfortunately to rehabilitate this process will probably take years as the contamination is miles deep. The clean up will fair better to the environment surrounding Willets Point.

Cons:
The more leverage the city has the more likely Eminent Domain will be used to remove the last standing businesses.

If this is so then a proper plan may not be in place, poor planning is not acceptable. Not in todays age with the information we have available to access what is most beneficial for the neighborhood.

Current Conditions:

• Willets Point suffers from widespread petroleum contamination, with additional potential contamination from paints, cleaning solvents, and automotive fluids.
• Environmental hazards are exacerbated by a high water table that spreads pollution throughout the site, endangering adjacent water bodies.
• Most of Willets Point lies within the 100-year flood plain, necessitating a significant increase in grade across the site before modern infrastructure can be installed.

Current Plans:

• Thousands of housing units serving a mix of incomes and demographics
• Exciting new retail and entertainment amenities
• A new, high-quality hotel
• New York City’s first non-Manhattan convention center
• Office space
• Open space, parks, and playgrounds
• A new public school to meet the needs of the growing community
• LEED-certified green buildings and infrastructure

This is where I have a problem. We are talking about heavily polluted area, one of which no matter how many years of remediation will never return to a livable area. I also understand that dumping grounds and polluted landscapes are a number one candidate for public housing. In addition they proposed a school to be built on the area, endangering our youth and unfortunately given by the "mix income" housing the majority of children likely to become sick are the lower middle class and working class. New parks and playgrounds? same argument as before, and I guess Flushing Meadow Park is not big enough. In my opinion Willets Point should be turned into a commercial area. Perhaps similar to what Atlas Park has become. Bars and Restaurants within walking distance of Citifield would also be beneficial to the fans. Now if you want to make an argument that these bars in proposing would bring down the area or something along those lines, take a look at the "Pitch and Putt" golfing area which serves its own beer. If you think areas like Willets Point can be made reasonably safe for residents? take a look at other similar areas and the link to cancer. See Love Canal.

Current Events: The Turmoil

This was a rant I wrote up and never posted, but still relevant.

I will start this post quite different than most you are used to; I want to begin by saying " What the hell is going on around here?". Apparently we can't eat safely due to the Salmonella contaminated tomatoes.

Health officials confirmed cases in New York State of salmonella-tainted tomato poisoning Thursday.

That brings the total number of affected states to 23, and the toll of affected people has risen to 228.
The FDA blames the salmonella outbreak on uncooked red tomatoes, of the plum, Roma, and round-grown varieties.

We can not get the medicine we need with out worry about it being expired.

"Drug products have expiration dates for good reason. A drug's effectiveness can diminish over time as chemicals lose their potency," said Arthur Levin, executive director of the Center for Medical Consumers.

The godforsaken MTA can't get its act together and are planning on squeezing the shit out of mass transportation users when mass transportation is supposed to be pushed as the cheaper alternative, does anyone remember congestion pricing? Meanwhile the MTA has bled out over a billion dollars over the past 10 years due to personal injury cases, it being cheaper to pay out than to make needed changes to hundreds of train cars. Nassau county owes the MTA a nice chunk of millions for bus and train service, and obviously instead of doing something to assess the situation properly they just had the costs right back down to the same people who are suffering from inflation and outrageous gas prices (which super has passed $5 per gallon) the national average being $4.22. All of this meanwhile you have these big shots and ex-employees costing the MTA 14 million in lost revenue yearly.

Today we have prostitution rings with in walking distance of elementary schools.
We have corruption of politicians in both the local,state and federal government. We are becoming over-developed in the quiet communities, and we can't put together a coherent plan to fix Willet's Point.
We have Con Edison who holds onto property worth millions while they increase utility rates.
We have suffered greatly as the quality of live erodes, crime increases and we witness the destruction of the middle class.
We have people who are struggling to make ends meet while working far beyond the 9 to 5 and will still lose their house to foreclosure.
What can be done for the 4 family household who can not afford to spend 500 grand on a house, $2000 a month for an apartment and has too high an income for "affordable housing".
We live in an age where we need to speak up, in a way much louder than any blog or news publication can carry, an initiative if you will to carry beyond the lines of sex, race,language and economic class.

If you, like myself have had enough let your voice be heard. Whether it is a blog, a letter to congress, a sign posted on your front lawn, a brief mention at a community board meeting it will make a difference. The same way this post may instill a desire for change, and even if it has not you have still become more conscious of the current demise of our beloved borough. We need to avoid recession to the mean, because lets face it we deserve better than that.

Our voice is our most creative and musical instrument. It has great power to touch our lives and the lives of others.- Ted Andrews

Willets Point Gets An Official Status

Official Status for Willets Point Project

Now that the Uniformed Land Use Review Procedure) (ULURP) has been issued by the City, the Willets Point project has an official status.



Therefore, I again talk about the development because of its importance to Queens and the City of New York.

The 60 acres in question are extremely polluted, mostly with the number 3 oil. The Feds will dredge the creek and the bay once the pollution is removed.

After the remediation, the City proposes 5000 units of housing - some affordable - a convention center, hotel, a school, some commercial and retail space and a park.

The ULURP will run for 180 days during which time everyone who wishes to testify will have the opportunity.

There is no question that the development of Willets Point will have a positive and profound impact on the communities of Flushing and Corona as well as the rest of the City.

That last line is key.

Queens Economics Improving

Queens, NYC Economic Picture Shows Improvements

"It's a terrific time to live and work in Queens," Lieber said, pointing out that residential market values have doubled in the past six years, crime is down by one-third and graffiti clearance has become a principal program of the police and their auxiliary groups. Figuratively touring the borough, he began in Flushing, a big commercial and transportation center, where the Downtown Flushing Task Force was formed in 2002 and dedicated itself to cleaner streets and attractive signage.

In Jamaica, $80 million has been invested by the city in street improvement in the vicinity of the Airtrain station; and the project to build 350 apartments on the old Queens Family Courthouse site is another example of the public sector setting the stage for private development.

He said that "for too long, Willets Point has remained stagnant" with a bad sewer system and other conditions that have rendered the area a pollution problem. Proper sewers and lighting are the forerunners of vast residential and commercial development. Another task that must be carried out is job replacement for the job displacement that is taking place in Willets Point in the automotive collision and body businesses that operate there now. Willets Point presents a situation that has been neglected for too long, Lieber said, but no time should be wasted blaming previous administrations for it, just get on with setting it right.

Stuff like this gives me both hope and pride to live where I live. It also sounds politically driven but what isn't these days?

The Next Major Transporation Hub in Flushing?

Make downtown Flushing major transportation center

I have been a resident of Flushing for over 50 years. I watched it grow and fall and grow again. Each time it reinvents itself, I am proud to say I am from Flushing.

But our downtown needs to step up to the world plate. We are hitting singles while the rest of the world is slamming home runs. Anyone traveling outside America can see the enormous growth of cities. We need to make Flushing a showplace to compete with Shanghai, Beijing, London, Paris and Dubai, just to name a few. We need a transportation system that connects to our airports and looks like a showcase, not a hole in the ground.

I propose we take the old Master's, Alexander's, Corvette's and all the other names and convert them into a transportation hub. The building, on Main Street and Roosevelt Avenue, could have the Long Island Rail Road on one side and the 7 train underneath. The AirTrain could be brought right into the building, connecting everyone and allowing people to make their transfers.

The building could also be made into small shops similar to Penn Station. This would be the gateway to Flushing and all it has to offer. Instead of exiting the subway system onto a rain-soaked street or trying to find your friend waiting in a doorway, you could be in a large heated or air conditioned, stunning waiting room with shops and amenities.

Bob Bedrossian

Flushing

In the light of the failures of Congestion Pricing and the Willets Point Plan, I think Bob's suggestion is one that if done properly could really improve the area, not to mention making the area surrounding it much for valuable, which will bring along investors. I would much rather take mass transit to an JFK than a cab, its more convenient and its price effective.This is not only feasible, I don't think it will require to use of Eminent Domain which should make things much easier. Then again with the lack of funding it could be awhile until something like this is taken seriously.

Willets Point: The Grass Is Always Greener at CitiFiled

Newsday Reports:

The baseball diamond won't be the only thing that's "green" at the new Mets stadium, which will be built and equipped with a variety of environmentally conscious features, team, city and federal officials announced Thursday.

Citi Field, which is rising next door to Shea Stadium in Flushing and will open in 2009, is being built with recycled steel, and cement made with coal combustion products, which reduces carbon emissions. The ballpark will use energy-efficient lights and feature bathrooms with water conservation measures such as automatic hands-free faucets and automatic flush toilets and waterless urinals. Also, The team's new administration building will have a "green" roof.

Jeff Wilpon, the team's chief operating officer, said although some of the measures may cost more up front, they will save money over the long haul. "It was important to us to do this in an environmentally-friendly way," Wilpon said of the new ballpark.

Bloomberg: Big Plans For Queens?

According to the Queens Tribune, Mayor Michael Bloomberg came to Queens for a second time in the past week. In his State of the City address, Bloomberg proposes a new public pool and Ice Skating Rink for Flushing Meadows Corona Park. The Mayor also announced a new system that would allow complainants to track their complaints to 311. Proposals for changes for Queens Boulevard are also in the works.

The New York population is growing older and the mayor said the city will begin to address the challenge with traffic engineering improvements at high-accident areas including some in Flushing and hopefully Queens Boulevard, locally tagged as the Boulevard of Death.

Something that caught my eye was a declaration that Willets Point will become more industrialized with the addition of funding for infrastructure.

“We’ll also rezone Willets Point, a stone’s throw from here, the first step in what will be one of the most significant environmental reclamation projects of our time,” Bloomberg said.

Missing from the Mayor’s speech was where the money and political backing was going to come from for his plans. Gov. Eliot Spitzer spent most of speech on these issues when he delivered his 2008-09 Executive Budget address Tuesday.

However he does not further explain what is going to happen to its current residents. Another issue I see with his proposal for Willets Point is not so much about the "Iron Triangle" but rather its surrounding area. The local street around Willets Point need to be taken into consideration, Roosevelt Avenue for example is only two lanes and during a baseball game would make life very difficult for the proposed population living in Willets Point's housing complex. However I am very much in favor of improving Willets Point, whether it is done with its current businesses or an Eminent Domain powered wipe out. Either way something has to happen. With Citi Field opening up in 2009, it would be nice if it did not opposite a junk yard. it would be beneficial to the area if instead it was a hotel, restaurants, bars and shopping areas. Community Board 7 will eventually decide, or have Bloomberg decide for them. However, what do I know? I'm just a resident of Flushing who comes into contact with the Iron Triangle more than one would speculate. But before I get hammered with critique let me ask you, what does Willets Point in its current state do for the community as a whole? It provides jobs, industrial services and provides the means for other local businesses to get by. Hypothetically peaking couldn't it do the same for a whole new larger range of businesses?

Let me know what you think,

Mike
Welightupqueens@gmail.com