Crowley backs action on Willets Point

The Flushing Bay and Creek must be cleaned as part of the Willets Point redevelopment, urged Congressmember Joseph Crowley, other Queens politicians and the advisory group, Flushing/Willets Point/Corona Local Development Corporation (LDC).
On the steps of City Hall, Crowley, Queens Borough President Helen Marshall and Councilmember John Liu - along with the LDC - called for action at the Iron Triangle and the surrounding waterways.
“After a decade of false starts … I believe it’s full steam ahead,” Crowley said in support of the plan to revamp the area bounded by 126th Street, Willets Point Boulevard and Northern Boulevard.
Claire Shulman, President of the LDC, said that she was thrilled by Crowley’s endorsement of the redevelopment plans and desire to clean up the Willets Point waterways.
In the past, the politicians have funded studies and cleanup efforts of the Bay and Creek, which are located nearby to the collection of more than 200 auto shops, junkyards and construction companies.
Currently, an ongoing feasibility study, which cost nearly $3 million with half of the cost being paid for by the federal government and the other half by the city’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and the Port Authority, is nearing the final stages of completion and is due out this year. Representatives for Crowley said that they expect the report to outline various methods of remediation for the bodies of water, including dredging. However, the Army Corps of Engineers, which would fund the dredging, requires that more costly Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) tanks be fully in service before the intensive cleanup process is performed.
“Why should they keep dredging [the waterways], if it’s going to fill up with the same things?” Crowley said of pollution and sewage, “leeching” in from Willets Point, a 13-block section devoid of sewer systems.
“As the Borough President and as a homeowner who lives right near the Bay, I can tell you about the problems,” said Marshall, Chair of the Willets Point Task Force.
However, Ramon Cruz of the Environmental Defense Fund said that with cleanup and proper planning the area could be a “model” of urban revitalization and sustainable community.
“We need to once and for all clean up these waterways that should be the centers of our community,” said Liu.
In calling the press conference, the politicians and LDC hoped to spur the city’s Economic Development Corporation (EDC) to include cleanup plans as they move forward - currently the agency is entertaining responses to their Request for Proposal (RFP). The EDC is expected to issue a Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP) this spring.
Plans to revitalize Willets Point call for an investment of $2 to $3 billion to develop over 75 acres, which would include one million square feet in retail space, a hotel, and a convention center, according to PlanNYC.
“The redevelopment in Willets Point is of critical importance in Queens, and the LDC is happy to work not only with its members … but also the community boards, elected officials and all interested parties,” Shulman said. “We are obviously delighted to have the support of [Congressmember] Joseph Crowley, and we look forward to working with him and his office not only in Willets Point but to cleanup Flushing Bay and Creek.”