By Stephen Stirling
Monserrate, speaking at a rally alongside dozens of Willets Point workers outside the New York City Economic Development Corporation offices in Manhattan last Thursday, said his patience has worn thin for “the dog and pony shows” the city has put on regarding their planned redevelopment of Willets Point. “They have to come to the table with something that's real,” Monserrate said. “They should not expect the City Council to approve a plan that has no real plan in it.” Originally proposed by Mayor Michael Bloomberg in April, the $3 billion-plus development is set to begin the seven-month public approval process Feb. 25 which, if it passes, would greenlight one of the largest environmental cleanups and construction projects in the city's history. The project is expected to include upwards of 5,000 housing units, a 400,000-square-foot convention center, a 700-room hotel, a school, and more than 1 million square feet of retail and office space.But Monserrate said the city has done little thus far to publicize the details of its plan, contending that a proposal of this magnitude and complexity requires a high level of scrutiny which the city has chosen to ignore thus far. “Anything short of that would be us selling out our own constituency and that is not something that I'm prepared to do,” Monserrate said.EDC Senior Vice President Thomas McKnight said the city's detailed plan for the area would be released at the start of the approval process later this month. Monserrate said the most pressing concern is the city's plans for the relocation of the 14 property owners and the more than 200 businesses that currently rent spots in the 60-acre site. Dozens of workers represented by housing and worker's rights group ACORN joined Monserrate in Manhattan last Thursday to protest what they say is inaction on the part of the EDC, which is administering the project.”They never come to us and say you are a worker, you have rights, you are an American. They just go ahead with their development,” said Arturo Olaya, a Willets Point worker. McKnight, however, maintained that the businesses must be removed for the plan to proceed successfully. “While the city is committed to working with the area's businesses and workers to identify new locations and job opportunities, the physical fact remains that Willets Point must be cleaned up comprehensively and responsibly to address decades of spillage and neglect that are made worse by the area's high water table that spreads pollution and allows it to seep into groundwater, Flushing Bay and the Flushing River,” McKnight said. Reach reporter Stephen Stirling by e-mail at Sstirling@timesledger.com or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 138.
