Willets Point protests, public hearings go on

After more than 100 people marched in front of Queensboro Hall to protest the city’s development plans for Willets Point, Borough President Helen Marshall heard dozens of public comments on the project and declared that it was her day of listening before she would issue her recommendation later this month.
The July 10 public hearing, which saw passionate pleas from both the project’s supporters and detractors, began the second phase of the Uniformed Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP) after Community Board 7 approved the plan with conditions earlier this month.
The city’s Economic Development Corporation (EDC) has developed extensive plans for the approximately 60-acre Willets Point site that would include 1 million square feet of retail shops and restaurants, 500,000 square feet of office space, 5,500 units of housing, a K-8 school and convention center in an area often described as blighted.
However, since only three of the 74 land and business owners in the area have reached agreements with the city to sell their land, it has not ruled out the possible use of eminent domain - one of the most controversial issues associated with the plan - where the city would take the privately owned land and use it for the development.
Although Marshall declared that the public hearing was her day to listen, she has been one of the leading proponents of the project and has trumpeted it as crucial to the borough in many of her speeches during the past few years.
Meanwhile, Marshall’s predecessor, Claire Shulman, who is now the President of the Flushing-Willets Point-Corona Local Development Corporation - one of the groups pushing the hardest for the project - said Marshall did a commendable job in handling both sides during the meeting. However, Shulman believes that now is the time for the redevelopment to occur.
“I am hopeful that this project will move forward because I think it’s one of the most important projects in the city today, and I think it’s eminently doable.”
Prior to the public hearing, City Councilmember Hiram Monserrate and former Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer joined nearly 100 people including workers and businesses owners to express concerns about many aspects of the project.
“This plan is big on ideas and short on details,” said Monserrate who talked about his opposition to the use of eminent domain and lack of adequate affordable housing as two of his chief concerns.
Meanwhile, Dan Feinstein, President of Feinstein Ironworks, which is one of the largest businesses in Willets Point, said Marshall’s recommendation would be one of the biggest moments of her political career, and she should stand up for the people who elected her instead of kowtowing to the mayor and his developer friends.