Monserrate: Developers Are 'Railroading' Willets Point

Gazette photo One of the car yards in Willets Point discussed at the CB3 meeting. Community Board 3 concluded its 2005-06 meeting season by hearing from District Attorney Richard Brown, a representative of City Councilmember Hiram Monserrate about Willets Point, representatives of Vaughn College, seeking a variance so they can build a dormitory and a Grassroots Initiative activist claiming there are thousands of vacant political offices in the city, 2,500 in Queens alone. Late in the evening, at Louis Armstrong Middle School in Corona, District Manager Giovanna Reid awarded three board members certificates for 10 years' service.

It is Monserrate's belief that Willets Point is being slandered and railroaded by developers and their friends in political power who want to establish a popular cause for massive rebuilding there, with the Mets' new ballpark as the forerunner. They portray Willets Point as hell's vestibule, or little other than a succession of automobile junkyards and grimy workshops on the banks of a polluted waterway. If only all that could be removed, a convention and hotel center could rise in their place and the waters could somehow be made clean and suitable for recreation and sport. To counter that characterization, Bridget Fisher, Monserrate's office director, appeared in the councilmember's absence, bringing with her a study of Willets Point made by a team of urban observers at Hunter College. The study states that there are 200 businesses in Willets Point, providing an estimated 1,400 jobs. Most of these businesses have been active for five or more years. Many of these jobs are an entry point for immigrant labor and many of the businesses are entrepreneurial, the study says. The auto businesses are diverse and there is little vacant space. "It's a thriving business community," Fisher said. Detractors complain that the local streets are badly worn down and full of potholes, as if to blame the local businesses, Fisher said, but street repair is the city's responsibility.

Vaughn College, formerly known as the College of Aeronautics, has existed since 1932 and has been at its current location, near La Guardia Airport, since 1940, when the airport was opened. There were objections from the board that Willets Point is in Community Board 7's territory, so why is Monserrate's office bringing its case to Board 3? Fisher replied that the presentation is being made before Boards 3 and 4, in addition to Board 7. Two board members defended Fisher. One, Michael Nardiello, said that auto repair shops in Willets Point have been the source of major parts replacements for his 1984 Chevy Diplomat. The other, Arturo Sanchez, said he had read the Hunter study and found it well executed and informative. Another man told Fisher that Monserrate is not moving fast enough to check the Mets' building schedule for the new stadium, groundbreaking for which may be only weeks away.

Other ground is being broken, in this case on 90th Street between Ditmars Boulevard and 23rd Avenue in East Corona, for a building that would be part of Vaughn College of Aeronautics and Technology. The plan is to build a threestory, 46,000-square-foot structure that would serve as a 200-bed dormitory. The president o f Vaughn, John Fitzpatrick, was at the meeting seeking a building variance because the dormitory would be built in an M1-1 manufacturing district.

Vaughn College has existed since 1932 and has been at its current location, near La Guardia Airport, since 1940, when the airport was opened. It stands on land bordered by 86th Street, 23rd Avenue, 90th Street and Ditmars Boulevard. The La Guardia Marriott Courtyard hotel stands just to the east of the lot where the dormitory is supposed to go; just to the south, across 23rd Avenue, is the Korean Church of Queens. The dormitory would be an emblem of the school's plan to expand its current student population from 1,200 to 1,500. Half the current student body is from Queens. The dormitory project would include 34 parking spaces, a 15-foot front yard setback, a side yard of 104 feet and a rear yard of 200 feet.

The board appeared friendly to the idea of a dormitory, but one woman worried about security, something Fitzpatrick said is strong and will remain so at the school. Nardiello pressed for landscaping and greenery that would relieve the eyesore he sees at the current, largely vacant site where earthmovers stand ready to dig deeper than has already been dug. The motion put before the board stressed a program of planting. (One member even said the roof of the dormitory should be a green one.) The motion recommending approval of the variance passed by unanimous vote.

District Attorney Richard Brown repeated the gospel of his 15 years in office: how homicide numbers fell from 361 in Queens in 1991 to 91 in 2005 and stolen cars from 52,000 to 5,400; how he now has 65,000 arrest cases annually and the fastest arrestto trial disposal in the city. In answer to a question about youth gangs, he said he is disturbed by their presence in schools, and his office has a youth gang team. Aquestion about corrupt judgeships in the city prompted Brown, who served 16 years on the bench, to praise the Queens judiciary, though he said he defers to State Court of Appeals Chief Judge Judith Kaye's reform recommendations. There is no doubt about his plan for the future. He will become the longest-serving DA in Queens history should he win reelection next year, and he's looking forward to reaching the 25-year mark, as he told his audience. (He said he hoped he could share that moment with his friend Robert Morgenthau, the Manhattan DA, who by then would have been in office 41 years and would be approaching 97 years of age.)

Grassroots Initiative is a Manhattan group that says the following. "Candidates for public office are recruited and backed by political parties. Political parties are run by elected committees and most people don't know how to run for these offices. As a result, thousands of political offices are left vacant; millions of people are left without representation, and political power is left in the hands of a select few."

The group claims there are more than 5,000 election districts in the city without any local party representatives and that 97 percent of local party representatives run uncontested and need only file paperwork to win. Gathering about 20 signatures can get a name on the ballot, the group says, and says further that those who find their revelations interesting should find vacant offices in their neighborhoods, learn how to get their names on the ballot, get walking

lists of likely voters, request a mentor and learn more about their local political party committees. GI representative Elizabeth Koo said that further information, or advice for those thinking of running for office, is available at info@gograssroots.org or 212379-1274 X214. The Web site address is www.gograssroots.org.

The three board members who received 10-year certificates were Norma Jimenez, Stephen Kulhanek and David Rosero.