Borough Cabinet Considers Willets Point
BY RICHARD GENTILVISO

Photo Dominick Totino Queens Chamber of Commerce President Al Pennisi welcomed Queens Borough President Helen Marshall. The chamber hosted Marshall's February Borough Cabinet meeting, Tuesday, February 12 at the Marriott Hotel in East Elmhurst. Marshall cited economic and housing developments happening around the borough.

As in her State of the Borough address, Queens Borough President Helen Marshall focused on development at a joint meeting of the Queens Borough Cabinet and the Queens Chamber of Commerce.

One project, Willets Point, is of particular interest to Marshall and the Queens Chamber.

"We will transform this site into a new neighborhood with affordable housing, office and retail space, parks, playgrounds, a public school, a hotel, a pedestrian bridge to Downtown Flushing, and, capitalizing on the site's proximity to LaGuardia Airport, at the urging of the Queens Chamber of Commerce, a mid-sized convention center," Marshall said at the LaGuardia Marriott on February 12.

The new convention center will be the first in New York City to be built outside Manhattan. Across the street will be Citi Field, the new home of the Mets.

"There have been several [redevelopment] plans before for Willets Point, but this one is not a pie-in-the-sky idea," said Marshall. Public review of the proposal for the 60-acre site, including more than 1 million square feet of retail shops and restaurants, 500,000 square feet of office space and 5,500 units of housing, will begin shortly, she said. "We need to encourage businesses to come here."

More than 200 businesses currently operate in the so-called "Iron Triangle", and Marshall said the redevelopment plan includes a "business relocation component" for them. "As we move forward, we will not leave them behind," she said.

Dan Scully, a vice president for Tully Environmental, Inc. in Willets Point, said little or nothing has been done to assist businesses in the redevelopment area. "They [the city] ignore us", Scully said during a presentation on behalf of the Willets Point Industry and Realty Association (WPIRA) at a February 11 meeting of Community Board 7 in Flushing. "They have no real plan on how to move us," he said.

Jack Friedman, Queens Chamber of Commerce executive vice president, has said the Chamber will stand behind businesses that have to relocate, but only for the "11 to 14 really legitimate" businesses operating in Willets Point, according to a February 12 Daily News report.

In the Daily News report, Friedman said he would advocate for fair treatment by the city of New York for Willets Point companies that belong to the Queens Chamber of Commerce. "We'll keep the city's toes to the fire to make sure those businesses are treated fairly,"

Scully said the city is relying on eminent domain to force Willets Point businesses out. "Eminent domain is a gun to our head," he said. "It's a shame we have to fight for our own property. We're concerned that vibrant businesses will be wiped away."

The city plans to have businesses out by the end of 2009 and to start an extensive environmental cleanup in 2010. If it's approved, the project will take at least ten years to complete.