Willets Point Landowners Sue For City Services
BY JOHN TOSCANO

"Individual rights and property rights need to be respected for the little guys, not just the big shots," Councilmember Eric Gioia said. "It's small, family-owned businesses that are most attached to their businesses and land and most hurt by relocation. Eminent domain for purely economic development is being used far too frequently, with too few concrete standards. This is a disturbing trend in our City and across the nation. Putting eminent domain on the table, even to allude to the possibility of eminent domain, is like slapping a gun on the bargaining table. Even if you never fire a shot, it changes the terms of the negotiation." Pictured Councilmember Eric Gioia, along with Councilmember Hiram Monserrate who are joined by business owners, workers, and other Queens Councilmembers on the steps of City Hall to protest the threat of eminent domain at Willets Point.

The city's stalled $500 million Willets Point redevelopment plan ran into another obstacle last week as landowners presently occupying the property sued the city to force it to provide the necessary services to allow them to continue doing business there.

The suit was brought by about a dozen landowners who claim to own about half of the 70-acre development site.

"What we hope to accomplish in the lawsuit is a court order requiring the city to give Willets Point the essential city services that every other neighborhood in the city receives," declared attorney Michael Gerrard, according to the New York 1 television channel.

Gerrard added, "We are also looking for money damages because of the loss of property value due to the city's refusal to provide those services."

Since the city's development plans have reached a point where actual construction could go forward, the city has been negotiating with the property owners to acquire their parcels. But there has been little progress and it was expected the city Community Development Corporation (CDC) would move, if necessary, to take the property under eminent domain law provisions.

Ironically, a few days before the landowners announced their court action last Thursday, Mayor Michael Bloomberg was at Shea Stadium, a few blocks from the Willets Point development site, for the opening day of the Mets home season.

According to NY 1, the mayor spoke confidently that day about the redevelopment plan going forward and upon completion complementing the new Citi Field that will be ready to open next spring.

Bloomberg commented, "It brings the history of New York back and it is also the future," referring to the new stadium being designed as a copy of Brooklyn's Ebbets Field, the long-gone home of the Brooklyn Dodgers team. The Dodgers moved to Los Angeles, California in 1957.

The mayor continued, "A modern stadium with all the conveniences, and it's the linchpin for the development of the whole Willets Point area. So you're going to see housing and hotels and stores and businesses all growing out of that one project, and it's a wonderful thing for New York."

The issue of the amount of low- and medium-income housing brought a halt of development plans a few weeks ago.

City Councilmembers Hiram Monserrate (D- Corona) and John Liu (D- Flushing), joined by several civic and community groups, complained forcefully and vociferously that the city's development plan did not provide enough affordable housing units or jobs to replace those that would disappear when the present businesses in Willets Point cease to exist.

The strong opposition from Liu and Monserrate forced city planners to stop and deal with the complaints about too little housing. That's where the situation stood when the Willets landowners brought their lawsuit.

In the court papers, according to NY 1, the landowners accuse the city of willfully neglecting the area so it can use eminent domain to take the land. The city said using eminent domain, the city's right to take property for a public purpose, would be utilized only as a last resort.

Another prominent landowner on the targeted site, Dan Feinstein, owner of an ironworks business, stated: "This is our property. It's been in our family for generations. This is our legacy to our children and our grandchildren, and we're not going to allow this administration to steal it from us."