$30M Asphalt Plant Opens In Willets Pt.
By Rebecca Sesny
Mayor Mike Bloomberg along with New York City Dept. of Transportation Commissioner Jeanette Sadhik-Khan, announced the start of operations of a new asphalt plant- seemingly in direct contradiction to its redevelopment plan of the neighboring Iron Triangle. |
| Mayor Mike Bloomberg announced the opening of an asphalt plant in Willets Point. |
The City is hoping to make pothole repairs more efficient and environmentally friendly, using the plant, which uses recycled asphalt, to dispatch repair trucks and asphalt that are closer to the Bronx, Queens and Upper Manhattan.
However, the City also has plans to redevelop the area directly adjacent to the plant, removing and relocating the industrial businesses that currently reside there.
Previously, the City Council passed a redevelopment plan for the "Iron Triangle" at Willets Point, a process that lurched forward in June 2008 when Community Board 7 approved the project; it established a precedent for trying to buy out all of the industrial companies there to make room for the redevelopment.
When business owners refused to leave the City Council held a public hearing regarding the plan and voted in November 2008 to approve the redevelopment plan, which includes the potential use of eminent domain to acquire property claiming the area was blighted. "The city has neglected us for 30 years. They let it get like that. We have no sewers, no sidewalks; they left us here," said Jerry Antonacci, owner of Crown Container and President of Willets Point United, a group of business owners who have banded together to fight their removal and redevelopment of the area.
In March 2010, the City purchased the Asphalt Plant for $30 million to make use of it in repairing roads. Bloomberg said it would "help make the streets feel brand new," as well as save taxpayers $5 million annually.
Richard Lipsky, a lobbyist for Willets Point United, said this was "Par for the course with the City," stating that it was operating "asphalt backwards" in purchasing and using an industrial plant while to trying to relocate others from the same neighborhood.
The City states that the purchase of this plant will save more than 2 million miles of annual truck trips that are used to carry milled asphalt to landfills, reducing congestion and wear and tear on streets. However, the already clogged streets in the immediate neighborhood will be getting a more active plant with more trucks coming and going.
The Mayor said this purchase is a step toward improving air quality and trucks and equipment previously located directly across the street will be located on-site, freeing up space for the community.
Reach Intern Rebecca Sesny at rsesny@queenstribune.com, or (718) 357-7400, Ext. 128.