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....August 14, 10:50 AM |
| Willets Happen?: Iron Triangle Workers Say They Have Nowhere To Go
By Michael Lanza Blight, wasteland, disaster, disgrace – they’re just a few of the many harsh words that have been used to describe Willets Point in recent years.
But for many at the “Iron Triangle,” the words are superficial. Here, descriptions like community and family resound among the approximately 1,700 workers who represent nearly 230 small businesses in the thriving junkyard community. They contend that the current plans to redevelop Willets Point and displace its businesses overlook one critical factor – them. “They want to kick us out and they don’t want to relocate us,” Adam Echaparria, an auto mechanic who has worked in Willets Point for two years, said. While the City has hyped critical relocation deals with some of the larger-land-owning businesses like Sambucci Bros. Inc. Salvage – the smaller tenant businesses have been mostly ignored. “The current Willets Point plan sets a precedent for community planning by decree, rather than discussion,” City Councilman Hiram Monserrate (D-Corona), who has been a vocal critic of the Willets Point redevelopment plans, said. “At every step, the needs and concerns of the community have gone unanswered by the Administration.” In this high-density, often-flooded, pothole-ridden shanty-town of auto-repair and auto-parts shacks, businesses have overcome fierce competition and poor conditions by working together. And together, they help put nearly 500,000 cars back on the road every year, Sergio Aguirle, the general organizer for the Committee for the Defense of Willets Point, said. “Willets Point is very important for working families,” Aguirle said. Aguirle insists that the unique proximity of Willets Point businesses keeps prices low and keeps thousands of families who rely on their vehicles on the road. The City wants to transform the neighborhood, which runs about five blocks adjacent to the new Citi Field stadium and directly between the Van Wyck Expressway and Grand Central Parkway, into a regional center – with proposals including 5,500 units of mixed income housing and 5,000 permanent jobs at planned retail storefronts. But if the plan goes ahead in its current form, the small businesses and the workers they employ would be evicted. And while Aguirle said the City’s proposals to cross train workers and provide other jobs are admirable, the plan is unrealistic and would be disastrous for the mostly Spanish-speaking community, many of whom have worked in Willets Point their entire lives and whose families depend on their income here. “We have people working [here] for 20 years.” Aguirle said. “They don’t have another place they can work. They don’t have a future.” |
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