Queens Tribune
 
....November 13, 11:36 AM
 
Opponents Flip On Willets Point Plan

The threat to block approval the Willets Point development collapsed Wednesday as the Mayor and Councilman Hiram Monserrate brokered a deal to add more affordable and low-income housing to the plan. A vote for approval is expected Thursday.

By Joseph Orovic

The Willets Point Development Plan reached a turning point Wednesday when its most vocal opponent, Councilman Hiram Monserrate (D-Corona), announced his support for the deal alongside Mayor Michael Bloomberg at City Hall.

The project will face the Planning and Land Use Committees where minutiae will be ironed out before coming to a full Council vote Thursday afternoon.

The agreement does not remove the plan’s most contentious aspect – the use of eminent domain, which fuels continued disagreement over the development.

After much political wrangling, Bloomberg made the deal palatable enough for Monserrate, who had garnered a majority of Council members to voice opposition to the plan.

“I am proud to say that we have agreed on a project that will redefine the landscape of Northwest Queens for decades to come,” Monserrate said.

The revamped plan includes an 850-seat school and a mandatory level of permanent affordable housing. In general, 35 percent of the 5,500 planned units must be affordable, with 250 units exclusively for those earning 30 percent of the annual median income. Today, the figure would be $23,000 for a family of four.

From the beginning, the plan has included a workforce development and retraining program to offer opportunities to displaced workers.

A tenant relocation support fund worth $3 million is also included in the plan. The money will be doled out to relocating businesses based on square footage.

Certain businesses also may apply for the Economic Development Corporation’s Capital Access Program, which can provide loan guarantees for businesses with up to 100 employees in the City.

The EDC increased its hold of the 62-acre Iron Triangle when it struck an agreement with Feinstein Iron Works Tuesday. The City now has 47 percent of Willets Point’s land.

Still, nothing can change the minds of stalwarts like Jake Bono of Bono Sawdust Supply.

“This business is not for sale,” he said. “I heard the news. But did City Hall hear the news that I’m not leaving? As long as I’m alive, a shovel is not breaking the ground on my property.”

Bono believes a tough legal fight looms ahead if he wants to keep his business. He remains skeptical of the plan’s feasibility given the state of the economy.

“You’re going to cut teachers, cops, raise taxes, but he’s still got money to play Monopoly in Willets Point?” he said.

But Council Speaker Christine Quinn claimed Willets Point can heal the ailing economy.

“As we confront such hard economic times, these important projects will create jobs, generate revenues and help keep our City moving forward,” she said in a statement.

According to Mayor Bloomberg, the plan would provide 18,000 construction jobs and more than 5,000 permanent jobs, along with $1.3 billion in tax revenue.

The Mayor expects the City will own a majority of the Iron Triangle within the near future, as the EDC believes it’s close to a deal with the largest landowner, Tully Environmental Inc. Such a deal would increase pressure for the remaining businesses to sell.

Still, Jerry Antonacci, owner of Crown Containers, doesn’t feel any more pressure to sell.

“The City has yet to make an offer I like,” he said. “If I don’t feel like I’m getting rightly compensated; I won’t sell and I’ll take them to court.”

Former Borough President Claire Shulman, who is president of the City-sponsored Flushing Willets Point Corona LDC, said, “There will be a City Council vote tomorrow and I presume that it will be positive since Hiram was running the opposition and he made an agreement with [Deputy Mayor for Economic Development] Bob Lieber with regard to the affordable housing.”

She added that eminent domain will be used only when absolutely necessary. And if the plan goes through? Her office may be the happiest place in the City.

“Everyone will be ecstatic,” she said.

Not everyone is finding reason to celebrate.

Councilman Tony Avella (D-Bayside) spent all day cloistered inside City Hall, only receiving word of the deal three hours after it was announced. He may have been the last to know, but it changed little.

“I’m still opposed. It still doesn’t address the main issue, which is eminent domain,” he said. “Let’s spend a couple hundred million dollars to buy out property and take the rest. Where’s the American dream in that?”

Councilman Hiram Monserrate joined officials and the Mayor to announce the deal Wednesday.