City Council
Council Concerns on Willets Point Budget
The Daily News ran a story yesterday about the uncertainty some Council Members are feeling over the Mayor’s proposed budget for the $400 million in funding that has been allocated for his Willets Point project. From the DN:
Mayor Bloomberg earmarked $400million in this year’s fiscal budget for Willets Point, but the city has refused to provide details about the five land deals it has inked at the gritty industrial zone near Shea Stadium.
At first, that might sound like a reasonable point. According to the DN, this is “a sticking point” for Council Members who are unsure of which way to vote when the plan comes up in November. Experts defend the city’s position that it cannot yet disclose the deals it has made because of the risk that such exposure could hinder future negotiations.
In addition, some opponents have expressed concern or outrage that the plan would move forward in a time when the economy is struggling. Mayor Bloomberg, however, disagrees and makes a valid point about why it is important to keep moving with this plan.
In his weekly radio address on Sept. 27, Bloomberg said the Willets Point plan would create jobs and turn an “underutilized” area into a “much-needed boost to our local economy.”
“City government can’t solve the problems on Wall Street” Bloomberg said in his address. “But we can take steps to ensure that even as the financial services industry stumbles, New York City continues to move forward.”
I certainly agree.
New York Post: City to Push Council Members
The City is planning to write to all of its Council Members in an attempt to convince them that they should be supportive of the Willets Point development plan, according to the New York Post.
Every council member will get a letter this week from 75 opinion-makers calling the development, across from Citi Field, “our best chance to transform a degraded section of New York into an engine for environmentally sensible growth and community development.”
I couldn’t agree more that this is the city’s best chance to make a major upgrae to a neighborhood that so desperately needs it.
Opinion: NY Post Editorial Board Endorses Plan
In an editorial entitled Blackmail at Willets Point the New York Post writes:
It’s time for the fooling around on Will ets Point to come to an end.
The city wants to rezone the long-blighted area - now dominated by auto-body shops, scrap yards, towing companies and the like.
Under proposed rezoning, the area would be opened for hotels, a convention center, offices, retail and residential space. However, as is typical, local politicians are up to mischief.
The ringleader this time is City Councilman Hiram Monserrate. With one eye squarely on higher office - the state Senate - he’s working against the rezoning.
Last month, following an hours-long protest outside of a City Planning Commission, Monserrate led a boisterous crowd in shouting down a news conference organized by the Economic Development Corp.
Days earlier, he got 32 of the council’s 51 members to agree that the Willets Point project won’t go forward unless the city promises not to use eminent domain to remove some 200 small businesses in the affected area.
Eminent domain - a process whereby a municipality may confiscate certain properties with appropriate compensation for a larger public purpose - is controversial, and should indeed be debated.
But that’s not what Monserrate is up to. Rather, he’s trying to hold up the project in order to squeeze out more “community” benefits.
Two years ago, he threatened to block a new Mets ballpark until Queens got a deal similar to what the Yankees gave The Bronx when building their new stadium.
Eventually, the Mets agreed to set aside various percentages of jobs to Queens residents and to minority and women contractors.
This time around, Monserrate claims, “There are still questions that haven’t been answered.”
Such as, how much “affordable housing” will be made available.
In fact, one-fifth of the residential space is already set aside for low-income housing. Yet Monserrate still has “questions.”
Rezoning Willets Point will intrinsically benefit the area, the borough of Queens and the city of New York.
Council Speaker Christine Quinn needs to show some leadership here, squelching Monserrate’s continued bad-faith blackmail attempts, prior to the Planning Commission vote in the coming weeks.
This project needs to go forward.
Make that three editorial boards that have come out strongly in favor of the plan to develop Willets Point. One of the papers is a local weekly, and the other two are city-wide daily papers. It seems that editors across the board agree that the plan is a great idea and Councilman Monserrate’s opposition makes little to no sense.
Update: Will Monserrate Have a Vote on Willets Point?
There’s some speculation over at The Real Deal as to whether or not Councilman/soon-to-be State Senator Hiram Monserrate will actually be in the City Council when it takes its vote on the plan to develop WIllets Point. Monserrate is running unopposed for the State Senate seat previously held by John Sabini in Queens. The seat is currently vacant.
On September 9, Monserrate will become the official Democratic nominee, and he has no serious opposition in the general election on November 4. Whether or not he’ll be able to vote on the plan in the City Council depends upon a trial originating in a Brooklyn State Senate race as to when the vacant seat will be filled. If it is ruled that the vacant seats are to be filled immediately, Monserrate will likely be a State Senator whose district no longer includes Willets Point before the vote hits the Council floor.
Upon taking his new position, his City Council seat will become vacant, and a special election most likely wouldn’t be held in time for the Council Member representing Willets Point to have a say in the City Council’s vote.
Monserrate insists he will continue to oppose the plan no matter what seat he holds at the time.
This is all speculation at this point, and if I had to guess, I’d see Monserrate getting sworn in in January with everyone else who has been elected. But we can all hope that he is immediately sworn into his new position…
News: City Council Still Clueless
According to Crain’s, 30 members of the City Council have signed a letter written by Councilman Monserrate in strong opposition to the Willets Point development plan.
Crain’s claims the members want the option of eminent domain taken off the table in the city’s negotiations with the businesses of Willets Point. The previous objections were related to affordable housing.
Unreal…the letter signed by 29 Council Members back in the early part of this year is what inspired me to create Develop Willets Point…they really are clueless.
The EDC released the following statement:
“As always, we value the input of City Council members and the issues mentioned are concerns we have continuously addressed with community leaders and elected officials. We look forward to presenting our plans to the City Planning Commission tomorrow and working with all parties as this important project advances in the public approval process.”
Opinion: Queens Gazette Considers Defeat of Willets Point Plan
The Queens Gazette ponders the potential defeat of Mayor Bloomberg’s Willets Point plan.
Well someone felt like being negative today… I can’t say I’m too concerned at this stage that the plan is doomed, but it would be a real shame if it is ultimately defeated by the City Council.
Voting down this plan at its last stage - the City Council - would kind of be like giving up six runs to your archrival in the 9th inning.
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