Claire Shulman
Opponents of Willets Point Questioning Shulman
A group of Willets Point business owners filed a complaint with the City regarding Claire Shulman’s involvement in lobbying on behalf of the plan to develop Willets Point.
According to her accusors, Shulman, the former Borough President of Queens, failed to properly register as a lobbyist in 2008. She currently heads the Flushing Willets Point Corona Local Development Corporation, an organization that is strongly in favor of Mayor Bloomberg’s development plan. They also claim she registered properly in 2007.
I am not familiar enough with the City’s regulations on lobbyists, but let’s wait and see how this plays out. It could be a complete non-issue, or maybe there’s some traction to their claims. It seems like something of this nature would have come up long ago, but perhaps the businesses owners in Willets Point just stumbled upon this possibility.
Willets Point Pro and Con, from the Queens Courier
The Queens courier ran op-eds from both sides of the argument regarding Willets Point. Claire Shulman writes in favor of the plan, while the Willets Point Industry and Realty Association provided the argument against the plan.
Some highlights from Claire Shulman’s piece:
For several generations Willets Point has been an eyesore in north central Queens. As Flushing to its east and Corona to its west have thrived, Willets Point has been frozen in time, with street scenes more likely to be witnessed in a third world country than the greatest city on earth. All of that is about to change…
…The new Willets Point will join a new Citi Field across the street, the U. S. National Tennis Center and outstanding cultural facilities such as the New York Hall of Science, Queens Theatre in the Park, the Queens Museum of Art, the Queens Zoo and the Queens Botanical Garden next door in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park.
Over the next several months, the City Council will debate the Willets Point plan. I urge you to contact your local councilmember to add your support for redeveloping Willets Point to unlock one of the greatest economic bonanzas our city has ever seen.
Couldn’t agree more with that comment about contacting your council member. There’s no better time than now to do so.
Excerpts from the Con op-ed will be posted later today.
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