Results tagged “irontriangle”

If you watch just one Community Board Meeting video this summer, make it this one. Willets Point property owners who've been passionately protesting Mayor Bloomberg's controversial $3 billion plan to rezone the area (to make way for a hotel, convention center, offices and retail stores) have put together this video showing how the sausage gets made over at Community Board 7. Their gripping featurette focuses in on a contentious committee meeting that yielded a yes vote for the city's proposal, despite serious reservations voiced by board members.

Angry opponents to Mayor Bloomberg’s plan to develop 62 acres of poorly-maintained land in Willets Point, Queens disrupted a press conference yesterday held by city officials in Washington Square Park to tout the proposal. Councilman Hiram Monserrate, whose district includes Willets Point, led over two dozen protesters to the press conference, where they drowned out advocates for the plan, chanting “Justice for Willets Point!” According to the Times, the police refused to remove the protesters, telling officials they had a right to be there, even if they were being disruptive.

Last year Mayor Bloomberg announced a $3 billion plan to seize 61 acres of the Willets Point district next to the forthcoming Citi Field in Queens through eminent domain, raze it, and construct 5,500 units of housing, a hotel, convention center and over 2 million square feet of office space, restaurants and retail shops. But business owners in the target zone have been fighting it, saying their ‘hood, dubbed the Iron Triangle for its chop shops and scrap yards, just needs repair, not total eradication. Sound familiar?

Earlier this year, Mayor Bloomberg announced a major plan to transform Willets Point, the area, also known as the Iron Triangle, across from Shea Stadium, into a thriving area of new housing, business and hotels. However, some are pretty unhappy with the plans, which include replacing 250 businesses, and they've channeled their hopes - and a fair amount of money - to City Council member Melinda Katz. The Post reports Katz received $29,500 from "people...

The area across from Shea Stadium known as the Iron Triangle has never seemed suitable for housing, mostly because it was home to hundreds of auto shops. That could all change, if Mayor Bloomberg gets his way. Yesterday, the mayor announced a master plan to revitalize Willets Point, the official name of the 61-acre area in Northern Queens. The plan would replace the 250 businesses, which employ about 1,300 people, with housing, office space, restaurants and shops, a hotel, and a convention center. The plain claims that it will create 20,000 construction jobs and 6,100 permanent jobs. If approved, it would also be "the first neighborhood, and the City's largest development project to incorporate "green" building technology."

The Mayor gave the full court press for the Olympics Stadium in Queens plan, making him the only mayor of an Olympic bid city to officiate at his daughter's wedding AND come up with a backup plan for the Olympics proposal. And some people, expecting the Olympics to not come here, think the plan could be reworked for a 2016 bid, which actually sounds about right, since Beijing missed out on an earlier Olympics, but was rewarded with them in 2008. Anyway, the Mayor's press release for the new plan is full of the flowery language once used for a Manhattan-based plan, but with a twist:

What is clear is that New Yorkers have come together. They have come together not to do what is in their interests, but what is in the City's interest. They have come together for New York and this show of unity for a common goal is a wonderful message to send to the Olympic community. The same spirit that inspired leading New Yorkers in a last-minute and ultimately successful effort to become the home of the United Nations in 1946 inspires us today. You can never count New Yorkers out. If the IOC wants a City with heart, a City that can overcome its differences, that can pull together during trying times and will do everything possible to host a great Games, we are the City for them.

On the upside, the Olympic athletes would get more authentic cuisine in Queens than in Manhattan. And the IOC President said the votes for the Paris, London, Madrid, Moscow, and NYC are tight, so you never know. Except Gothamist thinks you should bet on Paris, so the car lot workers in the Iron Triangle don't have to worry too much.

Kevin Walsh, Forgotten NY