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April 10, 2008
PRESS RELEASE: Willets Point Industry and Realty Association Filing Lawsuit in U.S. Federal District Court against Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg & City of New York
NEW YORK — The Willets Point Industry and Realty Association (WPIRA), a group of the 10 largest business and land owners in Willets Point, Queens, are today filing a lawsuit against the City of New York seeking a court order requiring the City to provide basic vital infrastructure including repairs to streets and storm sewers, installation of sanitary sewers, street lights, street signs and other services that WPIRA maintains the City has withheld for over 40 years. The suit also requests unspecified damages for past neglect. The suit was filed in U.S. Federal District Court, in the Eastern District of New York. WPIRA will hold a rally and press conference at New York City Hall at 11 A.M. today.
The suit is filed against Michael Bloomberg, as Mayor of the City of New York, Emily Lloyd, as Commissioner of the New York City Department of Environmental Protection, Janette Sadik-Khan as Commissioner of the New York City Department of Transportation and John Doherty as Commissioner of the New York City Department of Sanitation.
At the heart of the complaint is the alleged purposeful refusal of New York City to provide these basic services and an allegation that the City intended to depress property values. This would pave the way for NYC to condemn Willets Point, evicting its businesses and deliver this choice piece of real estate to the hands of private developers. In addition to the lawsuit, members of WPIRA fear this development plan will follow the current trend of stalled or failed developments throughout the City.
WPIRA says that The City of New York is proposing to rezone Willets Point, condemn it and evict the existing businesses through the use of eminent domain and replace them with 1.7 million feet of retail space, 500,000 square feet of office space, a hotel, 5,500 residential housing units and a convention center in the neighborhood that is currently zoned for heavy industry. To make this proposal a reality, the City must first acquire the 60 acres of privately owned land at Willets Point. The suit alleges that the City of New York has planned to rezone and redevelop for many years and has been waging a campaign of intentional neglect to create and perpetuate an eyesore for the eventual justification of the use of Eminent Domain.
“The city’s negligent, reckless and willful refusal to provide this infrastructure creates not only an offensive nuisance but it also creates hazards that threaten the health, safety and livelihood of those who work in Willets Point,” said Michael Gerrard, Attorney for WPIRA. The suit claims the City’s failure to address the deplorable conditions of the Willets Point infrastructure has caused extensive and predictable damage to the businesses. This damage includes depressed property values, difficulty recruiting and retaining employees, difficulty obtaining credit, higher interest rates for business loans, diminished business revenues, equipment and property damage, higher delivery costs and business interruption costs. Additionally, the looming threat of Eminent Domain and resulting loss of jobs has taken a toll on morale in all area businesses.
According to WPIRA, Willets Point employs an estimated 3,000 highly skilled workers in ironworking, construction, solid waste management, sewer parts, auto repair and service, and the manufacture of bakery and food ingredients that includes the largest distributor of Indian foods in the US. Yet the city continues to misrepresent the area as a haven for crime comprised mostly of junkyards and chop shops. The area’s workforce is mostly blue-collar and for almost 80 years has provided a valuable opportunity for local residents to start up their own businesses and live the American dream. Willets Point businesses provide billions of dollars of economic activity and millions of dollars of tax revenue to the City of New York.
The members of WPIRA believe that the area would be revitalized if the City spent a fraction of the capital required for redevelopment and invested in infrastructure for the area. The New York City Economic Development Corporation (EDC) conducted a study of the area in 1991 that suggested exactly that. “If the City provided the infrastructure and services that we are entitled to and in fact, are paying for, the area would be revitalized,” said Dan Feinstein, President of Feinstein Iron Works, Inc., one of the Plaintiffs. According to WPIRA, the estimated cost of redeveloping the area is upwards of three billion dollars. That estimate is expected to skyrocket given the credit crisis and increasing construction costs. “Our schools and emergency first responders are facing more budget cuts and the Mayor wants to hand a blank check of New York City’s hard earned taxpayers dollars to a private developer?” said Feinstein. “That is outrageous, unacceptable and we’re not going to stand for it.”
WPIRA members point out that the project’s price tag is just one of the many obstacles the EDC faces as the City moves forward to prepare to certify the ULURP (Uniform Land Use Review Procedure) to rezone Willets Point. The City issued an RFP in November 2004 but has not released results of their environmental impact analysis of the area in question nor has it presented a detailed plan for the redevelopment of the area and/or identified a developer. These usually precede the ULURP process so that the City Council can maintain control over the final outcome. WPIRA charges EDC wants a free hand to negotiate with a developer, unencumbered by the City Council.
“Despite the numerous and obvious obstacles, it appears that the EDC believes it doesn’t have to follow any rules and it can muscle its way through the City Council and the ULURP; and the Union and Housing advocates can be appeased by promises that future administrations will have to fulfill,” said Thomas Mina, Vice President of T. Mina Supply Inc., one of the Plaintiffs. “We have received feedback from City Council members and seen the false statements in the news by the EDC that prove our fear that the EDC is attempting to portray us as uncooperative and “money hungry” so they can justify the use of eminent domain at the end of the ULURP process,” said Mina.
“The EDC is not being truthful with the City Council, the businesses at Willets Point or the public. If the City wanted to deal openly and fairly, they would have released the results of property appraisals that were completed last year by Cushman and Wakefield,” said Anthony Fodera, President of Fodera Foods Inc., one of the Plaintiffs. Not one of the 10 business and land owners of WPIRA have been provided with viable options for relocation of their businesses, despite numerous public statements to the contrary by the EDC and Queens Borough President Helen M. Marshall.
The WPIRA points out the EDC’s abysmal track record of completing re-development projects and abusive threats of Eminent Domain. “The EDC has yet to prove that it can coordinate between the community and developers to bring a project to successful completion,” said Anthony Fodera. “Just look at Municipal Lot 1 project in Flushing, Queens. That project has been stalled for years due to the developer’s inability to fulfill the community benefits package it once promised. Why should we think the EDC can do any better in Willets Point?”
The Willets Point Industry and Realty Association (WPIRA)
The Willets Point Industry and Realty Association (WPIRA) is dedicated to the development, improvement and growth of the Willets Point area by the businesses that reside there, and not by development schemes in which eminent domain is used to forcibly evict and raze those businesses. The WPIRA consists of the following businesses: A. Fodera & Son, Inc., Bono Sawdust Supply Co., Inc., Crown Container Co., Inc., Feinstein Iron Works, Inc., House of Spices (India), Inc., Parts Authority, Inc., QC Iron Works Inc., Sambucci Bros. Inc, T. Mina Supply, Inc., Tully Environmental, Inc., Tully Construction Co., Inc. www.WPIRA.com
Posted by eric at April 10, 2008 3:50 PM