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September 6, 2009
EMINENT DOMAINIA: The Big Apple Bites!
Daily News, Williamsburg businesses fear eminent domain for will steal their livelihoods for Broadway Triangle
BY Erin Durkin
Land is sold in a no-bid process and property owners threatened with eminent domain. It's just another day here in NYC.
'I'm just living in limbo,' says Ernie Wong, co-owner of Shanghai Stainless Product & Design Co. on Gerry St., as he awaits word of city's eminent domain decision. Related NewsLouis: Pols get the brawl rollingToo many loopholes: Campaign money goes for cars, spas & travelRuiz: Businesses come out for health care reformVoice of the People for Sept. 6, 2009Naked Cowboy bows out of mayoral raceIf the city's controversial plan to develop Williamsburg's Broadway Triangle goes forward, at least six small businesses will get the boot - and others will be left with an uncertain future.
While the loudest battles over the plan to build 1,895 low-rise apartments on the 31-acre Triangle site have been over the allegations of political corruption, little attention has been focused on the fate of the existing small businesses in the area.
"I'm just living in limbo," said Ernie Wong, 33, whose family owns Shanghai Stainless Product & Design Co. on Gerry St. and employs 19 people.
The Triangle, located on the border between Williamsburg and Bedford-Stuyvesant, is one of a dwindling number of areas in the city zoned for manufacturing.
The city plans to use eminent domain to force five property owners to sell. Another 14 businesses could be displaced by zoning rules that will limit their activities.
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Aaron Jacobowitz, 44, said it took 14 years to build up a customer base at his Bartlett St. flower shop, Floral Expression. Losing the property and relocating would mean starting from scratch.
"It's a back-room deal," he said. "We're determined to fight it all the way to the end."
Opponents charge the land was handed over to two politically connected nonprofits without a fair bidding process. They say Ridgewood-Bushwick Senior Citizens Council and the Hasidic group United Jewish Organizations of Williamsburg used their ties to Brooklyn Democratic boss Assemblyman Vito Lopez (D-Williamsburg) to be tapped as developers. Lopez and the groups have denied the allegation.
Posted by steve at September 6, 2009 9:33 AM