Develop Willets Point

In a strongly worded editorial, the Daily News fully backs Claire Shulman and the supporters of the plan to develop Willets Point.  They also give Councilman Hiram Monserrate serious criticism for his actions related to Willets Point.

The editors have the following to say about the Council Members standing with Council:

These Council members must wake up to the fact that Monserrate is playing them for patsies over the fate of an isolated 61-acre peninsula near Shea Stadium that has been a blight on Queens for half a century.

The DN argues that Monserrate is standing up for only the economic interested of a few landowners, and if he wins his fight he will have hurt the city as a whole.

The editorial ends with a line echoing the words of Claire Shulman at the press conference outside of the hearings on Willets Point on August 13:

Shulman was right: Shame on you, Hiram Monserrate.

This editorial is a great, short read, and it’s well worth heading over to the Daily News site to check it out.  They are dead on, and it’s great to see the editors at the Daily News have reached a logical and reasonable position on the issue of developing the Iron Triangle.

The podcast recorded yesterday morning with John at New York Mets Daily is now available here:

http://newyorkmetsdaily.com/?p=245

Enjoy.

Tomorrow morning, I’ll be interviewed on the podcast for New York Mets Daily.  Head on over there if you’re interested.  You can listen to the streaming podcast or subscribe/download the feed from iTunes.

Update: A representative of the WPIRA, some of the biggest opponents of the Mayor’s plan, will be on the podcast as well tomorrow.

DWP was mentioned in the latest story on the Village Voice’s Running Scared blog.

Over at Metsblog, Matt Cerrone writes about a few of the things he’s pondering regarding the Mets.  The issues include Carlos Beltran, Citi Field ticket prices, and the Willets Point Proposal.  Of the proposal, Matt writes:

Is it fair that residents and businesses in the Iron Triangle may be forced to move out by the city to make way for the development of Willetts Point, a downtown setting of bars, restaurants and retail to accompany Citi Field. On one hand, as a modern-Libertarian, I feel this should be negotiated between the businesses that are directly involved, and not by Government. On the other hand, I love the idea of being able to hang out in a fun, downtown setting prior to seeing the Mets in Citi Field – assuming I can find and afford a ticket.

He concludes the post with the following:

If you have any insight on the above, let me know.

Matt runs one of the best blogs out there, and I definitely can see where he’s coming from with the conflicted thoughts on Willets Point.  That being said, head on over and let him know how you feel about the potential development of the neighborhood.

Sometimes I wonder what the opposition to the Willets Point development plan is thinking.  They’re certainly making a lot of noise and garnering plenty of attention from the press.

I can’t blame these businesses if they’re making such a hard push to get the best deal they possibly can from the city as they are relocated.  That might sound cynical, but when Hiram Monserrate, the plan’s biggest opponent, is going around saying he expects the development to happen, it’s reasonable to guess that may be the case.

I also understand that it’s relatively common in the Council for members to rally behind a member whose district includes a project as big as Willets Point.  But how many of the 32 Council Members really think this development plan is a bad idea?  Concerns for the fair treatment of the existing businesses are reasonable, and it might be tough for any of these members not to demand more affordable housing, but the strongly worded opposition seems a bit much.

Finally, there’s at last a little hypocrisy involved with the opposition.  A few days ago, Councilman Monserrate was demanding that each of the issues discussed at the City Planning hearings yesterday get its own full day.  But he and other opponents of the plan had no problem joining together with the Lower East Side protesters in order to make their group appear even larger and more significant.  Had they actually gotten their separate hearing, their protest crowd would only have been their own.

I’m very optimistic about the future of this plan.  I think the Mayor is right in saying the Council Members will all come around on this in the end.  I just don’t understand the grandstanding from the public officials who are currently denouncing this plan.