Local Pols Want $70 Million More for Willets Point Project

Two City Council subcommittees will make a preliminary verdict on the $3 billion Willets Point project tomorrow, but local officials continue to push for assurances that the city will invest adequately in infrastructure around the project. More specifically, as Crain’s reports, “they have asked for the city to guarantee it will pay $70 million for traffic ramps leading into the development, which will ultimately include hotel and residential space, from the Van Wyck Expressway.” The city hasn’t allocated any funds for the ramps, despite previously promising to include them in the project. For a proposal that’s shifted its focus from housing to retail development, the ramps will increase accessibility to the site for future residents, as well as accelerate housing development in the area.

Willets Point United issued an open letter to council members regarding the traffic ramp. The letter states, “Obtaining $70 million for highway ramps does not address the overriding problem with this project: the construction of a huge mall on parkland; AND, it alone does not and cannot guarantee that any housing will ever be constructed, because the project contract still contains escape clauses.” They urge City Council to deny the plan altogether, stating that the community does not want the proposed project at all and there needs to be a guarantee for affordable housing. An opinion piece in the New York Daily News echoes that sentiment, saying: “The proposal to build a massive, 1.4 million-square-foot shopping mall inside Flushing Meadows-Corona Park is a poster child for everything that is wrong with development in our city.” Meanwhile, Queens Crap asks, “Why the hell should taxpayers foot the bill for the Wilpons’ highway ramps?” After the subcommittee’s vote on the matter tomorrow, the full City Council will vote on the proposal as early as next week.

$70M Deal Needed for Council OK on Willets Point [Crain’s]
Willets Pount spells More Inequality for NYC [NY Daily News]
Willets West Mall on Parkland [Willets Point United]