SPONSORING CLEANUP ON FRIDAY, MARCH 27th AT NOON(March 25, 2009) Willets Point United Against Eminent Domain Abuse is organizing a cleanup of garbage dumped along the streets of Willets Point, Queens, beginning this Friday, March 27th at 12 noon. The trucks will start in front of Crown Container, 126-46 34th Avenue.
“The City of New York has refused to provide us with sanitation services for decades, despite the fact that each business here pays tens of thousands of dollars in taxes annually,” said Jerry Antonacci, President of Willets Point United.
“It’s a shame that we have to take matters into our own hands because of neglect by the City,” said Jake Bono, Spokesperson for Willets Point United. “We have been calling in dumping complaints for years, but the Department of Sanitation refuses to respond and clean up the mess.”
The property owners, business owners and workers of Willets Point will collect and dispose of the garbage.
Besides lack of sanitation, Willets Point does not have adequate sewers and there are hundreds of potholes that the City’s Department of Transportation refuses to repair. These conditions have caused the streets to become an eyesore, have made it difficult for the businesses to operate and have endangered people’s lives and property.
On November 13, 2008, the City Council approved a plan that would remove existing businesses from Willets Point and redevelop the 64-acre industrial site into a convention center, hotels, shops and housing to be built and owned by a private developer. The City has announced that it will use eminent domain to achieve possession, if necessary, and then turn the property over to the developer, who is yet to be chosen. Willets Point United Against Eminent Domain Abuse represents more than two dozen property owners who are fighting the City’s plan to acquire their property.
