Peralta El Muñeco

The puppets are being lined up to front for the 1% on the Willets Point development plan-the latest being Jose Peralta who believes he can parlay obsequiousness straight into the borough president's office. Here he is waxing eloquent with talking point supplied to him by his masters:

"Finally, there is a plan moving forward to bring this kind of investment and economic opportunity to Willets Point, an area that, despite its unique location as a transportation hub in the heart of Queens, has remained a contaminated and underutilized eyesore.

Under a multi-phase plan, the city and Queens Development Group, a joint venture of The Related Companies and Sterling Equities, will transform the area into a thriving and modern mixed-use neighborhood and commercial destination, linked to essential infrastructure and services. Neighborhood redevelopment will start with environmental clean-up and commercial development, followed by construction of 2,500 units of housing, at least 35 percent of which will be designated as affordable."

Don't you love the phrase, "...followed by..." What the good senator doesn't say is that the follow up is over a decade away and the likelihood of it ever happening is about as predictable as snow in July. What intrigues us is Peralta's repetition of the employment meme:

"More than $3 billion in private investment will be committed to the project in the coming years, helping to stimulate the economy and create badly needed jobs. Construction alone will generate 12,000 union jobs. When the new buildings and businesses open, the city estimates that more than 7,000 positions will need to be filled. These positions—in the retail, office, entertainment, restaurant, education and hospitality sectors—are the kinds of jobs that lift people out of poverty and provide long-term employment stability."

Just as BP Marshall, Peralta makes no mention of those who are currently working and owning businesses at Willets Point - Hispanic immigrant entrepreneurs and their workers getting the shaft from the ambitious pol. Nor does he mention, perhaps because he hasn't been paying much attention, the fact that the city has reneged on the living wage pledge for the retail workers who will be boot strapped out of poverty by their minimum wage jobs - replacing scores of business owners so that two billion dollar real estate firms can make a score.

Peralta, for his part, also has a comedic streak in him: "Even in today’s economically distressed environment, city and business leaders continue to believe in the promise of Queens and a renewed Willets Point, developing a plan that is even broader, yet nonetheless in keeping with what was approved by the City Council in 2008."

Let's cut the crap, Jose. This is a mall with all the other stuff as pie in the sky - a player to be named later once the mayor's real estate cronies amass their millions from this corrupt deal. No mention either by Perlata of the fact that the city is using condemnation to take away peoples' property, or that the mall is to be built on parkland that has never been alienated.

All of these inconvenient truths need to be ignored when you have been saddled up  and are riding on the 1% horse-all the way to higher offices on the support of the crony capitalists. Quite a statement from the supposed progressive.