Crain’s Corrects

In the Tuesday edition of the Crain’s Insider, the newsletter had alleged that the cause of Willets Point United lacked any community based support. After WPU contacted Crain’s, the following was reported: “Property owners fighting a proposed redevelopment in Willets Point dispute yesterday's Insider report that “no community groups stand against the project.” Six Queens groups sent letters in early 2010 objecting to elements of the development. They called for an independent review of the Van Wyck Expressway ramps proposed for the project. Several letters oppose the ramps and call for a moratorium on the use of eminent domain, which may be necessary to clear the project site.”

In addition, the newsletter had also alleged that no council member was supporting the property owners. Certainly, if CM Halloran’s comments at the eminent domain hearing from the other week, he most assuredly can be placed squarely in the corner of WPU in its effort. But what of the other elected officials?

It is quite true that Halloran, and to some extent CM Ferreras for the WP workers, has been a lone voice. But is this a result of the inability of the lobbyist? Or is it something other than that? After all, to see so many elected officials remain silent in the face of injustice is their shame, one that can’t be shared with anyone else.

Whither Claire?

Speaking of injustice, why is no one pursuing the “open” investigation of the former borough president? After all, it was the former Attorney General that allegedly opened it, but allowed it to languish all the way up and through the endorsement of Mayor Mike Bloomberg-and beyond into the new administration of AG Schneiderman.
The investigation of corruption apparently is a quite selective process. We read this morning that the new attorney general is on the corruption beat-going after one of his former state senate colleagues. As Daily Politics points out: “Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has slapped subpoenas on education outfits with ties to Queens state Sen. Shirley Huntley, the Daily News has learned. Our Ken Lovett brings us this exclusive report in today's editions: One subpoena seeking the nonprofit's paperwork went to Huntley's daughter, Pamela Corley, who heads the Parent Information Network, said a source familiar with the probe. A second went to Vanessa Sparks, president of the Parent Workshop, which Huntley created before becoming a senator, the source said.The subpoenas are said to seek information on how the groups used state grants.”

There is, however, no more obvious an illegality than the one committed by Claire Shulman-committed in the name of EDC as it happens. To review: Claire Shulman has admitted to the NY Times: "That was the whole idea. We lobbied the City for the City." (Rivera, Ray. 2009. New York Paid To Lobby Itself, Group Claims. New York Times, August 21, Sec. A.)

Mayor Bloomberg has admitted to the TimesLedger newspapers: "These groups [local development corporations] are designed to lobby. I don't know if they technically broke the law." (Duke, Nathan and Gustafson, Anna. 2009. Bloomberg defends Shulman in Willets Point flap, TimesLedger, August, 27.)

Notwithstanding the clear admissions of Shulman and Bloomberg: The attempt by Shulman's local development corporation ("LDC") to influence the City Council's legislative adoption of Resolutions approving the Willets Point development (including authorization to use eminent domain to acquire property) is contrary to both §1411 of the NYS Not-For-Profit Corporation Law under which all LDCs are organized as well as the Certificate of Incorporation of Shulman's LDC. NYCEDC is likewise an LDC which is subject to the absolute prohibition of attempting to influence legislation that is imposed by §1411, and that is also reiterated within NYCEDC's Certificate of Incorporation.

And there’s strong evidence that not only was Shulman was successful, but that she was the linchpin of the ULURP application being approved. Now, we can’t say for certain what would have happened if EDC hadn’t illegally hire her, but her impact was undeniable-as Juan Gonzales reported at the time.

Claire organized the unions to support the Willets Point development, and their support proved to be a turning point-something that then CM Monseratte has admitted. The bottom line here is that Shulman’s LDC was set up almost exclusively as a lobbying entity, and this crass violation of the law is being allowed to stand-although it could soon become an integral thread in upcoming lawsuits brought against the city.

However, it shouldn’t be up to small property owners like ourselves to bring this issue before the court. Our message to AG Schniederman is a simple one: Please enforce the law without fear or favor.

Statement regarding Dr. Richard Lipsky

Willets Point United Inc. ("WPU") is very surprised to learn of unexpected allegations against Dr. Richard Lipsky.

We emphasize that the allegations have nothing whatsoever to do with Willets Point, and we consider that Dr. Lipsky has done a most effective job on behalf of WPU to expose the severe negative impacts of the proposed Willets Point development, plus the fraud and illegal tactics to which the City has resorted as it attempts to proceed with its project at any price.

All information that Dr. Lipsky has disseminated regarding the proposed Willets Point development is accurate, and is verifiable by reviewing publicly available records.

For nearly two years, Dr. Lipsky has been a spokesman for WPU and has communicated with news media on WPU's behalf, providing key information which has benefited the public, and which Dr. Lipsky was the first person to disseminate. To his credit, Dr. Lipsky has personally done the laborious type of investigative journalism which has all but disappeared from mainstream news reporting. We commend him for that effort.

Although WPU deeply appreciates Dr. Lipsky's expertise and friendship, and hopes that he will be vindicated, WPU's opposition to the proposed Willets Point development will continue most forcefully, regardless of any news concerning Dr. Lipsky. WPU has directly established the necessary contacts and credibility with elected officials, regulatory agencies and news media; and the capability exists within WPU and among its numerous expert consultants and attorneys, to carry out WPU's program with or without Dr. Lipsky.

Significantly, whatever the allegations may be against Dr. Lipsky, they must absolutely pale in comparison to the scale of the wrongdoing perpetrated by the City and its cohorts in their attempt to seize Willets Point property to facilitate a development that is valued in excess of $4,000,000,000.00. There has yet been no prosecution of this wrongdoing, but we aim to change that.

And while both the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York ironically have recently taken a keen interest in Dr. Richard Lipsky for absolutely unrelated reasons, we are confident that those federal enforcement agencies are not going to allow the fraud and corruption which underpins the proposed Willets Point development to persist and succeed. Where there is enforcement against one, there should be enforcement against all – especially against those who would conspire to abuse power to facilitate a corrupt land grab plan which stretches back decades.

WPU is motivated, indefatigable, and inspired by Dr. Lipsky's contact with federal enforcement agencies.

More EDPL hearing coverage

Hearing Testimony Establishes Platform For Future Legal Fight Queens Tribune

Willets meeting gets heated Times Ledger

Fighting for a future beyond Willets Point Times Ledger

Willets owners dispute "underutilized" tag Queens Chronicle

Willets Point Reality Queens Crap

What Support? Queens Tribune

Iron Will at Forum Daily News

EDPL hearing coverage

Willets Point Landowners State Their Case, Epoch Times

Willets Foes Plan Suit Over Eminent Domain, Queens Tribune

In Willets Point, Workers and a Resident Fight On, New York Times

Willets Point Property Owners Vow to Continue Legal Challenge Against City, WNYC

Willets backers plan to reopen suit against city, Times Ledger

Willets Point owners vow last ditch legal stand, Crains

Concern for Underclass as the City Progresses on Its Willets Point Plan, NY Times

Willets Point property and business owners ready to fight city over eminent domain, Daily News

Rikon: No public use at Willets Point

STATEMENT OF MICHAEL RIKON, ATTORNEY FOR WILLETS POINT UNITED, INC. AND INDIVIDUAL PROPERTY OWNERS EDPL SECTION 201
PUBLIC HEARING MARCH 2, 2011

MY NAME IS MICHAEL RIKON, MY LAW FIRM GOLDSTEIN, RIKON & RIKON, P.C. REPRESENTS WILLETS POINT UNITED, INC. AND INDIVIDUAL PROPERTY OWNERS. THIS PUBLIC HEARING VIOLATES THE EMINENT DOMAIN PROCEDURE LAW, THE CONSTITUTION AND DUE PROCESS. WILLETS POINT UNITED, INC. IS A COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION CONSISTING OF 12 PROPERTY AND BUSINESS OWNERS THE 62 ACRE PROJECT WILL AFFECT 255 BUSINESS AND SOME 55 PARCELS OF LAND.

AT THE OUTSET, THE NOTICE GIVEN FOR THIS PUBLIC HEARING VIOLATES THE DUE PROCESS CLAUSE. THE HEARING “LEGAL NOTICE” STATES THAT THE PUBLIC HEARING IS TO CONSIDER THE PROPOSED ACQUISITION BY CONDEMNATION OF CERTAIN PROPERTY IN FURTHERANCE OF THE WILLETS POINT DEVELOPMENT PLAN.

THE NOTICE GOES ON TO DESCRIBE THE AREA ENCOMPASSED BY THE PLAN AS A 61.4 ACRE INDUSTRIAL SITE. IT THEN DESCRIBES A SMALLER AREA WHICH IT CALLS PHASE I, BUT IT ONLY IDENTIFIED AND GAVE NOTICE TO THOSE PROPERTY OWNERS IN PHASE I, THIS VIOLATES THE CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS TO DUE PROCESS OF ALL THE OTHER OWNERS. THIS HEARING AND ANY DETERMINATION AND FINDINGS ADOPTED BASED ON THE HEARING WILL BE CONTRARY TO THE LAW.

THERE IS NO PUBLIC USE FOR THE WILLETS POINT CONDEMNATION. BOTH OUR UNITED STATES AND NEW YORK STATE CONSTITUTIONS REQUIRE THAT FOR PRIVATE PROPERTY TO BE TAKEN BY THE EXERCISE OF EMINENT DOMAIN IT MUST BE FOR A PUBLIC USE. THAT LIMITATION IS FOUND WITHIN THE FIFTH AMENDMENT TO THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION. “…NOR SHALL PRIVATE PROPERTY BE TAKEN FOR PUBLIC USE, WITHOUT JUST COMPENSATION.” THESE LIMITATIONS ARE MADE APPLICABLE TO THE STATES BY THE FOURTEENTH AMENDMENT. PUBLIC USE MUST BE PRESENT IN ANY CONDEMNATION IN NEW YORK STATE. THE RECENT CASES, IN OUR COURT OF APPEALS, ATLANTIC YARDS, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY, UPTOWN PROPERTIES ALL WERE BASED ON BLIGHT CHALLENGES.

BUT THE COURT OF APPEALS HAS MADE CLEAR OUR STATE CONSTITUTION STILL REQUIRES A PUBLIC USE BEFORE PROPERTY MAY BE TAKEN. THUS FOR ANY CONDEMNATION TO GO FORWARD IN WILLETS POINT, THERE MUST BE A PUBLIC USE FOR THE PROPERTY TO BE TAKEN. THE PROPOSED TAKING IS WITHOUT LOGIC OR REASON. IT IS NOTHING MORE THAN A FIGMENT OF MAYOR BLOOMBERG’S IMAGINATION.

QUITE SIMPLY, YOU CANNOT TAKE PRIVATE PROPERTY ON SPECULATION. THERE IS NO DEVELOPER.

THE EXECUTIVE SUMMARY FOR THE WILLETS POINT DEVELOPMENT PLAN FROM THE OFFICE OF THE MAYOR, DATED FEBRUARY 10, 2011 ADMITS “THERE IS NO SPECIFIC DEVELOPMENT PLAN.” THE ENTIRE DESCRIPTION OF THE PROJECT AS IS SET FORTH IN AN ILLEGALLY PREPARED TECHNICAL MEMORANDUM FOR THE WILLETS POINT DEVELOPMENT PLAN DATED FEBRUARY 10, 2011, IS A HOPELESSLY OBSCURE DESCRIPTION OF THE PROJECT WHICH CANNOT BE JUSTIFIED.

THE PROPOSED CONDEMNATION IS ALSO SPECULATIVE BECAUSE NOTHING CAN BE DEVELOPED UNLESS THE EXTRAORDINARY TRAFFIC PROBLEMS ARE DEALT WITH BY OBTAINING APPROVALS TO BUILD NEW RAMPS TO THE VAN WYCK EXPRESSWAY.

THE PROJECT IS ALSO SPECULATIVE BECAUSE THE CITY HAS INTENTIONALLY DEPRIVED WILLETS POINT OF ESSENTIAL MUNICIPAL SERVICES. THERE ARE NO WASTE SEWERS. THERE ARE NO STORM WATER SEWERS. THERE HAS BEEN TOTAL NEGLECT IN MAINTAINING STREETS AND ROADWAYS. THERE HAS BEEN NO CODE ENFORCEMENT. INDEED, THE CITY HAS INTENTIONALLY CREATED BLIGHT AND NOW WISHES TO USE IT AS A PREDICATE FOR CONDEMNATION

BUT IT IS THIS LACK OF ESSENTIAL SERVICES THAT WILL PREVENT THE IMAGINARY DEVELOPER FROM CONSTRUCTING ANYTHING IN THE PROJECT AREA.

ANOTHER PHYSICAL BAR WHICH PREVENTS DEVELOPMENT OF THE SITE IS THAT THE SOIL CANNOT SUPPORT STRUCTURES DREAMED OF WITHOUT EXTRAORDINARY EXPENSE. THEN THERE IS THE ALLEGED CONTAMINATION WHICH WOULD HAVE TO BE REMOVED. THE CITY OF NEW YORK ALSO STATES THAT UP TO 7 FEET OF FILL WOULD BE REQUIRED. WE DO NOT KNOW IF THE AMOUNT OF FILL WOULD INCREASE AFTER REMEDIATION. WE ARE TALKING ABOUT 61.4 ACRES.

WHO WOULD PAY FOR THIS? HOW MANY BILLIONS WILL IT COST THE CITY OF NEW YORK? IT HAS NOT BEEN SHOWN THAT ANY DEVELOPER WOULD UNDERTAKE ANY PART OF THE ILLUSORY PROJECT WITH THE ATTENDANT EXTRAORDINARY COSTS. THERE IS NO PUBLIC USE OF THE LAND NOW OR IN THE NEAR FUTURE THE PROPOSED CONDEMNATION IS SPECULATIVE AND UNCONSTITUTIONAL.

Statement by traffic engineer Brian Ketcham

"Nearly four decades ago William Hoppen and I took on the West Side Highway project. We did so alone. And we paid for all of our work in cash and in careers. The City, State and Federal governments spent $150 million to stop us. They could not. Although they did torture us afterwards.

Westway was not nearly so complicated as Willets Point. Nor as divisive! As with Willets Point, Westway was a multi-billion project. A huge land development swindle that would have made the City’s favored developers billions. Another similarity is that the Westway engineers, Parsons Brinckerhoff, were the same folks who were to form AKRF, the environmental engineering firm who botched the Willets Point environmental impact statement and have caused the multi-year delay in this project.

These engineering firms along with NYCEDC will ultimately be responsible for the collapse of the Willets Point project. In the case of Westway these environmental engineers could not make the case in support for Westway. Their efforts cost taxpayers $150,000,000 and they did not have a clue. It is incredible to think about that battle nearly 40 years later.

For Willets Point, the problem is that AKRF knows precisely what they are doing and they have to lie to make their case. They know that Willets Point is too big for the Flushing area. They know the surrounding roadway network cannot accommodate Willets Point traffic. They know that the Van Wyck Expressway and connecting expressways cannot accommodate so much additional traffic. They know there is no additional transit capacity to accommodate Willets Point and the other projects like Flushing Commons and that even more traffic will be forced onto the area than reported.

They lied and they got caught. They have lied repeatedly. Over the last 18 months we have provided NYCEDC, NYSDOT and the FHWA dozens of documents supporting these assertions, identifying the errors, omissions and outright lies that forced EDC in 2010 to withdraw its application for ramps connecting Willets Point to the Van Wyck Expressway.

While these agencies have failed to directly acknowledge these reports they have been forced, based on these documents, to delay any action on the Willets Point project. Within the next month I will be providing you with a new report summarizing the situation today, critiquing the latest efforts by EDC to sell their Willets Point project, and connecting the current problems that we have identified with all of the many reports that we have submitted over the past 18 months.

The ramps will not help reduce the impact of the Willets Point project. The surrounding roads and expressways cannot accommodate this project let alone the other 20 million square feet of new development generating more than 170,000 new car and truck trips daily. The existing transit systems cannot accommodate 200,000 more daily trips leaving most of these travelers to use their cars and add to the areas Super-Gridlock conditions.

The NYCEDC cannot meet any of the eight FHWA criteria for ramp approval and, as NYCEDC has said repeatedly, the Willets Point project will not work without the ramps. The Willets Point Development Plan is fatally flawed and must be abandoned."

WPU, Local Civic groups, Workers and Elected Officials to Speak Out At Press Conference Against Illegal EDC Eminent Domain Action on Willets Point

Press Advisory
Willets Point United, Local Civic groups, Workers and Elected Officials to Speak Out At Press Conference Against Illegal EDC Eminent Domain Action on Willets Point.

Hearing Scheduled for March 2nd
As a result of the efforts of the Willets Point United group, EDC has been unable to gain approval for key ramps off of the Van Wyck Expressway. In spite of the fact that the agency-both publicly and in court documents-has stated that it would not commence any eminent domain proceedings against local businesses until the ramps were approved-and a developer selected, but none has yet been- EDC has gone back on its word and will begin the illegal process of attempting to take the property of the Willets Point owners at the March 2nd hearing.

When: March, 2, 2011

Where: Flushing Library, 41-17 Main Street, Flushing, NY 11355

Time: 3: 30 PM

The proposed Willets Point development will be a massive 10 million sq. ft project that will include over 5500 apartments, and the city’s largest-auto dependent-retail mall, some 1.2 million sq. ft. Naturally, a development of this size will generate considerable traffic-and EDC’s own estimate is that the vehicle trips will come in at around 80,000 a day.

In order to accommodate this huge influx of traffic, the city has said that it is necessary to build two ramps on and off of the Van Wyck Expressway-ramps that are needed to funnel traffic off of already congested local streets. In fact the ramps are so important, that the city has argued in court papers that the entire Willets Point project-one that will involve the use of eminent domain to remove scores of businesses and thousands of workers-cannot go ahead without the ramps.

In spite of the importance of these ramps, the issue of their construction-in particular the approval process needed to give the city permission to build them-was never brought up in the land use review conducted by the city council three years ago. In fact, council leadership, when questioned at a press conference, expressed total ignorance about this linchpin issue.

So, while all of those interested in the fate of Willets Point assumed that the issue was more or less resolved with the council vote-minus the minor inconvenience of evicting the property owners-the question of the feasibility of building these two ramps moved front and center. But as press reports highlight, the NYS DOT has many reservations about the feasibility of the ramps

Now, however, the WSJ says that, “Seeking to kick-start a massive Queens real-estate development project conceived in the boom years, the Bloomberg administration is moving to seize a portion of the site from private property owners. Next week, the city plans to initiate the eminent-domain process on holdout owners who own property in the first 20-acre phase of the 62-acre project. The city also is planning to solicit bids from developers in the spring, according to city officials."

What about those pesky ramps? “Mr. Pinsky said the city's position is that it isn't required to build the ramps—which would mitigate traffic congestion on the local streets—until later phases of the project." What rot!

If the ramps are essential and their approval is in doubt, how can the city proceed? What EDC is trying to do-emulating the underhanded tactics of the grasping Robert Moses-is to make the project a fait accompli; so the ramps, however flawed and unable to really mitigate the massive traffic influx, become necessary to approve just to avoid a calamity of an even greater magnitude.

But the egregiousness of EDC's actions doesn't stop with the ramp detour. Put simply, the city is broke-tapioca city-and doesn't have the funds and can't possibly justify this land grab under the current economic conditions. As WPU’s lobbyist Richard Lipsky told the Wall Street Journal: "The city is going ahead with a project that no one knows what it will cost, with a developer that no one knows who it will be, and with ramps that no one knows whether they can be built," Mr. Lipsky says."

The Willets Point project has been cut down into what EDC feels are more manageable smaller slices-but it is the overall massive negative impact that remains; and this can't be camouflaged by EDC's piecemeal approach. As Governor Al Smith would have said, "No matter how you slice it, it is still baloney."

The community groups joining WPU on Thursday include the Bay Terrace Community Alliance, the John Bowne Civic Association, and the Flushing Coalition for Responsible Development. All of the local organizations are opposed to the EDC land grab and its irresponsible avoidance of a public review of the ramps. In their view, even with the ramps, the 80,000 car and truck trips generated every day by the Willets Point project will-along with projects like Flushing Commons-create havoc on Queens streets and roads-while simultaneously severely clogging the mass transit infrastructure.

That EDC is trying to proceed in a manner that it told the court it wouldn't do, only underscores the complete lack of honesty and integrity in an agency that should be better known as the Economic Deception Corporation.

Contact: Richard Lipsky (914-572-2865)

For further information consult:
http://momandpopnyc.blogspot.com/2011/02/edc-crashes-on-off-ramp-at-willets.html
http://momandpopnyc.blogspot.com/2011/02/economic-deception-corporation.html

Key Talking Points:
(1) EDC is violating, not only the legal protocols for initiating an eminent domains procedure, but everything that it has said on the public record and in court documents;
(2) In an eminent domain procedure, all of the impacted property owners are required by law to receive a written offer of an amount that represents 100% of the highest approved appraisal. None of the Willets Point property owners have received such an offer;
(3) The underlying premise of this requirement is to insure that all property owners are treated fairly by the condemnor, and that the process isn’t rife with favoritism;
(4) In fact, certain property owners were afforded sweetheart deals in order to advance the application for the rezoning of Willets Point at the city council;
(5) EDC and then Deputy Mayor Lieber told the city council that eminent domain would be used as a, “last resort,” stating that the agency would first look to negotiate directly with property owners. These negotiations were never intitiated;
(6) In the environmental review for the application to rezone Willets Point, it was stated clearly that ramps would be needed to mitigate the huge traffic impacts-80,000 car trips a day according to the EIS-generated by the project. Ramps were characterized as the, “linchpin,” of the development, so important that the project could not be built without them;
(7) In testimony before the city council-and later in an affidavit for the NYS Supreme Court-Deputy Mayor Lieber stated that no condemnation would be initiated until the state and federal regulators approved the application for the ramps were approved. This testimony and allocution have been violated by EDC’s resort to the current EDPL hearing and the de novo “Phase I,” that it claims makes the ramp approval now unnecessary-or, at least, until an undefined later date;
(8) EDC’s Phase I is an iteration of the Willets Point development that, until just a few weeks ago, never existed. Since it is new, and has never been vetted by any SEQR review, the assertions by EDC that the ramps are not needed are based on no data that has been reviewed by competent-and authorized-environmental and land use authorities;
(9) The city council’s concern with the ramps was manifest in the extensive hearings it held on the Willets Point development. Its concern was that if condemnation began prior to the ramps’ approval, it could lead to a situation where property were taken, and possibly demolished, only to end up for naught if the approvals were denied-replicating the situation in New London, Conn, where condemned property lies fallow six years after it was taken from its owners;
The Willets Point development has no developer and there is no development plan. The approval of the ramps is uncertain. Therefore, the entire EDC condemnation effort is an example of, “speculative condemnation,” a tactic that the courts have not been kind to;
(10) The City of New York is broke. It is not the time to be spending hundreds of millions of dollars-and possibly billions-to begin a development process that may never get off the ground; especially when the city is proposing cutting things like 20 firehouses, and laying off thousands of teachers.