Con Ed finally finds manhole at Willets Point

Con Ed came back to Willets Point last week to look for the manhole they couldn't find back on February 28th because of all the water that had collected in the street. They finally found it and got the job done.

Just look at all the water around it! Who would want to work like that?

Willets Point Cleanup Day videos

Councilman Tony Avella speaks about eminent domain and the lack of paving, sewers and sanitation services at Willets Point. While he is speaking, Department of Sanitation workers are shouting at us in the background.


WP United Spokesman Jake Bono speaks about why the group is cleaning up Willets Point. While he is speaking, Department of Sanitation workers are shouting at us in the background.


Workers begin cleaning up the streets and depositing debris into Crown Container garbage truck.


While WP United workers are breaking their backs, Sanitation is basically wasting time and money doing very little at Willets Point.


A discarded shopping cart came in handy during the cleanup.


The pace is picked up on Willets Point Boulevard.

Willets Point United's Cleanup Day photos

City suddenly takes an interest in cleaning up Willets Point

It's interesting that since word got out that we were planning a cleanup this Friday, the Department of Sanitation all of a sudden showed up with their garbage trucks and sweepers and have been in a cleaning frenzy.
It's a shame that the only way to get services is to embarrass the City.
We're still having our cleanup as scheduled on Friday, however, because there's a lot they missed.

WILLETS POINT UNITED TAKING MATTERS INTO THEIR OWN HANDS

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.

"Phases of the Manhole Cover"

Full Moon

Half Moon

Moon on the move

Moon River

It's been decades since the City fixed our streets properly.

Noticing New York notices our Article 78 petition

We'd like to thank Michael D.D. White, real estate attorney, urban planner and author of the blog, Noticing New York, for his analysis of our Article 78 petition, filed last week:

The lawsuit challenges the adequacy of the environmental review and the city’s lack of public purpose in taking the property through eminent domain. Michael Gerrard of Arnold and Porter, the lead attorney for the plaintiffs, is one of the best lawyers in New York State and probably the number one lawyer in the state when it comes to environmental law. As can then be expected, the papers are extraordinarily strong and well drafted when it comes to stating the suit’s two-pronged attack challenging to the environmental review. Notwithstanding, we find ourselves more immediately fascinated by the public purpose challenge to the use of eminent domain.

The post goes on to compare Willets Point to Atlantic Yards, a similar case where eminent domain is being employed to enrich the developer chosen to build that megaproject - one who happens to be failing at finishing the job.

See: Willets Point Lawsuit Points Out... [Noticing New York]