WPU to MLB: You'll Regret a 2013 All-Star Game at CitiField

What does the Great American Pastime-baseball-have in common with the un-American abuse of eminent domain, the eradication of scores of minority-owned businesses, the City's decades-long willful neglect of an entire neighborhood? Well, absolutely nothing as it turns out, but if MLB gets its way and schedules an All Star Game at CiitiField than the great American game will be colluding with a project based on lies and deception-and WPU intends to aggressively promote all of this to world-wide media, if Major League Baseball dares to hold its 2013 All-Star Game right next to our property at Willets Point.

The following letter, sent by WPU to Baseball Commissioner Allan "Bud" Selig, makes clear that for a variety of reasons, MLB would be wise to consider other venues for its 2013 All-Star Game.

MLB All Star Game Letter 120114

All Star Mistake

The news is out that MLB has designated CitiField for its 2013 All Star Game-and that friends is a big mistake. It is a mistake because-as we pointed out in January-the Mets and their owners the Wilpons are knee deep in controversy:

"What does the Great American Pastime-baseball-have in common with the un-American abuse of eminent domain, the eradication of scores of minority-owned businesses, the City's decades-long willful neglect of an entire neighborhood? Well, absolutely nothing as it turns out, but if MLB gets its way and schedules an All Star Game at CiitiField than the great American game will be colluding with a project based on lies and deception-and WPU intends to aggressively promote all of this to world-wide media, if Major League Baseball dares to hold its 2013 All-Star Game right next to our property at Willets Point."

And even though the city has pulled out of the grand scheme to take away our land-see this NY1 story-the Wilpons are still mired in the entire corrupt deal that was started by the Shulman LDC. Sterling Equities is about to be designated as a co-developer of a mall contiguous to the ballpark and it should have been disqualified if law enforcement hadn't fallen asleep at the wheel.

So what we will have next summer is likely to be an ugly confrontation with all of the neighbors that the Mats have conspired to evict from their property-and the workers that hold the jobs that would have also disappeared if the Wilpons had succeeded in their conspiracy. Not the best place to hold a venerable event-yuh think?.

All Star Game Brings Focus to Willets Point

As tomorrow’s MLB All Star Game approaches, the Star Ledger has an article that explains how Willets point remains a “distraction.” From the standpoint of WPU, however, the All Star Game is itself the distraction-a way of misdirecting folks from the illegality and unethical path taken by the Mets in their quest to redevelop the area in pursuit of their own selfish interests:

“Across 126th Street, in the shadow of the towering, brick-and-stone facade of Citi Field, the Willets Point section of Queens unfurled into its everyday routine on a humid afternoon.

The piercing zzzzzzzppppppp! of torque wrenches tightening bolts, the clanking of mallets against metal and the hum of Latin music rose from cluttered strips of auto body shops, scrap yards and waste disposal plants along a 10-block stretch.

When the Mets opened their sparkling, $850 million ballpark in 2009, this is not what they had in mind.” 

The reporter for the Star Ledger has no idea just ho right his observation is. What the Mets-and their real estate arm Sterling Equities-had in mind was a land grab. That’s why they situated their stadium right across from the so-called eyesore. That’s why they entered into the illegal lobbying scheme to support the city’s redevelopment effort-willfully accepting over $500,000 for the lobbying of aphony not for profit that they were an integral part of.

This brings us to today-and the Star Ledger recognizes the stakes of the battle:

“Enduring is a classic blue collar-white collar clash and a struggle over what to do with the land, wedged between the Flushing River and Citi Field. Everyone is impatient for repairs, but although the city — along with the Mets owners — sees an untapped destination spot and a vehicle to draw more fans, the businesses, including some that have been here for more than 50 years, say they deserve to be part of any modernization, and they are refusing to budge.”

WPU has been engaged in a successful effort so far to prevent the theft of its property by the Mets and the city:

“In 2007, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced a plan for urban renewal in the neighborhood, famously calling Willets Points "another euphemism for blight." Two years later, the pitch fell apart when local business owners filed suit, claiming the plans had undergone inadequate environmental reviews.”

In NYC, as others have found out, “blight makes right.” And the fact that this blight is a direct consequence of the city’s neglect makes no difference to the land grabbers-they want your property and they have a billionaire mayor as an accomplice:

“The merchants of Willets Point say a complete makeover isn’t necessary. If they had proper roads and sewers, the neighborhood would improve on its own. "If the city of New York was to invest money into an infrastructure, the area would redevelop," said Michael Rikon, an attorney who represents some Willets Point business owners. "But that requires the investment to give services everyone else has."

The dispute has been tense and bitter, and people in Willets Point are scared of losing their livelihoods.”

David Antonacci of Crown Container lays out the indictment of the city’s willful neglect:

“Crown Container Corp., a family-owned waste management company, has been around since 1959. It provides service to more than 2,000 customers — homes, restaurants, shops, offices, factories and warehouses. Like many in Willets Point, those at Crown are fearful of being pushed off the land.

"They throw people out, where they going?" said David Antonacci, a Crown co-owner. "They’re just killing businesses."

But Antonacci acknowledges Willets Point desperately needs infrastructure. Like most business owners there, he had a water pump rolled up on his property to discard dirty, trapped rainwater.

"Let me tell you something," he said, looking overhead as a plane from nearby La Guardia Airport zoomed through the sky. "The reason this place is an eyesore is because the city created it that way. I pay taxes for clean streets. I get no services here. There’s no sewers. They don’t do snow removal. They just steal our tax money. There’s no lights, no stop signs, no streetlights."

What the Star Ledger shows, however, is that in spite of the neglect and the city’s attempt to steal the property of small business owners, there is still a vibrancy at Willets Point-real economic activity by immigrant entrepreneurs that in other contexts the mayor is hypocritically extolling:

“But rain or shine, Willets Point never slows, Antonacci said. Shops are open seven days a week, 365 days a year. The area has provided jobs for generations of immigrants. On 126th Street is Chile Auto Glass, next to International Auto Body. A Halal truck sits on the corner of 37th Avenue. Men and boys in front of shops beckon to passing motorists, offering better prices than the next guy.”

Five years ago, Mike Bloomberg called the redevelopment of Willets Point the heralding in of the city’s “first green neighborhood.” Instead, we are being asked to swallow a parking lot and a mall to enrich the Wilpons and their partners-underscoring that the green in this new neighborhood is exclusively residing in the pockets of the Mets.

Sterling Inequiities and the City's "Wimpy" Proposal

The NY Daily News is reporting on the city's press conference announcing the awarding of a bid by Sterling Equities to build a couple of badly needed malls right next to CitiField. Badly needed by Sterling Equities, that is, because its for sure that NYC has no need for another big box extravaganza. And a number of city council members agree:

"But City Councilwoman Karen Koslowitz, who was briefed by the mayor’s office last week regarding the unveiling, said she was “disappointed” by the plans.“The plan has changed drastically from what we were promised,” said Koslowitz (D-Forest Hills), who heads the Council’s committee on economic development."

Basically, the council was hoodwinked and now the mayor wants them to buy a fictional housing component-more ten years from now! This is what we would call a "Wimpy" proposal-one that is named after the character in the Popeye cartoon who always said, "I'll gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today."

Our advice: Don't fall for this ruse. That brings us to the matter of Sterling Equities-a company that, as we have pointed out, is looking to capitalize on its illegal funding effort of the Claire Shulman phony not-for-profit. How is it fair or equitable for a company that was the brains behind creating an LDC that was barred from lobbying, yet did anyway-and received tax payers' money to advance this scheme-to be allowed to benefit from this conspiracy to defraud the public?

So the city council needs to put the kibosh on this ill-conceived plan. It was fooled once, but shame on it if it is fooled again. In the interest of public education we are posting a series of questions that the press and the council should be asking about this new incarnation of the development of Willets Point:

1.) Does this proposed project involve only City-owned land, or does it require Willets Point property that is now privately owned? Which properties?

(2.) Might the City attempt to use eminent domain to acquire Willets Point property to facilitate this proposed mall project, or is eminent domain off the table?

(3.) Does this proposed project involve alienation of park land, which requires approval of the state legislature?

(4.) How is it that Sterling Equities -- owned by the owners of the Mets -- is considered eligible to win this bid, when the Mets were heavy financiers of Claire Shulman's LDC, which unlawfully lobbied to influence legislation authorizing the development, and when Deputy Mayor Robert Lieber could not rule out the possibility that theLDC's member firms would be prohibited from bidding for the project?

(5.) On what basis should anyone believe that a shopping mall is an appropriate use for property adjacent to CitiField?

(6.) What kinds of tenants are expected within the mall? Is Walmart one of them?

(7.) Does the City intend to construct the new Van Wyck access ramps to facilitate this proposed mall project, or are the ramps unnecessary?

(8.) What price will Sterling/Related pay the City for Willets Point property already owned by the City? How does that price compare with the purchase price(s) that were paid bythe City?

(9.) No plan has ever been announced to relocate Willets Point automotive tenant businesses in large groups, as necessary to best ensure their collective survival. Will this be done? Where are the relocation sites?

(10.) Isn't this proposed project just a pretext to clear some Willets Point property prior to the 2013 MLB All Star Game?