But fishmongers said they don't have an agreement with the city yet, and community leaders said they want several amenities in return. No document has been signed. The fishmongers are negotiating with the city on incentives to relocate. They want compensation for the 10-year leases on their downtown stalls, as well as attractive rents and tax breaks at Hunts Point. Construction is expected to begin in November and to be completed a year later.
Many community leaders support the move, seeing it as a boon to the economic life of the area.
Josephine Infante of the Hunts Point Economic Development Corporation said she hopes to place local residents in these new jobs. Infante and others are using this opportunity to press the city to agree to several long-sought improvements. Residents have been complaining for years that trucks going to the Hunts Point Market travel through residential streets, aggravating noise and air-pollution levels. Infante and others are trying to establish a permanent truck route away from residential streets to be designated with color-coded signs and lighting to accommodate nighttime drivers. We have the highest rate of asthma of any community in the world.