Source: http://www.willetspoint.org/
Timestamp: 2019-04-19 14:44:01+00:00

Document:
Queens Borough President Melinda Katz and Councilmember Francisco Moya are the co-chairs of the “Willets Point Task Force,” a cherry-picked group that is supposed to recommend potential uses for Willets Point land. The Task Force will hold its third closed-door meeting this Wednesday, August 22.
Katz and Moya are denying Willets Point United and all current Willets Point property or business owners the opportunity to attend any meeting of the Task Force – despite Queens Community Board 7’s recommendation that Katz and Moya consider allowing a Willets Point representative to attend. Even worse, Councilmember Moya’s office directly lied to us by telephone last Thursday, stating that no August meeting of the Task Force has been scheduled – when Queens Community Board 7 knew that the meeting is set for August 22.
Katz and Moya are shutting out not only Willets Point United, but also the press. We are aware that Borough Hall has rejected several reporters’ requests to observe Task Force meetings, and has been unwilling to provide even basic information regarding what land use options the Task Force is considering, or how it operates.
(in beige) of Queens Community Board 3.
Per information furnished to Queens Community Board 7, the scheduled topic of the August 22 Task Force meeting is to “develop preliminary recommendations,” prior to the final September meeting which will “review final recommendations” to be sent to Mayor de Blasio.
In our view, Katz, Moya and the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) are leading the Task Force to an outcome predetermined by them – and they are using public-sector Task Force members solely to create an illusion of community buy-in, not to solicit or seriously consider any creative Willets Point development ideas they may have. Given that Willets Point United has a wealth of knowledge about all that has happened with the proposed Willets Point development during the past ten years (and beyond), had we been allowed to participate on the Task Force we would have encouraged thorough consideration of all relevant issues and potential recommendations – not just the ones prioritized by Katz, Moya and NYCEDC. We believe it is for that reason, that Katz and Moya are deliberately excluding us (and in the case of Moya’s office, even lying to us).
While Katz and Moya are shutting us out of their meetings, they cannot stop us from informing Task Force members, via this writing, of issues we consider important, and recommendations we believe the Task Force should make to Mayor de Blasio regarding Willets Point. We hope that the more open-minded members of the Task Force (if any) will raise these issues during the Wednesday meeting as “preliminary recommendations” are formulated.
(1) Recommend that the City immediately repair and maintain streets, and furnish other missing municipal services, throughout the 38 acres of Willets Point that are located beyond the Phase One area, where scores of industrial businesses operate right now.
Willets Point property and business owners pay steep taxes, but receive virtually no City services in return. Most obviously, the City has refused to repair or maintain Willets Point roadways for decades, allowing them to fall into a state of severe dilapidation. This discourages customer access, hinders the potential for business success, and creates unsafe conditions that extend emergency response times with potential deadly consequences – none of which would be tolerated in any other business district in the City.
Many of these business are owned and/or operated by recent immigrants from a variety of countries around the world – exemplifying the positive “diversity” of the borough of Queens which Task Force co-chair Katz so often promotes.
However, contrary to the wishes of the Community Board and the Borough Board, no street repair services have yet been provided in the 38 acres of Willets Point that are located beyond the 23 acres of the Phase One area.
The Task Force should recommend that the City immediately provide street repair and maintenance services, and any other municipal services that it is presently withholding from Willets Point.
(2) Recommend that the City exercise the contractual “call option” to take back two acres of property located in the heart of the Phase One area, which the Bloomberg administration gave to Queens Development Group (and which it still unnecessarily owns).
The Task Force should be considering the 17 acres of the Phase One area a blank canvas, where any proposal could be implemented – but right now, the canvas isn't blank. That’s because Queens Development Group owns two acres in the middle of Phase One, putting the City at the mercy of Queens Development Group to consent to any plan for the area. Fortunately, the City may exercise a contractual “call option” and take back those two acres to ensure maximum flexibility for the use of the Phase One land.
The Queens Ledger and the Queens Chronicle have reported on our recommendation that the City reclaim the two acres from Queens Development Group.
The Task Force should recommend that the City exercise the contractual call option to reclaim the two acres from Queens Development Group, prior to the deadline.
(3) Recommend that the City reaffirm the Bloomberg administration’s promise to convene a special advisory committee to participate in and help to guide Willets Point developer selection.
The present work of the Task Force to produce recommendations regarding Willets Point, is not a substitute for later participation in selecting the project developer(s).
The Bloomberg administration had promised that a Willets Point Advisory Committee, whose members would include representatives of the involved community boards and other entities, would participate in and help to guide developer selection.
The Task Force should specify that the City is still obligated to form a Willets Point Advisory Committee to participate and help to guide developer selection for each and every phase of the project.
(4) Recommend that Phase One land must be remediated, regardless of the use that eventually occurs there.
The original, primary pretext for the City to spend hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars to take possession of Willets Point property, was to ensure that it would be properly remediated, to an extent that allegedly could not be achieved by individual private property owners.
As remediation was the objective and the promise, the Task Force should recommend that the Phase One site must undergo environmental remediation.
Consistent with the 2008 Willets Point development plan, the chosen developer(s) should bear all costs of remediation, in exchange for the privilege of developing the site.
In the event that no developer is willing to pay costs of remediation, then the City should remediate the land and pay the costs of doing so. Apparently funds are available: The Bloomberg administration had authorized a capital grant of $99 million to Queens Development Group, $40 million of which was to cover costs of remediation. Those funds can be diverted from Queens Development Group and used to pay an environmental firm to be hired by the City. Thereafter, terms with any developer should reflect the fact that the City, not the developer, paid the costs of remediation.
(5) Recommend that Phase One, and all other Willets Point land, revert to industrial/manufacturing/distribution uses.
Since rezoning Willets Point in 2008, the City has had ten years to implement its promised “next great neighborhood” throughout Willets Point – and has failed to do so. The truth is, that concept never was feasible, and never should have been pursued.
Willets Point is located directly under the flight path to LaGuardia Airport, at the closest point to the runway – thus susceptible to roaring jet engine noise all day long. It is also hemmed in and isolated by the Whitestone Expressway, Van Wyck Expressway and Grand Central Parkway. For those reasons, among many others, Willets Point is not desirable as a location of a neighborhood or housing, but is perfectly suitable as a location for an industrial park.
23 acres of Willets Point Phase One land are essentially vacant and dormant at this time. It is absolutely not too late for the City administration to decide to remediate those 23 acres, install necessary infrastructure, then revert that land to industrial/manufacturing/distribution uses together with the additional 38 acres beyond Phase One.
In fact, doing so would be consistent with the conclusions of a report prepared in 1991 for the predecessor of NYCEDC, the New York City Public Development Corporation, which found: “The lack of adequate infrastructure is the most obvious impediment to the success of Willets Point. … A few conclusions can be drawn about the development potential of Willets Point. (1) The area is most suitable for development by owner occupants, and (2) the area is most suitable for industry and industry-related commercial uses” (Urbitran Associates, Inc. in association with Richard Dattner Architects, “Willets Point Planning Study prepared for New York City Public Development Corporation,” October 1991, p. 4).
(6) Recommend that, in the event of any City acquisition of the 38 acres beyond the boundaries of Phase One, the City must exhaust every means of negotiation with private property owners, and fully compensate them for the value of their land and for relinquishing its significant development potential.
(7) Recommend that, in the event of any City acquisition of the 38 acres beyond the boundaries of Phase One, the City must provide relocation sites for existing businesses, in a manner agreeable to the businesses and for the purpose of ensuring their continued operation.
The City and NYCEDC must assume responsibility for actually providing acceptable relocation spaces for existing Willets Point businesses. No business should be expected to depart Willets Point, without the City and NYCEDC first securing a relocation site.
NYCEDC routinely misleads the public by claiming that it has “relocated” Willets Point businesses from the Phase One area. In truth, NYCEDC enticed businesses to vacate the Phase One area despite having nowhere to go, by offering paltry payouts for a limited time – after which a business would receive nothing, and be evicted. Faced with that choice, many businesses accepted the payout, and departed Willets Point. NYCEDC had no role in “relocating” them, anywhere, or in ensuring their future survival.
In fact, so insufficient were the City’s Willets Point relocation services and funds, that a group of Willets Point automotive businesses (the Sunrise Cooperative) sued the City. As part of a settlement, the City was compelled to provide greater funding, but even that proved inadequate, and the City did not relocate those businesses. Sunrise Cooperative declared bankruptcy in 2016.
Businesses displaced from Willets Point in the future must be protected from similar fates.
In addition to the specific recommendations above, before the Task Force commits to any “vision” concerning Willets Point, we suggest that Task Force members acquaint themselves with the extraordinary traffic impacts that would result from the full build-out of Willets Point as intended in 2008 and analyzed in the Environmental Impact Statement.
Finally, we recommend that Task Force members understand who their fellow Task Force members are – especially the notorious Flushing Willets Point Corona Local Development Corporation (FWPCLDC), represented on the Task Force by Terry Sun.
FWPCLDC is the organization that took direction from NYCEDC and illegally lobbied for approval of the Willets Point rezoning in 2008 – triggering a three-year investigation by the New York State Office of the Attorney General, which issued more than 30 subpoenas for testimony and documents to employees of FWPCLDC, The Parkside Group, Mayor’s Office, NYCEDC and other entities. The investigation concluded with formal findings of wrongdoing by FWPCLDC and NYCEDC, the Attorney General proclaiming that they “flouted the law,” and requiring the corporate restructuring of NYCEDC, among other remedies.
FWPCLDC was, and still is, substantially funded by the New York Mets organization. The Mets owners also own Sterling Equities, which together with Related Companies comprise Queens Development Group – the entity which received two acres of Willets Point Phase One land from the Bloomberg administration, and which Mayor de Blasio is allowing to develop a separate six acres of Phase One land.
Willets Point United will have much more to say about particular members of the Task Force, and its operation, at a future time.
A new video released by Willets Point United demands that the de Blasio administration act before a December 2018 contractual deadline, to protect taxpayers’ interests by reclaiming two acres of Willets Point property which the Bloomberg administration gave to Queens Development Group.
In the video (below), Willets Point property owner Irene Prestigiacomo explains the give-away of the two acres to Queens Development Group; the comprehensive development project which the property was supposed to facilitate; the court decision that effectively prevents that project from proceeding; the contractual provision that allows the City to take back the property under present circumstances; the lack of action by the de Blasio administration thus far to reclaim the property; and City officials’ fiduciary responsibility to taxpayers to do so before the deadline lapses.
Ms. Prestigiacomo asks (06:38): "As corrupt as this City sometimes can be, have we really reached the point where a developer can keep public property worth tens of millions, without delivering any of the project that was the basis for it to receive the property in the first place?"
A developer that receives public property worth tens of millions of dollars to facilitate a project, should not be allowed to keep that property when the developer is unable to proceed with its project. That is especially so, when the City’s contract with the developer allows the City to take back the property under the circumstances.
And yet, that is exactly what is occurring right now at Willets Point. As of this writing, Queens Development Group is keeping approximately two acres (90,500 square feet) of what used to be taxpayers’ property, even though Queens Development Group cannot implement the project that was the basis for it to be awarded that property.
To stop this, City officials must act before a contractual deadline of December 20, 2018 – presuming that the de Blasio administration hasn’t already somehow squandered the opportunity.
Below are supplemental details, not mentioned in the video.
Before the two acres were given to Queens Development Group, they were City property – and before that, they were owned by a private party who operated a business on the site.
To acquire the two acres from the previous private owner, the City paid taxpayer funds of nearly $14 million, plus sweetened the deal by giving the prior owner other City-owned College Point Corporate Park property estimated to be worth between approximately $1.8 and $7.2 million, meaning that it cost the City as much as $21 million dollars to acquire the two acres of Willets Point land. Viewed differently, other Willets Point properties in the vicinity of the two acres have sold for a typical price of $400 per square foot – which if applied to the two acres, means they are worth $36,200,000.
Rather than recouping the cost of acquiring the property as it had said it would, the Bloomberg administration gave the two acres to Queens Development Group for $1 (one dollar).
Bloomberg-era "Phase One" portions shown in white.
The City is able to rescind that sale during a limited timeframe, under special circumstances such as those in the aftermath of the NYS Court of Appeals decision in Avella v. City of New York, which effectively prevents Queens Development Group's comprehensive development project from proceeding.
Recently, the de Blasio administration announced a new plan to lease six acres of Willets Point Phase One property to Queens Development Group, to become an affordable housing development with a school. Those six acres to be leased to Queens Development Group are physically separate from the two acres previously sold to Queens Development Group by the Bloomberg administration.
Revoking the sale of the two acres to Queens Development Group does not prevent the separate, new, six acre affordable housing project from proceeding.
Unless the de Blasio administration has somehow squandered it, there is a window of opportunity to reclaim the two acres from Queens Development Group: The City must act before December 20, 2018, which is five years after the original date of sale.
“§ 17.3 Terms of Options.
In order to exercise the … Call Option …, the party or parties entitled to exercise the Option shall deliver a notice to the other party or parties prior to the … Call Option Outside Date”.
The “Call Option Outside Date” is defined as five years after the date of the original sale, which in this case will be December 20, 2018.
“New Plan,” “New Deal” – But No New Competitive Bid?
From the outset of the proposed Willet Point development, it has been understood that a developer would be selected via a competitive sealed proposal process.
The City’s selection in 2012 of Queens Development Group (QDG) to develop phase one of Willets Point – to the exclusion of all other firms that submitted proposals – was predicated on QDG’s unique proposal that expanded the project to include a mega-mall on public parkland (leveraging a lease already held for said parkland by the Mets’ owners, who comprise half of QDG).
In the aftermath of the Court of Appeals decision which prevents QDG from implementing its proposal, Mayor de Blasio should have immediately availed himself of the opportunity afforded by the contract between QDG and the Economic Development Corporation (EDC), to rescind the sale of Willets Point property to QDG and cancel the contract award. Then, the City would have been free to issue a new request for proposals (RFP) to the entire present-day development community, for the “new” six-acre project which apparently is now the priority.
Instead, there has never been a competitive sealed proposal process for development of six acres of Willets Point property stemming from the intersection of Willets Point Boulevard and Roosevelt Avenue. Think of it: A reasonably-sized, six-acre project would likely attract a larger pool of developer proposals than did the 2012 RFP which encompassed the enormity of the Willet Point phase one site. There is absolutely no basis to think that QDG is the “best” developer for this six-acre site and configuration, because the de Blasio administration did not implement any competitive sealed proposal process (although it should have done so).
In its article published on February 6, 2018, the New York Times repeatedly refers to the six-acre project as a “new plan” and “new deal.” We agree, but wonder why there was also not a “new” RFP and “new” competitive sealed proposal process to determine it.
Beyond the 2012 selection of QDG as developer, the subsequent decisions by the Deputy Mayor, EDC, the New York City Land Development Corporation and the Queens Borough Board to dispose of hundreds of millions’ worth of City-owned property to QDG, were all predicated upon QDG’s prior, now-defunct proposal which expanded the project to include a mega-mall on public parkland.
We encourage investigations by the public, the press, the Comptroller and enforcement agencies, regarding whether or not it is consistent with City policies and procedures for the City to designate QDG to implement a “new plan” without issuing any new RFP, and for the City to dispose of valuable public property to QDG pursuant to decisions that were wholly based upon a different, defunct plan.
• What price is the de Blasio administration establishing, for the sale of Willets Point property to QDG? $1 (one dollar) per the Bloomberg administration, or a legitimate price that recoups the taxpayers’ cost of acquiring the property?
• The New York Times mentions that QDG will remediate Willets Point property by a certain date. Does that remediation refer to the six-acre section of Phase One, or to the entire 23 acres of Phase One? If the latter, why would QDG remediate that land, prior to any decision about what will be built there?
• Given that the Queens Borough Board is to evaluate and vote on the “business terms” of an award of development rights for the Willets Point project, and thus far the Borough Board has only voted on QDG’s prior development proposal which featured the mega-mall (which has been eliminated from the “new plan”), will the City seek a new approval of the Queens Borough Board for the changed iteration of the project?
• During the January update meeting between Queens Community Board 7 (CB7), QDG, EDC and Mayor’s Office representatives, CB7 repeatedly lamented being excluded from ongoing discussions between the QDG, QDG and the Mayor’s Office about new plans for Willets Point. Thereafter, was CB7 involved in any such discussions, prior to the New York Times publishing the new Willets Point plan on February 6, 2018? Or, was CB7 still excluded by QDG, EDC and the Mayor’s Office?
• Where is there an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) document that analyzes impacts of a six-acre development stemming from the intersection of Willets Point Boulevard and Roosevelt Avenue, with no new Van Wyck access ramps present? The 2013 Supplemental EIS analyzed a project configuration that included the mega-mall, with no new Van Wyck access ramps present during the initial phase.
Through the Willets Point grapevine, we hear that the City is about to transfer ownership of 23 acres comprising the “Phase One” area of Willets Point, to Queens Development Group (“QDG”) – the joint venture of Sterling Equities (whose owners also own the New York Mets) and The Related Companies that the Bloomberg administration designated as the developer. This is the infamous give-away of 23 acres of valuable taxpayer property, which cost hundreds of millions of public dollars to acquire, to developers for the unjustified price of $1 (one dollar).
For the de Blasio administration to proceed with this sale at this time is outrageous and potentially illegal, for reasons summarized below.
First, Bill de Blasio is squandering a golden opportunity to cancel the Bloomberg administration’s planned, unjustified give-away of hundreds of millions of dollars worth of taxpayer property to QDG for the price of $1 (one dollar), and instead to establish a legitimate price that is truly in the taxpayers’ interest.
At a typical cost of $400 per square foot, we estimate that the City spent roughly $400 million taxpayer dollars to acquire the one million square feet (23 acres) of Willets Point Phase One property, which the Bloomberg administration intended to gift to QDG for $1 (one dollar). However, the de Blasio administration is entitled to cancel the City’s contract with QDG, and to rescind the sale of two acres of Willets Point property already transferred to QDG for $1, due to the recent decision of the New York State Court of Appeals which found that QDG’s proposed “Willets West” mega-mall on parkland located west of Citi Field stadium cannot proceed as it lacks legislative approval. Per the project contract: “EDC has the option to require Developers to convey to EDC all Willets Point Development I site parcels which have been conveyed to Developers (the “Call Option”) if … there is a final determination in a Legal Proceeding which would prevent the Project from being developed” (First Amendment to Amended and Restated Purchase and Sale Agreement, § 17.2(i)).
The give-away of valuable City property to QDG is no less outrageous now than it was when the Bloomberg administration arranged it back in 2012. We had hoped that Mayor Bill de Blasio would have taken the opportunity presented by the recent Court of Appeals decision to rescind the sale, instead of going through with it.
Second, recall that the key reason that QDG was chosen to develop the Willets Point Phase One site, to the exclusion of several other developers that had submitted proposals, was that only QDG claimed to be able to expand the project by constructing its proposed “Willets West” mega-mall on public parkland located west of Citi Field stadium. If QDG is now unable to deliver that mega-mall on parkland, then the basis for choosing QDG as the developer in the first place no longer applies. Allowing QDG to develop the Willets Point Phase One property despite QDG being unable to deliver the Willets West mega-mall is to allow a “bait-and-switch” on the grandest of scales.
If QDG can’t build its Willets West mega-mall and must limit any development to the Willets Point Phase One land, then QDG is in the same category as the other developers that had originally proposed to develop only the Phase One land. In response to the City’s 2011 Request for Proposals to develop the Willets Point Phase One site, QDG never submitted a proposal that was limited to the boundaries of the Phase One site, and never competed against the other developers on that basis. So, there is no reason whatsoever to presume now that QDG is the best choice to develop only the Willets Point Phase One property.
If the initial phase of development is going to be limited to the Willets Point Phase One property, without expanding the project onto public parkland as QDG had proposed, then the City should issue a new, legitimate Request for Proposals for the Phase One site, and re-start the developer selection process, with no unwarranted special status given to QDG, Sterling Equities or The Related Companies.
Third, it appears that the de Blasio administration is on the verge of transferring ownership of all lots that comprise the 23-acre Willets Point Phase One site to QDG for $1 (one dollar), on the basis of authorizations granted by then-Mayor Bloomberg and the Queens Borough Board during December 2013, pursuant to City Charter § 384(b)(4).
However, as Willets Point United has written to Mayor de Blasio and his legal counsel more than once, not all of the lots within the Willets Point Phase One area were City-owned as of December 2013. City Charter § 384(b)(4) only entitles the Mayor and Borough Board to transact on property that is City-owned. Therefore, any authorizations of sale granted by then-Mayor Bloomberg and the Queens Borough Board during December 2013 obviously only pertain to the lots that were already City-owned as of the dates of those authorizations.
Since the City acquired additional lots within the Willets Point Phase One area after December 2013, whose sale could not have been authorized pursuant to City Charter § 384(b)(4) during December 2013, new authorizations of Mayor de Blasio and the Queens Borough Board are necessary before all of the lots within the Phase One area may legally be transferred to QDG.
City Charter § 384(b)(4), which the City acknowledges pertains to its sales of Willets Point property, provides that the Mayor, with the approval of the local Borough Board, may sell property of the City “without competitive bidding” and “for such price as may be determined by the mayor to be in the public interest”.
Only Mayor Bill de Blasio, or his successors, can determine a price that is “in the public interest” for Willets Point lots acquired by the City after December 2013. Although the former Bloomberg administration established an outrageous price of $1 (one dollar), present Mayor de Blasio is obligated to set his own price that is truly “in the public interest” – and we will be watching to see what price he sets. We hope that Mayor (and former Public Advocate) de Blasio will recognize his fiduciary responsibility to City taxpayers, and determine a sale price for valuable Willets Point Phase One land that at least recoups all of the public funds spent to acquire it.
Fourth, Francisco Moya, who has been elected the new City Council representative of Willets Point and nearby neighborhoods, previously announced his own plan concerning Willets Point development. Among other aspects, Moya intends to form an advisory council of neighborhood stakeholders, to evaluate and help to guide development decisions.
By unnecessarily selling property to QDG now, and locking in the choice of QDG and its development plan, before Moya has even taken office or assembled his advisory council, Mayor de Blasio is continuing the same shameful disregard for community participation in decision-making that was exemplified by his predecessor, Michael Bloomberg.
No irreversible action, including property sale, should take place at Willets Point before Councilman-elect Moya’s advisory council is in full operation and has had ample opportunity to significantly participate in decision-making.
Willets Point United is pleased that by its decision in favor of plaintiffs, the Court of Appeals has recognized what we have known all along – the plan devised by Sterling Equities, Related Companies and the Bloomberg administration to construct a “Willets West” mega-mall on public parkland is illegal. They, plus the City Planning Commission, have always parroted that the proposed mega-mall on parkland is “authorized by statute,” which today’s court decision confirms is utterly false.
The contract between Queens Development Group (the joint venture of Sterling Equities and Related Companies) and the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) specifically provides that “if there is a final determination in a Legal Proceeding which would prevent the Project from being developed,” NYCEDC may exercise a “call option” to take back the two acres of Willets Point Phase One property already given to QDG for $1 under the Bloomberg administration. Willets Point United urges Mayor de Blasio to immediately exercise this contractual call option, to ensure that QDG has no undeserved foothold in Willets Point property, and to ensure a completely clean slate regarding decision-making about Willets Point Phase One property – without the City beholden in any way to QDG.
With QDG, Sterling Equities and Related Companies out of the picture, is Governor Cuomo now on deck to attempt to acquire Willets Point property to expand his LaGuardia Airport project? Airport expansion was never discussed when the City Council approved Willets Point development in 2008 – and it seems as though the affordable housing that was highly touted at that time as the linchpin of any Willets Point development is no longer decision-makers’ priority.
In any event, Willets Point United salutes lead plaintiff State Senator Tony Avella, Queens Civic Congress, lawsuit organizer City Club of New York, Geoffrey Croft of New York City Park Advocates, all other plaintiffs including long-time Willets Point supporter Ben Haber, and especially the tireless work of attorney John Low-Beer, who prevailed against QDG and the City.
But de Blasio has done an about-face: At tomorrow’s oral argument at the NYS Court of Appeals, the City will be fighting tooth and nail in support of QDG’s plan to construct a 1.4 million foot commercial entertainment and retail center on the parkland property located west of Citi Field stadium, right at the doorstep of the Corona neighborhood. The City has submitted a full written legal brief supporting QDG, and will be sending attorney Michael Pastor to present arguments in open court in favor of the mega-mall on parkland.
This is the same mega-mall that Queens Community Board 3 opposed in 2013, declaring that it “would change the character of the surrounding neighborhoods and impact the livelihoods of 250,000 residents and many small mom-and-pop businesses."
The de Blasio administration’s support for QDG’s mega-mall on public parkland has barely been reported by the press.
Last Tuesday, former City Councilman Hiram Monserrate held a news conference on the steps of City Hall to highlight what he called the “tale of two de Blasio’s.” Monserrate called upon de Blasio to withdraw – again – from supporting QDG’s legal battle for the mega-mall on parkland.
Photo courtesy Eli Valentin; from TimesLedger.
QDG is a 50/50 joint venture of Sterling Equities, whose owners also own the New York Mets baseball team, and Related Companies, a developer.
For its part, the Office of New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman will also be arguing in court tomorrow in support of QDG’s mega-mall on parkland. What could motivate the AG’s Office to swoop in and support QDG in court? Interestingly, between 2014 (the year that the legal challenge of QDG’s mega-mall began) and 2016, Sterling Equities Associates, LLC and Sterling Mets, LP have contributed $70,000.00 to AG Schneiderman’s 2014 and 2018 election campaigns.
The oral argument will take place on Tuesday, April 25, 2017 in a session beginning at 12:00 noon, in the courthouse located at 111 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, White Plains, New York. The case is Avella v. City of New York.
Willets Point United Inc. is disappointed, but not surprised, that today the Court of Appeals has decided to grant the developers' motion for leave to appeal the "Willets West" case to the Court of Appeals – especially in light of the fact that the developers are represented by attorney Judith Kaye, who is none other than the former Chief Judge of the Court of Appeals. She also happens to head the search committee for the new incoming Chief Judge of the Court of Appeals, who will ultimately participate in deciding this case.
We expect Judith Kaye to recuse herself from personally arguing this case at the Court of Appeals. In any event, we are confident that the Court of Appeals will uphold the July, 2015 unanimous decision of all four Judges of the Appellate Division – which went as far as to state that "No reasonable reading of Administrative Code section 18-118 allows for the conclusion that the legislature in 1961 contemplated, much less gave permission for, a shopping mall, unrelated to the anticipated stadium, to be constructed in the Park."

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