To learn more about a featured business facing this dilemma, watch Jake Bono of Willets Point United

By Michael Ratliff

Willets Point businesses opposed to the City’s plan to convert 62 acres of auto repair shops and salvage yards into a luxury development unveiled their case in court on Friday, arguing that the scheme to seize their property could pose serious threats to the environment.

Attorney Nelson Johnson, representing 20 Willets Point companies and one resident, told a hearing at the New York Civil Supreme Court that the redevelopment plan could triple the amount of traffic and block emergency vehicles. Construction could also release more petroleum into the already polluted Flushing Bay.

“This is not something we are imagining, not something that might just happen,” he said.

The business owners sat united in black collared shirts with American flag emblems as the fate of their companies was debated.

Business owners have long claimed that the City allowed the area, often dubbed the ‘Iron-Triangle’, to become an environmental mess. Oil spills from auto shops have seeped into the ground water. Hundreds of cars rust away in salvage yards. Large portions of the area are void of sidewalks and sewer systems.

The City’s attorney, Christopher Reo, said that redevelopment would improve the situation by adding a septic system. Judge Joan Madden quipped in reply: “It’s because of [the City’s] neglect that the current situation exists.”  The business owners applauded loudly.

Johnson also pointed out that Willets Point sits over an aquifer protected by the EPA under the Safe Drinking Water Act.  The proposed fill and new buildings, he said, would push down the soil like a sponge and release hazardous substances into the ground water.

Reo denied that the project would create any contamination.

“You won’t get the squeezing condition with the amount of soil we are adding, it’s just not going to be pushing down,” he said.

Willets Point residents display their opposition. (Above)