If By “Vibrant And Attractive New Urban Community” You Mean A Superfund Site In A Flood Plain In The Flight Path To LaGuardia, Then I’m Right There With Ya!

Soon you, too, might be able to be part of a vibrant and attractive new urban community — in the approach path to LaGuardia Airport:

In the development dreams of the Bloomberg administration, the 75 acres of Willets Point will soon be transformed into “a vibrant and attractive new urban community.” There’ll be “an exciting and synergistic mix of land uses,” like a hotel with at least 250 rooms, a convention center, pedestrian gateways, and open space — all of which will complement the new Shea Stadium to rise in the parking lot across 126th Street. Developers selected by the Economic Development Corporation are to submit their proposals this week for “creating a regional destination, promoting economic growth and additional private investment, and improving the quality of life for area residents,” maybe with housing, office space, cultural facilities, and, of course, stores. “Shopping,” the EDC notes, “has become a form of entertainment in America.”

. . .

“The current streets are poorly maintained and inadequate to support additional development,” the EDC says. “Most of the properties in the district are unable to connect to the city’s storm and sanitary sewer system.” That means the human waste goes into cesspools, while the chemicals that run from the auto shops into the streets go wherever the water takes it, creating “an ongoing public health risk.” There are also incidents of illegal dumping, building code violations, and reports of stolen-parts trading with “possible links to organized crime.” In other words, the Iron Triangle is rusted with “blight.” So in order to bring in more and better paying jobs, the city’s timetable calls for current businesses to start relocating in 2008. And as in other development projects around the city, property owners at Willets Point could leave voluntarily — or be forced out by eminent domain.

Which is to say, in addition to the health risks, organized crime ties and potholes galore, there are 250 or so business employing 1,500 workers. But that’s was eminent domain is for:

There were few postcard-worthy images amid the rising water last Wednesday. A couple of mangy dogs roamed the streets, which are an unforgiving network of potholes, broken occasionally by the cadavers of cars. Oil flowed in rainbows through the widening, sometimes ankle-deep puddles. But spend any time in Willets Point, and you see something else.

“To me it’s very nice,” says Joe Ardezzone, who’s spent more time there than many: 73 years. The head of the Willets Point Business Association, he is apparently the Iron Triangle’s only resident, and he recalls a day when their were pheasants roaming the area before the auto businesses moved in during the ’40s. The smell of sewage makes your eyes tear up in the summer, and the roar of jets taking off from LaGuardia is ear-splitting. But Ardezzone insists the area is functioning. “It’s a low-class business but they’re doing a great service and at a reasonable price,” he says, pointing to the auto-repair shops. “This is thriving.”

But the Iron Triangle might be saved by the one thing that attracted businesses there in the first place — it’s a pretty shitty place to be:

This time the Willets Point site itself may be the area’s best defense against outside, private redevelopment. Preliminary environmental surveys of the area have found a litany of problems. There are storage tanks underground, the soil is too soft to hold heavy loads, it’s on a flood plain, and building heights are constrained because of its proximity to LaGuardia Airport.

The “winner” of the bid will be selected when proposals are submitted. Good luck . . .

See also: Iron Triangle.