The city's $3 billion Willets Point redo plan won its first key vote last night after a marathon community board meeting that lasted until 1AM. When it was all over, the board voted 21-15 to back the plan to transform the Iron Triangle from a tangle of business and chop shops auto-related businesses to a mega-development with hotels, offices, apartments, shopping and more. (A Land Use Committee voted in favor the plan last week.) The vote happened after the city promised to use eminent domain as "a last resort" (which it may have to do as many business owners are dead seat against leaving) and promised Community Board 7 it would be involved in planning and overseeing the project. The meeting may not have been as much knee slapping fun as last week's Coney Island free-for-all, but it had its moments, according to a tipster who reported the un-air conditioned room was stiflingly hot and that opponents of the plan were chanting "hell no we won't go." One of the more prominent anti-Willets Point plan agitators came dressed as George Washington. There are many more meeting and hearings to come before the plan can ever come to a City Council vote, which would precede the eminent domain lawsuits that are certain to follow.
· Community Board Backs Willets Point Plan [Crain's]
· Bloomberg Wins Early Community Endorsement for Willets Point [TRE]
· Willets Point Coverage [Curbed]
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