The state government doesn't have the best track record when it comes to overseeing major projects in New York City (can we get an amen, Brooklyn Bridge Park?), but even those jokesters up in Albany are having a laugh about the redevelopment of Willets Point. The first phase of the massive mixed-use makeover of Queens' chop shop capital is being held up by a lawsuit over highway exit ramps, and some business owners in the Iron Triangle are still vehemently opposed to the city buying or seizing their land.
The Times reviewed hundreds of emails between city and state officials regarding the project, and here's a brief excerpt that's representative of the whole lot: "About a month later, after pointing out a mistake in a document that put the development’s completion date as 2107 instead of 2017, Peter King, a project manager for the state, wrote to a colleague, 'Perhaps that reference to 2107 may have been closer to the truth than anyone realizes.'" Not a bad strategy! By then we'll all have hoverboards and spaceships, giving the Willets Point business owners zero leverage in negotiations.
· E-Mails Show State Officials’ Skepticism About Willets Point Project [NYT]
· Willets Point coverage [Curbed]
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