12 FEBRUARY 8, 2018 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
EDITORIAL
New Willets Point plan gets it right
At long last, there’s genuine
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movement on the transformation
of Willets Point from
an industrial wasteland into Queens’
newest neighborhood.
On Tuesday, the city announced a
new plan to develop six of the 23 acres
encompassing the Iron Triangle. A
vast improvement on a 2013 proposal,
this new development plan will bring
1,100 new aff ordable housing units to
Queens — and when they say “aff ordable
housing” in this instance, they
actually mean it.
Seventy-one percent of the units to
be built in the fi rst phase at Willets
Point will be for families with incomes
of less than $85,900. They include 220
apartments for low-income seniors
and 99 units for formerly homeless
families of three or more. No such
provisions were part of the 2013 plan,
but they are a welcome addition now.
If you’re going to build a new
community in this borough, it must
be aff ordable for Queens residents
of all income levels. Housing prices
are rising in just about every corner
of Queens, and it’s pricing out many
longtime middle-class residents who
fl ee to the suburbs or out of state.
Finally, we have a plan at Willets
Point that aims to include people of
every income level in this borough. It
also includes the things that a community
needs to grow, such as light retail
space for shops, offi ces and restaurants,
and a 450-seat public school.
The catch, of course, is that it’s a long
way from becoming a reality.
Environmental remediation of the
six acres has only begun; Queens Development
Group, the organization
behind this project, is responsible
for completing it by 2020. Two years
later, only 500 of the 1,100 units will
be completed and opened. The rest
will come within the following two
years.
Even with this affordable housing
plan at Willets Point, the city
still needs to figure out a more immediate
solution to the borough’s
housing affordability crisis. Willets
Point isn’t the panacea, but rather
just one of many necessary steps
toward keeping Queens affordable
for everyone.
Moreover, the fate of the remaining
17 acres of what’s called the “Iron
Triangle” is still in doubt. The city
appointed a task force led by Queens
Borough President Melinda Katz and
new Councilman Francisco Moya, who
represents the area, to chart a path
forward toward further development
of the area.
While considering every idea
brought to the table, we believe that
the task force would be best served
following a path similar to this new
fi rst phase — to build more aff ordable
housing, shops, offi ces and educational
spaces. That would truly cement Willets
Point’s future as the next great
Queens community.
