FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM JULY 5, 2018 • THE QUEENS COURIER 19
Bid to attract developers to downtown
Flushing waterfront wins state approval
BY SUZANNE MONTEVERDI
smonteverdi@qns.com / @smont76
A 62-acre portion of land on the
Flushing waterfront may soon see substantial
redevelopment aft er receiving a
special designation from the state.
Governor Andrew Cuomo announced
the Brownfi eld Opportunity Area (BOA)
designation for an area of land in the western
area of downtown Flushing, bounded
to the north by Northern Boulevard,
to the east by Prince Street, to the south
by Roosevelt Avenue and to the west
by Flushing Creek and the Van Wyck
Expressway.
Th e Flushing Willets Point Corona
Local Development Corporation
(FWCLDC) presented the application
for the BOA, which is described as a
vacant, underdeveloped and/or polluted
area where, under the program, economic
environmental conditions are examined
and redevelopment opportunities
are identifi ed in an attempt to attract public
and public investment.
Th e designation opens up several benefi
ts for future developers, including
support from state municipalities and a
potential for tax credits.
The proposed revitalization plan
encompasses 62 acres, which includes
“street beds, undevelopable wetlands and
a portion of Flushing Creek,” according
to state documents. A key recommendation
made in the report included creating
a special waterfront district at the site to
allow for mixed-use redevelopment and
aff ordable housing.
Th e plan also includes suggestions
for creating public waterfront access,
improving traffi c fl ow and rehabilitating
the water quality of Flushing Creek.
“Th e recommendations set forth in the
Flushing Waterfront Revitalization Plan
present an unparalleled opportunity to
serve the needs of expanding Flushing’s
thriving downtown area further westward
to the waterfront along Flushing
Creek, and to ensure that future development
will provide new public amenities
and open space in a remarkably diverse
and growing neighborhood,” the report
fi led with the Department of State’s offi ce
of planning and development concludes.
Any future zoning changes at the site
will be subject to the city’s land use and
environmental reviews.
“Communities across the state are revitalizing
vacant brownfi eld sites and these
Photo via Flushing BOA application fi led with the Department of State
designations provide the resources to
make their grand visions a reality,” Cuomo
said. “Th is Brownfi eld Opportunity Area
program gives local leaders the power to
bring about much-needed change to properties
that have been neglected within their
communities, and we look forward to seeing
progress and development as we transform
communities across New York.”
Assemblyman Ron Kim said the designation
was “one more positive step forward
for our community.”
“We are grateful for this designation,
which will ultimately create jobs and
housing for New Yorkers in areas that
were blighted and neglected,” Kim said.
Across the creek, a multibillion-dollar
development plan for Willets Point is in the
fi rst building stage. Th e project, proposed
by Queens Development Group and over
10 years in the making, will bring aff ordable
housing, a public school, parkland and
neighborhood retail space to the area.
“I thank our entire board for its support
during this process and now look forward
to the next phase which will include a formal
ULURP application to implement the
zoning recommendations included in our
nomination study,” said Claire Shulman,
president and CEO of the Flushing
Willets Point Corona LDC said in a letter
to the LDC’s board. “Th e LDC thanks the
Department of City Planning for its stellar
work on our nomination study and
environmental assessment report. Our
staff at the LDC also deserve thanks for
their hard work in overseeing and ensuring
completion of this critical phase of
our work. Th e LDC will apply for funding
for the next phase of our work (implementation)
as soon as it becomes available
from the state.”
An illustrative rendering of the imagined west downtown Flushing redevelopment plan
Mob-connected Howard Beach bagel shop owner guilty of sex crimes
BY ROBERT POZARYCKI
rpozarycki@qns.com / @robbpoz
Having previously confessed his guilt
on federal racketeering charges, a Howard
Beach bagel store owner with mafi a ties
was convicted on June 27 of sexually
harassing and groping a female employee.
In a related matter, a newspaper publisher
in Howard Beach admitted in federal
court to charges that she tried to
intervene on the store owner’s behalf by
attempting to coerce the victim’s father
into having the charges dropped.
Jurors returned a guilty verdict on June
27 against Robert Pisani, 44, of forcible
touching and harassment, but they
acquitted him of sexual abuse. Pisani
faces a maximum term of one year in state
prison when he is sentenced on Aug. 14.
According to the criminal complaint
that the Queens District Attorney’s offi ce
provided, Pisani confronted the female
employee at the All-American Bagel and
Barista Company located at 82-41 153rd
Ave. at about 2 p.m. on the aft ernoon of
April 28, 2017.
Police said that Pisani grabbed the
woman’s buttocks while she worked, then
pulled the back of her bra strap. He then
grabbed the woman’s hand and placed it
on his genitalia, without her consent.
Th e previous month, Pisani and nine
other individuals were indicted by the
federal government for alleged organized
crime activity ranging from racketeering
to loan sharking and murder attempts.
Th e indicted suspects are reputed members
of the Bonanno crime family.
Pisani had been released on $500,000
bail, but the NYPD Special Victims Squad
arrested him on May 4 for the sexual
harassment case. Th at led federal prosecutors
to move to revoke Pisani’s bail.
Federal law enforcement sources
then accused Pisani of reaching out to
Patricia Adams, publisher of Th e Forum
Newsgroup weekly newspaper based in
Howard Beach, and allegedly asked for
her help.
Authorities said that Adams — also
considered to be a Bonanno family associate
— then reached out to the victim’s
father, met him at a local Starbucks coffee
shop and allegedly tried to coerce him
into having his daughter into dropping
the charges.
Th e conversation wound up being
recorded by the victim’s father and was
ultimately turned over to federal prosecutors,
who arrested Adams on Aug. 16 on
a witness tampering charge.
Sources with the U.S. Attorney’s offi ce
said that Adams pleaded guilty on June
25 to misprision of a felony, a count that
acknowledges concealment of a felonious
crime. She faces up to three years in prison
when she is sentenced in September.
Meanwhile, Pisani pleaded guilty last
November to participating in an unlawful
debt racketeering conspiracy and is
scheduled to be sentenced next month; he
could face between 15 and 21 months in
federal prison.
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