Today’s must read is not about Frank Francisco, but rather an opinion piece in the Times-Ledger.
As I have stated before I am not an expert on the subject but do find it interesting. I welcome differing opinions as I aim to educate myself on this topic.
In the meantime, here’s some commentary in the Times-Ledger.
Like the elephant in the room, the change is major. The reason for the parking lot is to enable the city to move the Citi Field parking lot to Willets Point and on the vacated lot construct a 1.4-million-square-foot shopping mall, which has nothing at all to do with Willets Point and the plan adopted in 2008.
Since a land use change requires a Uniform Land Use Review Procedure proceeding, the Mets and Related Cos. made the necessary application, but in a sleight of hand the ULURP merely seeks permission for the parking area at Willets Point. In other words, there has been no ULURP for the shopping mall, the intention being to slip the mall in through the back door. A typical political ploy.
Furthermore, the Citi Field parking area is in fact on Flushing Meadows Corona Park land and, by bypassing ULURP, the city is ignoring the fact that a huge shopping mall on parkland is a radical change from a parking lot and would require replacing parkland.
via Willets Point plan nothing but same old politics • TimesLedger.
Are any readers out there able to shed light on this subject? Perhaps eventually some more of the MSM will dig in on this one.
