A fog fountain next to the river? A 43-story tower blocking our cherished 48th Avenue view of the waterfront? A tot-lot built on soil containing toxics which are known carcinogens? A fish-cleaning table that will turn an entire pier into sea gull heaven? Oppressive use of stainless steel on everything from bench seats to Star Trek-like ³sun screens²? Sound like a movie set for the latest science fiction thriller?
No.
It is all part of Phase I of the Queens West Development which, if brought to reality, will put this community under siege. What can we do?
As most of you know, the Hunters Point Community Coalition, formed in 1990, created as a non-partisan conduit to express local concerns to the outside interests that were redesigning our community without our input. Our modest beginning, with a $2,000. grant from the Vincent Astor Foundation, resulted in a video simulation of the proposed Queens West project. The extreme visual contrast it showed between the development and the existing neighborhood even shocked some of the projectıs developers.
Over the past six years the Coalition has consistently met each step of the proposed development by presenting the concerns expressed by our mixed-use community, concerns such as a wall of high-rise buildings which turn their backs on the community, 5- and 6- story parking garages along 5th Street, open space that is inadequately proportioned for the population of the new buildings and under the control of an authority disinterested in this community, economic pressures which will threaten the industrial base and the associated loss of jobs, secondary displacement of residential units, development of a new merchant strip that will threaten the viability of Vernon Boulevard, and most of all the persistent dismissal of this communityıs input by the sponsoring agencies.
It is an overwhelming task, but to the chagrin of the sponsoring agencies, we are still here. Hunters Point has survived other sieges. Some people still remember the mass destruction of homes during the construction of the Midtown Tunnel in 1930. Others are still bitter over the 1961 industrial zoning which precluded the maintenance and expansion of residential buildings, and we all suffer from the current lack of a public or private school system located in our community.
With the threat of yet another development that ignores the interests and concerns of the community it affects most, we now need to join forces and insist that our participation be recognized. We all need to participate, whether we are apartment renters facing increases, industrial business owners facing displacement due to gentrification, merchants facing an uncertain future, local entrepreneurs excluded from joining the development process, workers who may lose their jobs and visitors who will no longer have a reason to come here.
There is a much better vision for the waterfront. One which would extend the existing mixed-use district to the waterfront, where manufacturing jobs could exist next to human-scale residential development; where adequate open space could combine with a public center, allowing everyone to enjoy one of the unparallelled urban sites in the world.
Other communities have organized and succeeded in direct participation of planning their future. Melrose Commons, in the Bronx, faced with an insensitive urban renewal plan, organized and came up with a highly successful in-fill solution (preserving viable buildings). Red Hook, in Brooklyn, thought to be an unorganizable community, came up with their own 197a plan dictating the location of truck routes, new housing and stores.
Hunters Point, with its spectacular waterfront, deserves better. Participation by the community is essential. Now is the time!
To contact the Hunters Point Community Coalition
Call or write:
Hunters Point Community Coalition