After years of working under terrible conditions and after the Willets Point Plan was approved by Community Board 7 a month and a half earlier, once again workers are coming together to figure out a quick solution for their economic wellbeing, their community and their families, and to prevent from being pushed out of the area.
“I have had this business for many years and during all that time we have worked without electricity and water. We have to work miracles to survive here with our businesses. There are children and whole families here who are waiting for help, a redevelopment, but not to be displaced. They, the politicians, just want to leave us out on the street,” stated Edmundo Salazar, from Peru, who is employed at one of the mechanic shops in Willets Point.
According to New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, the plan is to redevelop the area and make it into a bright neighborhood, with paved streets, sewers and with all the necessary public services. However, workers in this area feel humiliated and mistreated now that they will be pushed out their jobs precisely because of the redevelopment.
“We are here to support these people and to watch out for their rights. We are not going to allow that they get pushed out and lose their businesses from one day to the next,” commented Anthony J. Fodera, president of Fodera Foods, one of the businesses that will be affected along with the workers in Willets Point.
Meanwhile, Arturo Olaya, president of the Defense Committee for the Willets Point Workers, expressed a total resentment of the mayor and, in general, of all politicians, calling them liars and abusers.
“Everything is a lie. They use politics to promise, to not come through and to steal. We pay taxes and still we have no benefits. What are the politicians’ intentions when they say ‘We are going to clean up Willets Point’? That they are going to sweep us out? They treat us like garbage, even worse. They are abusive. That’s why I say, don’t support Bloomberg!” said Olaya emphatically, a native of Medellin, Colombia.
On the flip side of the coin, a few weeks earlier Queens Borough President Hellen Marshall and Economic Development Deputy Robert Lieber stated that at least 20 percent of the total value of all construction contracts would be given to small contactors, 10 percent to women-owned businesses and 15 percent to businesses based in Queens.
