Citi Field’s Neighbors to Protest Evictions Before All-Star Game
“But just over Citi Field’s right field wall, the stadium casts a dark shadow over the most visible sign of unfinished business, a ramshackle 62-acre district of junkyards and auto repair shops strung along broken, dusty streets that are often under water when it rains.
As baseball fans from across the country arrive for the opening pitch, a group of business owners plans to protest across the street the eviction notices they received this week, the most serious threat to their livelihoods to emerge in the decade-long battle over the future of the area.
Last year, the city suddenly revised the four-year-old plan for Willets Point. It selected a joint venture of the Related Companies and the owners of the Mets — Fred Wilpon and Saul B. Katz — to clean toxic substances from a portion of the land and to build a hotel and some shops on 126th Street and a giant retail and entertainment mall on the other side of the stadium.
Some community and church groups that once supported the project now feel betrayed by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, contending that the project is designed to benefit the Mets’ owners and Related more than the surrounding immigrant communities.”
Bagli, Charles. New York Times 15 July 2013.