City Makes Deal With Unions at Willets Point
The Bloomberg administration has cleared one of many obstacles standing in the way of redevelopment at Willets Point, reaching agreements with the numerous unions that were opposing the 61-acre project by Shea Stadium.
Members of the Central Labor Council, which generally wields strong influence with City Council members, had been pressuring the administration for wage and other guarantees before giving support to the multibillion-dollar project.
“We are wholeheartedly behind this project now,” said Neal Kwatra, the political director for UNITE HERE! who was working with the New York Hotel and Motel Trades Council. Mr. Kwatra said the hotel council was now calling on the City Council to support the project.
The city was said to have reached agreements with many of the other unions some weeks ago, and now the administration reached an understanding Tuesday with the hotel council. Mr. Kwatra said the two parties made a “roadmap” to “ensuring that there’s an efficient and effective way for that hotel and convention center ultimately to be union.”
The agreements with the unions—a city spokesman and a Central Labor Council spokeswoman did not immediately return requests for comment—ease some pressure on the Bloomberg administration and its Economic Development Corporation, but many other outstanding issues remain.
Mr. Monserrate, the local Council member who has led criticism of the planned project, said that of paramount concern now was the possible widespread use of eminent domain and the level of affordable housing at the site.
“I commend the administration and the EDC that has moved it along. However, there are still other issues that are still as of yet unresolved,” he said.
“I am not prepared to support a wholesale use of eminent domain,” he said, adding that the city’s proposed amount of below-market-rate housing—20 percent—was not enough. “Twenty percent is a ridiculous figure to put out.”
Earlier in the day, Deputy Mayor Robert Lieber, speaking at a Crain's breakfast forum, called the initiative “one of the administration’s most important redevelopment projects.”
“Other administrations have tried to redevelop Willets Point, but none have really ever established a plan that has sufficient enough momentum,” he said.
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What do you
have in your closet?
How long ago
was it when shoes were just footwear? You threw them on to go play out in the
back yard, or down on the playground. Today, however, having a pair of sneakers
has taken on a whole new meaning, especially when dealing with sports shoes.
What has really made the sneaker culture huge is the sport shoe industry, with
Nike and Adidas pulling up the front. These sports icons have been worn and
styled by not only top athletes, but by people in the music industry.
They say that it was the Nike Dunk
that started it all off. In 1985, Nike brought out the
Nike Dunk.
Originally these sneakers meant for the college community of basketball
players. Instead, this style of sports shoes started the sneaker sub-culture.
Although this style of sneaker was designed to be used during high intensity
basketball games, the spotlight quickly turned to the fashion of wearing them,
what they looked like, and which ones you owned. Twenty years later, Nike has
brought the Nike Dunk back on
the courts with all its retro style and performance.
But why stop
with basketball shoes? In 2000, Nike decided to jump into the skateboarding
scene with the new Nike Skateboarding product line.
With
Nike SB has come the
Nike Dunk SB. For years, before
skateboarding came out from the underground scene, skateboarders utilized the
rugged design of basketball shoes. Nike decided to capitalize on what Vans and
DC shoes had been monopolizing for years, and take what was already an amazing
sneaker, and fit it into the needs of skateboarders. What the
Nike Dunk
SB brought in the way of performance was extra-padded tongue and their
patented Zoom Air insole. In the way of style, this sneaker has already come out
with six series, and names for them like Grip, Forbes, and Vipers.
Another blast
from the past would be the Nike Air
Force 1. These sneakers first came out in the early 80’s. And like the
hip hop culture, their popularity grew. However, this band did not reach their
full fashion peek until 2002 when Nelly released the song “Air
Force Ones”.
The other major
sports shoe brand is the Adicolor
Shoes, an Adidas Original. The design became so popular because the
plain white canvas was adaptable by painting, drawing, and spraying on your own
personal design, and even accessories were sold to help you in your creativity.
In 2006 they pushed the envelope further with a new color series using artists
and designers from all over the world.
Another huge sneaker that was popular with the hip hop world was the
Adidas Superstar. A very raw
and controversial Hip Hop group that helped skyrocket the
Adidas
Superstar to stardom was Run-D.M.C. This cutting edge group was known for
wearing their Superstars out on stage, and even wrote a song dedicated to them
called “My Adidas”. Whether its Nike or Adidas, clean out that closet, dust off
your old sneakers, and get into the game.