Sunrise Co-op Press Conference & Hunger Strike
The Project
The New York City Economic Development Corp's Willets Point redevelopment plan calls for the displacement of over 200 small businesses. It was approved in the final days of the Bloomberg administration and currently being carried out under Mayor Bill de Blasio. In 2014 a cooperative of businesses that reached an agreement with NYCEDC leased a new site in the Bronx. Promised funding and permits needed to create a viable relocation site have been held up by the city. The deadline to vacate the area was June 1st.
The New York City Economic Development Corp's Willets Point redevelopment plan calls for the displacement of over 200 small businesses. It was approved in the final days of the Bloomberg administration and currently being carried out under Mayor Bill de Blasio. In 2014 a cooperative of businesses that reached an agreement with NYCEDC leased a new site in the Bronx. Promised funding and permits needed to create a viable relocation site have been held up by the city. The deadline to vacate the area was June 1st.
Plea to Council Member Julissa Ferreras
"Necesitamos de que nos de su apollo porque nosotros somos su vecindario. [...] su barrio y ella no puede abandonar estas familias y dejarlos que nos tire a la calle." (Translation: We need her support because we are her community, her neighborhood, and she can't abandon these families and leave us thrown out on the streets).
Plea to the de Blasio Administration
Businesses aren't allowed a few more months to relocate in the Bronx nor given the time to raise money for the transition as was promised and signed for. The land was sold off to billionaire developers for $1 during the Bloomberg administration. They're given the right to buy land for $1, but small businesses operated/run by mostly low-income to middle class immigrants in Queens don't have the right to a decent relocation plan.
Hunger Strike *
The NYCEDC reached a deal with some of the Willets Point small businesses promising them more time and assistance in relocating. The hunger strike began on June 1, 2015.
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