Willets Point

Sunday, May 5, 2019

5:05pm – 5:30pm

Weather: Light to heavy rainfall, a little windy, high of 57, low of 50

Started on the corner of 126th Street and Willets Point Blvd, walked down 126th Street to 34th Ave, walked down 34th Ave to 127th Street, walked down 127th Street, turned onto 35th Ave, walked down 35th Ave back to 126th Street, and back to where I started on the corner of 126th Street and Willets Point Blvd.

Description of Location

The neighborhood of Willets Point is essentially one big, right triangle: The bottom side of it is 126th Street, where Citi Field is located, the side perpendicular to 126th Street is 34th Avenue, and the hypotenuse is Willets Point Boulevard. And within this large triangle are blocks and blocks of different auto repair shops.

Physically speaking, the neighborhood did not look very appealing. While there was a tree here and there and some green plants that sprouted from cracks in the road and the fences, it didn’t seem like these plants were well kept. The roads seemed to be in the midst of being repaved, as they were very bumpy and had a lot of holes in them. These holes ultimately became murky green/brown puddles, as it had been raining all day. There were also a lot of spots in the ground where the gravel and dirt were uneven and muddy. So, because of these things, I had to be careful of where I was walking, or else I would have twisted an ankle or gotten my shoes wet (even though they already were ?).

There wasn’t too much to see if I’m being honest. The area, overall, looked very neglected and deprived of life. While walking down 126th Street, all I saw was Citi Field on my left, and a lot of empty, vacant lots on my right. The only thing that I could see coming up was the first set of auto repair shops on 38th Avenue. Furthermore, the land that I saw on the way to 38th Avenue was closed off by either chain fences or big blocks that were labeled, “NYPD.” On the blocks and basically every building (aside from Citi Field) and garage doors, there was some kind of graffiti on it.

The only building type that I really saw were business types. As stated before, a majority of them were auto repair shops. There was one restaurant called, Rosmar Deli Restaurant, but it was the only restaurant that I saw, aside from McFadden’s in Citi Field. There didn’t seem to be any residential or public buildings in the area. The only residential buildings I was able to see were the ones in the next neighborhood over, which was Flushing.

In terms of sounds, I heard a lot of things: police car sirens, ambulances, airplanes flying overhead, cars beeping/moving, shuttle buses, birds chirping, and tools whirring. In terms of smells, it smelt relatively normal until I walked across 35th Avenue, where the smell of sewage really hit me. It was then that I noticed a lot of sewers and the amount of garbage that was in the area.

Description of People

During my neighborhood visit, I did not see many people. For the most part, I was literally by myself, walking through the area. Occasionally, I would see some workers from the repair shops, but in terms of tourists, there were none. From the few people I did see, they were all Hispanic or Latino middle-aged men who were working in their shops. However, I did run into one middle-aged Asian man who was smoking a cigarette outside of one of the shops.

Reflexivity: Description of Yourself

During my walk, I felt a little out of place. I felt out of place in terms of appearance, gender, race, and ethnicity.

I had just come back from presenting at Macaulay, and so I was dressed fairly nicely in a white button-up shirt, grey sweater, black skirt, black tights, and black boots. I definitely was not dressed for working in an auto repair shop, as the workers I saw were dressed in what seemed to be more comfortable clothing, like jeans, t-shirts, and hoodies.

Out of all the people I saw, there was not one female among them. I know this may sound a little bad, but I was a little anxious being in that area by myself. I wasn’t familiar with it at all and I admit that it felt a little uncomfortable and awkward walking around, observing, and taking pictures on my own.

Moreover, minus that one Asian man I saw, everyone else there was Hispanic or Latino, and so I felt a little out of place because of that.

Critical Reflections: Moving from Description to Analysis

I chose this neighborhood for my observational tour for a couple of reasons. One is because I had done research on this neighborhood for my group project. I had researched the Willets Point development plan and I was curious to see what was actually going to be developed. Another reason why I chose to observe this place is that it is not incredibly far from home, but it was far enough that I wasn’t familiar with it and it was somewhere new. I also figured that since I would be coming back from the city anyway and the 7 train doesn’t run from Mets-Willets Point and Flushing, Main Street, that I would take the time to walk around the neighborhood.

Rather than learning new things from my neighborhood visit, I feel that a lot of the things I already knew/was aware of, were reinforced. For instance, while doing research on Willets Point for my project, I learned that a part of the land that was going to be developed is called the Iron Triangle— this fact was reinforced after having walked through the triangle myself. I also learned that within this Iron Triangle, there are many auto repair shops, and boy, there were so many of them, one after the other!

However, something that I did learn while doing my observation was how really run down the area is and how unpopulated it is. Because there is a redevelopment plan for Willets Point, I assumed that the neighborhood had to have been run down and old in some way. But it wasn’t until I walked through it, that I could really see where this plan was coming from. The buildings looked kind of shabby, landscaping wasn’t well kept, the roads were uneven and in need of repaving, garbage that had to be cleaned up… I didn’t realize just how bad the area was, in terms of physical appearance. I also realized that, in comparison to how Brooklyn’s Barclays Center made its neighborhood become one of tourism and mass gatherings, Citi Field doesn’t seem to have done the same for Willets Point. While it may get very crowded when there’s a Mets game or a concert, it is only for that one period of time— it doesn’t last very long.

While I usually tend to side with the communities when it comes to megaprojects entering them, I think this proposed plan of redeveloping Willets Point may actually be a good thing. It would level off the roads, clean up the garbage, rebuild the dilapidated buildings, and overall, make it a better place to work and hopefully live. 

What sets Willets Point apart from other megaprojects like Hudson Yards, the High Line, and Barclays Center is that there is actually community involvement in the planning; Mayor de Blasio has convened a task force that is led by Queens borough president, Melinda Katz, and local City Council member, Francisco Moya, to help facilitate the necessary community input. And while currently, the auto repair shops are already facing a loss of business due to the effects of this years-long development process, I feel that maybe their businesses will be revived with the plan, so long as they don’t get pushed out.