Willet’s Point is a grungy, unkempt place not necessarily fit for human habitation. However, the city of New York has a responsibility to ensure its continued existence and put the necessary funds into the area to make it sanitary on a fundamental level. As a place for new immigrants to work and get their start in America, it fulfills a very important role even if it isn’t the most lucrative for the city. New York City, or any other community for that matter, is carried on the backs of the proletariat, so taking away the workplace of hundred of working class immigrants is not only bad for those who work there, but bad for the community as a whole. The bourgeoisie is reliant on poor, immigrant workers for more than they frequently care to admit, so displacing the workers of Willet’s Point is destructive to the economic fabric.
Secondly, if the workers of Willet’s Point pay taxes on their property, the city owes it to them to provide the area with basic necessities as plumbing and a sewer system and streetlights. The logic of paying taxes is that the citizens give money to the government and in return, the government will provide for the common good. This is not at all what happened, so the city saying that they are going to tear down the area because it’s too “blighted” is ridiculous given that it is the lack of governmental attention that has made the conditions so subpar. The use of eminent domain is shady in most cases, but especially insidious in this case because it directly targets poor people of color and immigrants. The city claims that the additional amenities in Willet’s Point will boost the economy, but these amenities will only benefit people of a certain class. If you’re a poor immigrant just starting out in America, what you need is a place to start working and assimilate into American culture, not a high rise shopping center. The destruction of Willet’s Point is classist, racist, and honestly just plain misguided. What may be an eyesore to middle class and upper class people is the only thing keeping working poor people afloat in a competitive economy.
