Weiner pans Bx. Terminal Market plan

BY MICHAEL SAUL and CELESTE KATZ
DAILY NEWS CITY HALL BUREAU
 
Mayoral candidate Rep. Anthony Weiner joined community activists yesterday to slam a massive redevelopment plan for the Bronx Terminal Market as a "sweetheart deal."

"This is like Jets Stadium off Broadway," said Weiner, joining dozens of protestors outside the Bronx County Building.

The demonstrators voiced concerns over the possible effects the large-scale deal involving the new Yankee Stadium and the Gateway Center mall will have on their neighborhood and local businesses.

Weiner, there on a campaign stop to promote his plan to help small businesses in the face of what he slammed as "sweetheart deals" with big developers, called the existing market special - if not in the best of shape.

"You know, the Bronx Terminal Market - the total is much greater than the sum of its parts. An individual person selling Ecuadorian produce in a store can't do what that same shop can do sitting next to a Jamaican produce shop, an African produce shop, and that's why the Bronx Terminal Market is such a cherished asset," said Weiner. "It ain't beautiful, but it's New York."

In a position paper, the Neighborhood Advisory Council and Bronx Voices for Equal Inclusion said public hearings on the projects were "insufficient, severely limited and frustrating."

The Related Cos., which plans to redevelop the site, has promised a Community Benefit Agreement and committed to the Buy Bronx First program for the nearly $394 million mall, giving local suppliers and contractors preference.

The Bloomberg Administration yesterday argued that the Gateway Center project, given to Related in a no-bid deal with major tax breaks, will create 5,000 jobs and generate $21 million in sales tax yearly.

"There are a group of small businesses there, and we've got to find ways to help them," the mayor said yesterday. "But this is a piece of land in the middle of New York City - great views, great transportation in a place that needs jobs, needs housing. And I'm just glad that somebody has seized the opportunity after all of these years to go and develop it."