NEW YORK, NY November 30, 2007 —The city's proposed redevelopment of Willets Point would bring housing, a hotel and a convention center to the Queens neighborhood. But the businesses already there told the City Council it's a raw deal. WNYC's Arun Venugopal has more.

REPORTER: The issue of eminent domain dominated the council oversight hearing. Several council members asked why the city is threatening to remove businesses from the area in order to benefit private developers. But the head of the city's Economic Development Corporation, Robert Lieber, said the area is blighted and that any development would be for the public good. However, business owners disputed his claim that the city was trying hard to relocate them. Anthony Fodera is the president of Fodera Foods.

FODERA: I also said we need to be in Queens. They've shown me 4 locations in the Bronx, of which 3 need to be remediated, 2 in Brooklyn, I believe, and 1 in the Brooklyn Navy Yard, and 1 in Maspeth. None of those sites work for us.

REPORTER: The council room was also filled with hundreds of union members, who say they'll refuse to work on the redevelopment without guarantees of livable wages. For WNYC, I'm Arun Venugopal.