Willets Point United Inc.

P.O. Box 560191 • College Point, New York 11356

January 14, 2012Mr. Allan H. SeligCommissioner of BaseballMajor League Baseball245 Park Avenue, 31st Floor New York, NY 10167Re:Warning Concerning Potential 2013 All-Star Game at CitiFieldDear Mr. Selig:Press reports have speculated that Major League Baseball ("MLB") may select CitiField,

the New York Mets' stadium, as the site of the 2013 All-Star Game. I am writing to advise that, prior to any decision, MLB should consider some of the very significant disadvantages andliabilities associated with holding the 2013 All-Star Game at CitiField.As you may know, CitiField is located in Queens, New York directly across 126th Streetfrom the 62-acre industrial business district known as Willets Point. For many decades, the Cityof New York has deliberately neglected Willets Point and refrained from providing basicmunicipal services that it provides everywhere else – and, as a result, has allowed the publicareas here to fall into dilapidation. Now, using the dilapidated public areas that it created as a pretext, the City wants to evict all of the Willets Point businesses – and in the destructiveeminent domain process, take all of the Willets Point property against the will of propertyowners.All of this activity is being done to facilitate an unnecessary, implausible and controversialdevelopment project – a project that Sterling Equities, the Mets' owners' real estate firm, isreportedly bidding to control.I am writing on behalf of Willets Point United Inc. ("WPU"), a coalition of Willets Point property and business owners who oppose the City's Willets Point development plan. It is our assumption that City officials might have provided incomplete and inaccurate information toMLB regarding the projected progress of the Willets Point development plan as of the 2013 dateof the All-Star Game.

Heyman, Jon. 2011. Mets will host 2013 All-Star Game.

SI.com

, January 29. Accessible online at:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/baseball/mlb/01/29/mets.2013.allstar.game/index.html; and Davidoff, Ken.2012. A Citi of big stars?

Newsday

, January 7. Accessible online at:http://www.newsday.com/sports/columnists/ken-davidoff/insider-all-star-game-joe-torre-and-prince-fielder-1.3436020

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Any such misinformation could encourage MLB to select CitiField as the site of the 2013All-Star Game – a decision that we strongly believe MLB could later regret. To make a well-informed decision about the suitability of CitiField as the site of the 2013 All-Star Game, WPUsuggests that MLB must consider all the following factors:

(1.)Outrageous and Unflattering State of Dilapidation At the Venue

City streets located adjacent to CitiField in Willets Point are so absolutely neglected andin such an embarrassing state of disrepair, that they not only fail to provide vehicular access, butseverely tarnish the aura of CitiField and the sport of baseball in New York. (See enclosed photograph depicting 37th Avenue leading toward CitiField.)For several decades, Willets Point property and business owners have asked the City torepair Willets Point streets, but the City has not done so. There is no reason to believe that theCity will do so now, merely to accommodate an All-Star Game. Does MLB want its All-Star Game to occur in such a tawdry and unflattering environment?The City-caused dilapidation is just one obvious element of a side-show to an All-Star Game at CitiField that will attract the attention of the international media that is present for thegame. As property owners fighting to preserve our rights, we will go out of our way to draw press attention to our plight – and the role of the Wilpons and the Mets in this struggle.

(2.)Ongoing Litigation

Two lawsuits are presently pending against the City, either of which may potentiallyderail the entire proposed Willets Point development or very significantly delay itsimplementation. Accordingly, regardless of any assurance by the City, MLB should not presumethat the industrial structures and businesses located across 126th Street from CitiField will bedemolished by 2013, or that any new development there will be occurring by that time.It is entirely possible that during 2013, and beyond, CitiField will still be located acrossfrom the same industrial structures and businesses that exist today.

(3.)Involvement of Wilpons, Destructive and Discriminatory Nature of Development,and Investigations of Improprieties

It has been reported that Sterling Equities, the Mets' owners' real estate firm, is amongthe entities that have responded to the City's Request for Proposals seeking a developer of "Phase One" of Willets Point – the strip located directly across from CitiField. Indeed, so intenseis Sterling Equities' interest in developing that property that it reportedly has teamed with morethan one firm to submit multiple bids. (See enclosed article published by

Crain's New York Business

.)Ironically, while MLB promotes "Baseball's ability to contribute to the economic growth,Page 2 of 4

strength and well-being of diverse communities", the owners of the Mets are aggressively

bidding to implement a project that will absolutely destroy precisely such a community. WilletsPoint is one of the most vibrant and diverse business communities in New York City.The development of Willets Point requires evicting approximately 250 existing, inter-related industrial businesses – many of which are owned and/or operated by people who are predominately Hispanic. No plan – necessary to best promote their collective survival – has been presented to preserve the service network to which those businesses belong and that attracts their customers. The predictable result will be the discriminatory destruction of 250 businesses thatemploy approximately 1,700 Hispanic and immigrant workers; all sacrificed to enable adevelopment project from which the Mets' owners are very eager to profit.At the time of the 2013 All-Star Game, if the Willets Point development plan proceeds,the above-described large-scale displacement of the mostly Hispanic-run businesses will be in progress. It will be certainly be a lightning rod for criticism, demonstrations and protests byminority groups and civil rights advocates, and it is in that toxic context that a 2013 All-Star Game at CitiField would take place.Moreover, as we have said, the development of Willets Point relies upon thecontroversial use of eminent domain to forcibly acquire private property,

not

for any publicnecessity, but to facilitate a private economic benefit that will aggrandize already well-heeledinterests – all under the guise of "economic development". A movement has taken hold all acrossAmerica to counteract such eminent domain abuse – to the extent that 44 states have enactedlocal laws to prohibit or curtail the use of eminent domain for economic development purposes.Our organization will not miss an opportunity to leverage the All-Star Game to tell anationwide audience how the Mets' owners seek to benefit from un-American eminent domainabuse and large-scale eradication of minority businesses. To WPU it would be a wonderfulopportunity not to be missed, but to MLB it would be something much less desirable.In addition, not only are the Mets' owners pursuing a controversial development thatharms Hispanic entrepreneurs and workers – and condemns property for a non-public use – butthe Mets organization also financed, and hosted a fundraising event for, the Flushing WilletsPoint Corona Local Development Corporation ("LDC"), an organization that was created tolobby for legislation authorizing the proposed Willets Point development. This supposedly not-for-profit group proceeded to do this lobbying while failing to properly register or file requireddisclosure reports. The unlawful lobbying has already resulted in a then-record financial penaltyof $59,090.00 against the LDC – approximately 21 times the average fine imposed upon other unregistered lobbyists during the same time frame.The LDC’s failure to properly register and report its lobbying activities is just part of the

Mission statement of MLB's Diverse Business Partners program; accessible online at:

http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/official_info/mlb_official_info_diverse.jsp?content=about