an agreement Wednesday between the administration and council leaders.

According to reports, the Willets Point rezoning, which will redevelop a 62-acre brownfield near the Flushing River, passed the council by 42 to 2, with one abstention. The less contentious rezoning of 30 acres in Hunter's Point South passed unanimously.

In a statement issued Friday morning, Mayor Michael Bloomberg applauded the council approvals. "For nearly half a century, Willets Point has been an environmentally degraded area in the heart of Queens, but today, it finally has a brighter future--one that will create more than 5,000 permanent jobs, thousands of units of affordable housing, and generate $1.3 billion in tax revenue and $25 billion in overall economic activity over the next 30 years," Bloomberg said in his statement.

He added that the approval of Hunter's Point South was "equally important. It will be New York City's largest development that includes permanently affordable housing targeted primarily to moderate and middle-income families--our police officers, teachers, nurses and vocational workers, among others. Together, the projects will provide more than 10,000 units of housing, about half of which will include income targets, which will help us achieve our goal of building and preserving affordable housing for half a million New Yorkers."