By Bob Harris
The Queens Civic Congress, an umbrella organization of approximately 100 civic associations in Queens, has gone on record opposing further development of Flushing Meadows Corona Park.
The QCC said it seems that the rest of the county benefits more from the United States Tennis Association and the US Open than the surrounding, mostly immigrant, communities. There are currently three proposals by private groups which would bring commercial development to current or former parkland. The QCC believes the three proposals are too much even if communities benefit from them.
At this time, the USTA is asking for less than an acre of land so it could move and build new tennis stadiums. The current USTA complex is leased parkland, which Mayor David Dinkins leased to the USTA. I remember the opposition to this deal, but it took place anyway. There is still the argument that the USTA does not pay enough money to the city for use of the land compared to what it earns, and that any money paid goes into the city coffers and not necessarily to improve our parks.
Then there is the complaint that the USTA headquarters are in Westchester County. This means the USTA and its officials pay taxes in Westchester but not in Queens.
The city has not told us how much money it spends for the upkeep of Flushing Meadows as compared to, say, Central Park. It lists just 18 workers in Flushing Meadows, far fewer than other parks. When I look at this complex, I see an area of cement, bricks, buildings, stadiums and paths covering former grassland.
Another commercial proposal for Flushing Meadows is building a soccer stadium in the northeast part of the park, where a fountain is currently located. Some say that this area is a flood plain and has a river under it. I have seen photos of this area being flooded after a heavy rain. This area is where people from the surrounding immigrant communities play soccer. Trees would have to be moved and replaced.
For how may years would bulldozers and dump trucks be in the park preventing local community people and soccer leagues from playing soccer? The fields will be refurbished first.
How much money will the city spend to build feeder roads and other amenities? Like the USTA, how much money will be earned compared to how much money will be paid out in rent? It has taken more than six years to replace parkland taken to build the new Yankee Stadium in the Bronx.
A proposal by the New York Mets and other developers is to take 23 acres of the Iron Triangle in Willets Point and build commercial properties. They are also proposing to build a mall in the current Citi Field parking lot, which is technically parkland. There is even talk about a casino. Can the No. 7 train handle people coming to a mall, let alone sporting activities in the area? Is a mall economically feasible, considering that the Shops at Atlas Park in Glendale are having so much economic trouble? How many millions of dollars will the city give to the project developers?
One incentive for this deal was that the developers would build affordable housing, but now I read that it would come last and the developers have clauses in the contract with the city permitting them to not build the affordable housing if it was not economically feasible. So many loopholes and so much city park and other land goes to developers for so little.
GOOD AND BAD NEWS OF THE WEEK: The killing of 26 children and educators with an assault rifle at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Middletown, Conn., brought on a wave of demand for action.
There were demands for background checks for all weapons sales, control of assault rifles and limits on gun clip capacities. New York state and a few other states did something, but nothing has been done by Congress.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg and President Barack Obama are trying. Obama’s latest comment was, “Shame on us.”
