Prominent civic leaders have organized to oppose the construction of a casino or other commercial structures on the public parkland surrounding Citi Field stadium. Their announcement of opposition comes days before Mets owner Steve Cohen will hold a “visioning session” to advance his desired development scenarios for that parkland. It also comes one year after numerous Queens civic groups first notified the NYS Gaming Commission of strong objections to siting a casino in the vicinity of Citi Field stadium, including on the public parkland.
Although Cohen’s visioning session will be held just as the Gaming Facilities Location Board is accepting applications for three downstate casino licenses, and although Cohen reportedly intends to submit an application to construct a casino on parkland surrounding Citi Field, Cohen’s press release for his upcoming visioning session conspicuously lacks any specific mention of building a casino on the parkland – instead vaguely referring to an “entertainment” venue on “50 acres of vacant asphalt.”
Paul Graziano, an urban planner who was also a plaintiff in the 2014 lawsuit that enjoined construction on the parkland, said: "From a planning perspective, the development of a casino on public parkland is just plain wrong. Back in the 1980s, former Borough President Donald Manes supported the construction of a Formula One Grand Prix raceway around Meadow Lake, with the intention of turning Flushing Meadows-Corona Park into the ‘Meadowlands’ of New York City. As a parks advocate stated at the time: ‘This is not just a race track in the park. Once you’ve said yes to this, how do you stop the next guy? How do you stop a race in Central Park?’ Four decades later, we now face yet another attempt to take away our parkland for a private entity’s monetary gain. The continued attempts to monetize, privatize and destroy this particular park must stop."
Read more: *** CIVICS CHAMPION DEVELOPMENT-FREE PARK ***
Although Cohen’s visioning session will be held just as the Gaming Facilities Location Board is accepting applications for three downstate casino licenses, and although Cohen reportedly intends to submit an application to construct a casino on parkland surrounding Citi Field, Cohen’s press release for his upcoming visioning session conspicuously lacks any specific mention of building a casino on the parkland – instead vaguely referring to an “entertainment” venue on “50 acres of vacant asphalt.”
Paul Graziano, an urban planner who was also a plaintiff in the 2014 lawsuit that enjoined construction on the parkland, said: "From a planning perspective, the development of a casino on public parkland is just plain wrong. Back in the 1980s, former Borough President Donald Manes supported the construction of a Formula One Grand Prix raceway around Meadow Lake, with the intention of turning Flushing Meadows-Corona Park into the ‘Meadowlands’ of New York City. As a parks advocate stated at the time: ‘This is not just a race track in the park. Once you’ve said yes to this, how do you stop the next guy? How do you stop a race in Central Park?’ Four decades later, we now face yet another attempt to take away our parkland for a private entity’s monetary gain. The continued attempts to monetize, privatize and destroy this particular park must stop."
Read more: *** CIVICS CHAMPION DEVELOPMENT-FREE PARK ***