Parking

Flushing Meadows: Park or Parking Lot?

Streetsblog doesn't manage to get out to Queens all that often these days, so it's good to know that The Park Watchdog is keeping an eye on Flushing Meadows Park. Here is what he sees: Cars. Lots of them. Parked all over the grass.

By Aaron Naparstek

2:01 PM EDT on October 26, 2006

Streetsblog doesn’t manage to get out to Queens all that often these days, so it’s good to know that The Park Watchdog is keeping an eye on Flushing Meadows Park. Here is what he sees: Cars. Lots of them. Parked all over the grass.

The Dog’s general thesis:

When Robert Moses handed over Flushing Meadows park in 1967 to the City of New York the three decades dream of creating a great city park on the site of what once was a notorious ash and garbage dump, he foresaw that a Manhattan-oriented bureaucracy would neglect the beautiful park that was bequeathed as a result of two World’s Fairs. His fears were proven by the fact that the Mayor of the City of New York did not even see fit to show up for the opening ceremonies of the park.
The City’s contempt for Flushing Meadows – Corona Park could not be more evident than in the desecration of its parkland by turning this precious space into nothing more than a gigantic parking lot.

Aaron Naparstek

Aaron Naparstek is the founder and former editor-in-chief of Streetsblog. Based in Brooklyn, New York, Naparstek's journalism, advocacy and community organizing work has been instrumental in growing the bicycle network, removing motor vehicles from parks, and developing new public plazas, car-free streets and life-saving traffic-calming measures across all five boroughs. He was also one of the original cast members of the "War on Cars" podcast. You can find more of his work on his website.