Even in a city that treats its outer-borough parks as temporary inconveniences to real estate ambitions, Flushing Meadows Corona Park stands out for being starved of resources in an effort to prime it for privatization. But the latest greenwashing is particularly cynical.
The current plan calls for the Citi Field parking lot — actually mapped as "parkland" — to be developed into a casino complex. That parkland would have to be converted — the term of law is "alienated" — into regular land, a process that requires new parkland to be created.
Enter “Flushing Skypark,” a bike lane bridge to connect an area in Flushing with no bike lanes ... to the parkland space they’re trading away. New York politicians are lining up to give away the existing parkland on the specious claim that it will improve connectivity. But we haven’t seen any developers on the Flushing side willing to give up their land to connect to the bridge. Also, there are no good protected bike lanes in downtown Flushing, so we don’t know how cyclists would get to the bridge.
The very location of the “Skypark” raises the eyebrows of any New Yorker with a recall of history; it would connect downtown Flushing to the casino district and development in the former Iron Triangle. You remember that patch of land: years ago, the city allowed it to decay so officials could later evict the countless small, minority-owned businesses to hand over the area to developers, including one who is building a soccer stadium.
Well, get ready for Iron Triangle II. Looking at these kind of land giveaways, we doubt the public would ever see benefit from capitalist developers. The Atlantic Yards project that led to the creation of the Barclays Center has fallen short on its public commitment to build the 2,500 affordable housing units promised in 2003. And the promised community space? It hasn't been built.
Consider that: A child born before the announcement could grow to adulthood having never used the community space she was promised and then be forced to abandon her neighborhood because the affordable housing was never built.
Hudson Yards cost taxpayers $2.2 billion and never generated the affordable housing originally designed. Due to “creative financial gerrymandering,” it enabled rich developers to take money dedicated to distressed areas of Harlem.
Local politicians keep using your land and your money to enrich billionaires — and they're doing the same thing in Flushing Meadows. Losing parkland to a private casino is the last thing that the high-density neighborhoods of Flushing and Corona need.
We’re calling on local politicians to make this a ballot measure, so New Yorkers can vote on it. If they feel this is honestly the best plan for the city, then let them make their case to their constituents.
And if he loses, Mets owner Steve Cohen can still build his casino; we'd like to suggest one of these two sites as better options.
For more details on this project, Eastern Queens Greenway has had in-depth coverage of Steve Cohen, Flushing Meadows Corona Park, and how our local politicians are funding billionaires by destroying our public resources. Also Fed-Up has a quick petition that anyone can sign.
