Dear Editor (of the Queens Chronicle): Re: “No Parking On The Grass,” Queens Chronicle, July 19.
The claim by the Parks and Recreation manager of Flushing Meadows Park, William Gilbert, that parking on the grass in Flushing Meadows will no longer be tolerated is to be taken with some degree of skepticism given the lackluster history of the Parks Department in the management of the park. The notion that parking on the grass would be permitted during so-called “overlapping special events” is unacceptable.
At a time when Mayor Michael Bloomberg is pushing for congestion pricing to cut down on vehicular traffic into Manhattan, Gilbert ignores the fact that public transportation for both Shea Stadium and the United States Tennis Association exists adjacent to the park. Parking for Mets and USTA fans should be restricted to stadium parking lots. If overflow fans of both the Mets and the USTA are unwilling to use public transportation, let them stay home. 
If Gilbert and other Parks officials do not understand that parks are for park users and do not stand up to the Mets and USTA management — which is what this is all about — and that under no circumstances will fan parking be allowed anywhere in the park, grassland or asphalt, then they are not doing their job as protector of parkland and they should seek other employment. Benjamin Haber
Civic Association of Kew Garden Hills
Ben, you surely are familiar with the human clusterf*ck that happens on the way into the Shea Stadium subway/LIRR stations after Mets games. This is why people drive to the game. Maybe if the MTA solves that problem and runs better public transportation after games (not everyone lives along the 7 train or Port Washington line and most buses run like crap at night), more people will leave their cars home. But why would they do that? The city and the Mets are making more money this way.
Photos from The Park Watchdog
18 comments:
Lying on top of the scared meadow in one of the photos are some sheets of flimsy plywood that were lain down by the Parks Dept. to make is seem like they actually cared about the grass.
Those cars parked there are all off duty Police, fire and other city agencies. Who park there to avoid paying for parking.
That is not true. You have to pay to park anywhere in FMCP now, including on the grass.
Actually, it's the cops who sometimes direct you to park on the grass.
The treatment of Flushing Meadows shows the priority of the politicians - a nice profile on how these bright lights think and their value systems. Ranked in order of their importance:
1. suburbanite's money (ah money, the mother's milk of politics)
2. the tweeded (immigrants don't know any better or being illegal, will never complain - well after all, take a look at urban existence at their home countries, so where is the problem here?)
3. voters and taxpayers (playing fast and loose with the election process, as well as having people like Dee give 'em breathless reviews takes care of that pesky menace.)
Cops are always parking their vehicles in places they shouldn't be. In my home town they park them in crosswalks and up on sidewalks, because they're too damned lazy to walk a block or two to the precinct they work in.
Its a city wide problem that will never change because they think are better then us and cops dont ticket each other or other city agencies. After all its their city we just live in it.
So do the complainers have any solution other than - let people take public transportation or stay home. Because that is nonsensical. While Citi Field is being constructed, people will be attending Mets games and the US Open. This is a good thing for the city and for Queens. It brings significant cultural, economic and reputational benefits to Queens. The answer cannot be - lose all the business so we don't park on grass.
"Lying on top of the scared meadow in one of the photos are some sheets of flimsy plywood that were lain down by the Parks Dept. to make is seem like they actually cared about the grass."
I have to disagree with that, Ken. the plywood is there so that cars don't get stuck in the mud. the city couldn't care less about grass. That's why they are replacing it with astroturf, even though that could make you sick.
Here's a solution: let cars park along the roads. There are miles and miles of them throughout the park. or how about shuttle bus rotes from different areas of LI and Queens?
It sounds like "Ken"could use some some R&R with "Barbie" !
Another example of Commissar Bloomberg, Benepe, Lewandowski, Citigroup and lazy, ignorant sports fans gang-raping park users.
If it isn't the dogs, it's the cancerous artificial turf and the parked cars.
Park users who pay big time to use the parks they paid through the teeth to create, just want a place to relax, and enjoy some quiet time with family. Park users just want a safe place for their kids.
The rape gang plans to make as much money as possible from selling the citizens' rights to safe parks any predator with the dollars.
There is a sign charging $14 a car to park during Met games on the grass west of Shea Stadium and under the Grand Central-Whitestone Expy. WHO gets this $14? WHERE does it go? HOW are the proceeds divvied-up?
Since I started blogging on this site Schenkler has been very rude to me. George can you help?
See my "smaller" ad in the Tribune this week. Schenkler has turned out to be an ass.
Trix...Have you ever considered an ad in the Home Improvement/Handyman classified pages?
George: The Central Parking Corporation, formerly Kinney, has the concession for parking for the USTA and other events. Sid Davidoff negotiated that deal with the USTA expansion.
I checked out the Central Parking Corporation's website...If you click on to "locations" in the NY area, you'll find that the company has nearest facilities in FMCP under "Flushing" (US Open) and "Corona" (Hall of Science)...If you go to the map provided, you'll see that neither of these 2 sites is near where I'm talking about...Everytime I ride my bicycle from Woodside to Flushing, i.e. heading East, I use the bike path along 34th Avenue and then over the GCP via a pedestrian path attached to the Northern Boulevard viaduct into the northern reaches of the park...THERE, Northwest of Shea stadium, between the N.Blvd (rte 25A) viaduct and the Meridian-Stadium Road combo is the parking lot I'm referring to...it is packed with cars of people attending the Met games...Was this site "granted" by Sid Davidoff to the Parking company as well?...It's not on their website location list.
George: The entire park was granted to The Kinney Parking System via Sid Davidoff. There was really no defined area. Most of the areas that were defined in the USTA expansion were merely "proposed" and subject to future changes. You could ask Betsy Gotbaum about the deal, she was the commissioner at the time. She approved it.
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