Monday, September 3, 2007

Flushing Meadows fiddlers

Flushing Meadows Park is being digested by the USTA which keeps erecting more stadiums alongside Arthur Ashcan Stadium, as local residents like myself have taken to calling it. We’ve got a nickname for the Billy Jean King Center , too, which makes use of the tennis star’s first two initials, though perhaps it would be better not to mention it here.

What makes these outdoor arenas even more offensive is that they’re completely encircled by fences that come right up to the walkways, making residents feel like they’re being confined to dog runs, when they visit the park, just like pooches.

Meanwhile the rich riffraff inside the arenas lounge about sipping cocktails as they watch micro-mini skirted tennis players, on steroids, smack balls about the courts, while stopping to play with their racket strings, resembling those on musical instruments, as noted.

The crisscrossed strings look like meshed wire, too, as if the ball bashers were trying to comfort themselves and their fans with the fact that the stadiums they’re squatting in are surrounded by 8-foot fences – to prevent us from getting in and taking back our park!

- Ken Klinger, Queens Crap ensign

23 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is so true, the fences are staying BTW!!
If you dont have $10,000 for a starter membership it’s "GTF outtahere"

The USTA had their sponsors' 2008 display cars on platforms on top the World Fair mosaics BTW.
They even re-pointed the lights
Since when does the 1964 WF mosaics and Station Plaza belong to the USTA ? !!!!!

Anonymous said...

wouldn't be surprised if the USTA alters the World's Fair mosaics and ads their name to it, along with renderings of their sponsored cars.

Anonymous said...

Once again, the anger that the public feels is not shared with our political leadership or their mouthpieces in the press.

Take note Queens.

They don't really give a #$%* about you, now do they?

What other examples can we think of from this mentality? Hmmmmm...

Anonymous said...

Ancient Rome had its bread and circuses.......
and a dual tier society......patricians and plebes.
Oh...... let's not forget their slaves......
(comparable to the status of illegal aliens
to do the real crap work).

So in FMCP......it's "tennis anyone"
(who can afford it)!

The upper crust enjoy their.....is it $8 lattes......
while the rest of us commoners
can't even gape and gawk at the spectacle
going on inside because we're restricted
to our remaining "park"!

P.S.
Did you know that under the terms of
the 99 year contract between the USTA and NYC......
that the city could get fined if planes
stray off their diverted flight path and encroach upon the airspace above the tennis stadium?

Now that's real balls.......
the kind you don't volley over a net!

Anonymous said...

Well, I like the micro minis, but that's about everything about tennis that I do like.

I miss crowd pleasers like Jim and Johnny Mac.

It must also be said that AFAIK, Ashe Stadium didn't cost taxpayers a dime, unlike Citifield and (corporate name undecided) Yankee Stadium will...

www.forgotten-ny.com

Anonymous said...

You can buy a ticket to the US Open for $50 or less. Tickets to Yankees or Mets games can cost that much or more. Don't blame some imaginary "elite" class if $50 is too much for you. We should be happy that a world renown sporting event is held in Queens every year. It is one of the few top-flight world-class events for which Queens is known, and we should be proud of it. As for the airline flights, David Dinkins agreed to that. Guiliani hated it and tried to change it, but his hands were tied by the Dinkins agreement.

Anonymous said...

wonder if a kid would get in trouble if their kite happened to stray onto the restricted air space?

Anonymous said...

You can buy a ticket to the US Open for $50 or less. Tickets to Yankees or Mets games can cost that much or more....

I dont object to the presence of USTA in Flushing Meadows. However, I do object to the fact that they have acted like glutons, with the help of NYC Parks, in taking every square inch at the back of the park without an ounce of input from the community. Areas that were once open fields are now parking lots, outdoor courts or have stadiums sitting on them. In addition, the still unresolved parking crisis, where cars are parked on lawns remains a problem. Not to mention that Parks lied to all of us about that situation. Overall, FMCP is an awesome park, but its totally mismanaged.

Anonymous said...

We should be glad that this "world class" event creates
world class traffic jams.

I suppose that David Dinkins and buddy Jeff Chester (representing Davidoff Melito & Partners)
didn't give a damn about this either
when they sold us all out!

Anonymous said...

The F-16s will shoot down
any terrorist kid's kite that violates the air corridor!

Anonymous said...

Tennis (and golf ) are basically elitist pass-times,
whereas the park is supposed to be for the people!

Fire Adrian Benepe!
He's betrayed the public trust by promoting
parkland giveaways!

Anonymous said...

Move the USTA event back to Forest Hills.
Let them deal with all the resulting problems.

Anonymous said...

"Adrian Benepe has worked for the last 28 years protecting and enhancing New York City's natural and historic beauty."

Source: http://www.nycgovparks.org/sub_ask_commissioner/ask_the_commissioner.html

Anonymous said...

Benepe hasn't worked at all.
Ask the people....
don't quote city agency generated PR puff pieces!

He's just a stooge holding a patronage job.....
warming the bench at the taxpayers' expense.......
and oh what an expense!

Time to fire that S.O.B. !

Now....Queens former commisioner
Richard Murphy.....
there was somebody who really deserved
Adrian's job. (But I guess he wasn't a "team player") .

My gardeners do a better job on my 40' X 100' plot of land.

Benepe has "beautified" NYC......kiss my ass!
He spent the last 28 years beautifying his bankroll!

Anonymous said...

Murphy?!? I knew Murphy - he was the definition of old-boys club patronage!

Anonymous said...

How about that guy Henry Stern? Was he any good as a Parks Commissioner?

Now that he's a columnist for the Tribune he might help to keep FMCP out of the hands of the USTA and also try to get the park fixed up.

(ps I inserted quote about benepe cause I found it laughable. Thought others might too.)

Anonymous said...

For all the money the USTA and Citi Field have brought to the park, the LIRR and subway station are still inaccessible to handicapped sports fans.

Anonymous said...

Yeah.....well Murphy did a great job in Flushing before his work was undone by his successors!

Anonymous said...

Henry Stern was a horse's ass
who was rapidly loosing it.

I think that "Boomer" his wonder dog
writes his column!

Benepe is worse, however!
And..... puh-lease.....also kick out
that utterly incompetent Estelle Cooper.

Surely the patronage mill
can come up with something a triffe better!

Anonymous said...

Well then let's get the dog to save the park by bringing it to FMCP and telling it to sic the all the snooty tennis trespassers.

Anonymous said...

We don't have to bring "Boomer".

Benepe's idiotic policy
to allow dogs roaming loose in the park.....
to harass and maybe even bite little children at play..... takes care of that.

Anonymous said...

excellent point, though I still think we should give Boomer a chance.

Seriously, though, I can not understand why benepe is allowing dogs to roam loose in parks. What next? Will he be introducing wolves into Queens' parks and coyotes?

Anonymous said...

We already have political wolves running loose
in the park.....as for coyotes.....well.... we'll see !