From the Wall Street Journal:
An ambitious Bloomberg administration plan to remake a corner of Queens with two professional-league sports arenas and a roughly 1-million-square-foot mall is meeting with unexpected and growing opposition that could stymie the effort.
Although the projects are separate from each other, they are all in or near Flushing Meadows Corona Park and have roiled groups that accuse the city of eroding green space without considering the impact of an influx of traffic and thousands of new spectators and shoppers.
Importantly, the coalition of about a half-dozen groups has the initial support of the local City Council member—who, in the tradition of the council, has almost unilateral power to hold up necessary approvals.
The challenge could stall the projects, which are among Mayor Michael Bloomberg's signature development plans: an 8,000-seat U.S. Tennis Association stadium, a possible 25,000-seat Major League Soccer stadium—both in the park—and the mall on a gritty swath near Citi Field, across from the park.
More likely, it could force new concessions from developers as the groups push the City Council to look at the fallout of all three projects combined when voting on approvals for them individually.
3 comments:
Talk about reorganizing the deck chairs on the Titanic as it was sinking.
Can EBT cards be used to purchase tickets?
I fear that flushing meadows could end up as a meadowlands, a park filled with arenas and parking lots. But it can be prevented. We prevented a grand pix racetrack and the 2012 Olympics from ruining the park, and we can stop BLoomberg too.
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