Thursday, October 11, 2012

USTA opposed to soccer stadium


From the NY Times:

...the United States Tennis Association could prove the most intriguing and deep-pocketed opponent of the soccer stadium. Many local residents look with suspicion on the U.S.T.A., as it, too, plans to take another small bite out of Flushing Meadows-Corona Park. It wants to build a new tennis facility and parking garages. (Officials note in their defense that more than half of the fans at the United States Open tournament arrive by mass transit.)

This said, the tennis association often is a reasonable neighbor. When it cut a deal with the Dinkins administration to build a new facility in the early 1990s, it agreed to build dozens of tennis courts and let residents use them most weeks of the year.

The tennis association also pays about $2.5 million a year to the city, although Bloomberg budget officials set aside no specific portion of that tithe for Flushing Meadows.

Tennis officials view a soccer stadium with concern. Unlike Citi Field and the National Tennis Center, a soccer stadium in the middle of the park would sit a substantial distance from subways and trains. And it most likely would require more roads and parking, crossing close to the tennis center.

And soccer officials have spoken of using the stadium for concerts, all of which would make it a cacophonous neighbor for the tennis complex.

“It raises a lot of concerns for us,” said Gordon Smith, executive director of the association. “We ought to be considered in a very different light, because we raise almost none of those complications.”

21 comments:

Anonymous said...

This might be turning out to be quite a dirty little class war.

Consider this.

Tennis is a snootier game...attracting "White folk"
from Westchester and Connecticut, etc.

Are these DAR types afraid to bump into brown skinned, expressive Latinos, attending a soccer match?

Now let's cut to the chase.

C'mon....this is a carefully correographed dance by the USTA to keep all the land for their own future expansions.

Either that or they can't take the competition.

Soccer is a far more exciting game and bigger business than wimpy tennis, in most parts
of the world.

Anonymous said...

USTA is a great organization that holds tennis programs for all ages every weekend which is very afforadable. They promote the game as the voice for Tennis in the USA. They make money and their facilities are wide open to the local public. We are luck that they are here and generate tons of money to the City coffers during the US Open!

Anonymous said...

Now that USTA ass kisser
is definitely one of their employee trolls posting.

You say that the tennis programs are affordable?
What's the AFFORDABLE rate...and to whom?

We always hear "affordable" thrown around when somebody wants to grease through their pet project.

i.e.
"Affordable housing"...promised in most cases...
is often a lie which is discovered too late!

Sell your BS somewhere else.

Anonymous said...

Soccer it to me baby!

Tennis ain't for Corona!

Anonymous said...

There is a lot of dirty politics behind the land-grab soccer stadium in Flushing Meadows Park.

See. Http://baysidehills.info/?q=node//84

Some very interesting eye opening stuff.

I think we all got to be very careful with this one.

Anonymous said...

They're just using tennis to gentrify Corona so the real estate will increase in value...making certain developers wealthier than they already are.

"DRIVE OUT THOSE HISPANICS".
is what they would really say if they were macho enough.

Anonymous said...

A bunch of anti-Latino bigots is what these folks are.

Soccer is our game! Bah, to prissy tennis!

Anonymous said...

LOL...
So, it's "the voice for Tennis in the USA?

It sounds more like the iron will of the USTA
engaged in land theft!

What ever happened to the voice of the people?

"LEAVE THE PARK ALONE"!
"STOP STEALING PUBLIC LAND"!

Now go and tug on your wand...fella.

Jose said...

In the spirit of promoting harmony and brotherhood we'll give you free passes to our soccer games if you do the same for your tennis matches.

Oops...or is mixing the races bad business?

Madre de Dios...
what's milk without a little chocolate syrup stirred in?

DULL!

Anonymous said...

How about offering a compromise solution
boys and girls?

Keep the current Arthur Ashe USTA stadium
and knock down the adjacent older one.

Build the new soccer stadium in its place.

That will never happen!
Those greedy USTA folks want to eat up the park!

Anonymous said...

This is all about greed and racism..and there's
no doubt about it!

However NYC attempts to cloak it...the Asians were introduced (like a species) in Flushing to halt Corona's "brown" population from expanding eastward.

The LPC landmarked Jackson Heights to keep "brown" people from expanding westward.

Now caught in a classic military pincer movement, the "brown" people are being squeezed out from the middle by the USTA "white" folk mentality!

Does it sound too far fetched?

Not to a really observant pair of eyes!
"It's all elementary, my dear Watson"!

Anonymous said...

That certainly sounds like the
Department of City Plotting at work to me!

Anonymous said...

In terms of keeping the Flushing-Corona park the way it is, and giving this new stadium access to mass transit, why not build it north of Citifield?

Anonymous said...

Leave the parkland alone!!!!

Anonymous said...

I second building the soccer stadium in the Citi Field parking lot. Stack it on top of the mall the Wilpons want, and leave ground level open for parking. It would be a multilevel facility, with ramps and escalators wrapping around it.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...
I second building the soccer stadium in the Citi Field parking lot. Stack it on top of the mall the Wilpons want, and leave ground level open for parking. It would be a multilevel facility, with ramps and escalators wrapping around it.
------------------------------------------------------------
Just one troll after another. Some people just don't understand the concepts of overdevelopment and traffic jams!!!

Anonymous said...

I see a lot of open "underutilized" land
in College Point...opposite Target and BJ's.

I wouldn't put it past Bloomberg's boys
to try and steal it!

You say that it's been declared
a protected federal wetlands site?

A wave of the payoff wand
and that designation is magically erased!

Those determined crooks will stop at nothing
to serve themselves!

Anonymous said...

I wonder what CB #7 is plotting regarding all of this.

Will Chuck Apelian get the printing contracts?

Will Gene Kelty get a promotion or an increase
in his FDNY pension?

What free to trip to where will Marilyn Bitterman score?

Anonymous said...

Hey I am no troll for the USTA just a happy parent that my son learned tennis, continues to play tennis at UTSA for little $$. Adults of all stripes can join Sat/Sun groups - it allowed my son to enjoy the game and is off the streets. Otherwise he could never play at private clubs in NYC it too darn phohitively expensive!

Anonymous said...

Stop trying to "backhand" us mamma troll.

There were always tennis facilities provided in public parks where us common folk could play tennis, WITHOUT joining expensive private clubs!

The USTA has been using this same old hand job
sob story BS... about providing an opportunity for the underprivileged...just to grab some more land!

YOU ARE A TROLL and you've just been OUTED!

Anonymous said...

So the USTA throws the poorer classes a bone
(free or cheap tennis lessons, etc.) but steals their birthright...PARKLAND...just to railroad through a stadium that benefits the wealthy!

How patronizing this all is to the residents of Corona!