Monday, February 11, 2013

They'll take it, because they can

Back at Flushing Meadows again, the 2013 hotbed of activity.

Now we're taking a look at the USTA.

Here's what's there now, courtesy of Save FMCP:


and here's their proposal:

They want to build not one, but two stadiums - demolish and replace the one on the upper right and add one on the bottom left, killing a boatload of trees in the process. All because they claim that they can't be competitive with other countries. There haven't been any advances in the sport that require new facilities. I don't see how this makes them more competitive or why their alleged predicament should be a problem that Queens residents need to help them solve.

The US Open isn't going anywhere. This is just an attempt to get more free land at taxpayer expense.

And shame on you, Andy Hevesi.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

All this for a competition that runs 2 weeks out of the shoe yea....two weeks. This is plain ridiculous. Shame on Hevesi for supporting this criminal act against nature and our park!

Anonymous said...

It appears that the stadiums and proposed stadiums are already within the confines of the USTA facility. Granted it's all public land, but the new stadiums aren't going to change the footprint of the facility..

Anonymous said...

They are building a garage on top of what is now a public parking lot, and they are building a stadium on the bottom left where there is open space accessible to the public. So quite frankly, you don't know what you are talking about.

Queens Crapper said...

They are also taking for private benefit a pubic road within the park.

Anonymous said...

It's not a significant land grab - it's rejigging what they already have. They benefit youngsters to area from the Tri-state. The immediate NYC area kid benefit from their conducting Tennis programs and managing Parks tennis fairly and in a non-profit way - also the group tennis on weekends at the USTA facility indoors is packed with kids - @ cheap cost. Go and see for yourself!

Queens Crapper said...

Someone sounds like they're stuck on stupid. If you're building another stadium and a garage and closing a road, taking open space away and cutting down more than 400 trees, that's a significant land grab.

This is a case where you give someone an inch, and they take a mile. In the 1990s they claimed they wouldn't take any more land. They lied. All we have to do is say no. They'll still have the US Open and still have clinics for kids. We don't need to give them any more.

Anonymous said...

The USTA can expand atop the adjacent IRT Corona Yard or the Parks headquarters across the tracks.

Anonymous said...

Who knew that the spirit of David Dinkins could persist in the surrender of the parkland of Flushing Meadow-Corona Park?

Jerry Rotondi said...

Andrew Hevesi has a father who is a convicted criminal, who was just released from jail.
Naturally he's supporting this theft of public parkland.

That's an easy one.
Does the apple fall far from the tree?

Anonymous said...

Actually, I'd be happy for the USTA to move to Omaha, or Saint Louis, or Kansas. Good riddance. Plenty of space out there at 1/20th the price-- and no unions. Via con Dios.

Anonymous said...

vaya

Anonymous said...

Does this new parking garage mean that the USTA will stop using the rest of the park as parking lot during the Open? I ride my bike through the park several times a week in the summer and I hate having to dodge cars being pulled onto the grass throughout the park. This would never be allowed in Central Park, Prospect Park, etc.

So the only way I could see supporting this is if they agreed to stop parking their cars on parkland during the open.

Queens Crapper said...

Not if they're building another stadium. If it were just a garage without a stadium, then perhaps.