The city is considering adding gates to entrances of Flushing Meadows-Corona Park to put the brakes on late-night partying and "reckless" racing after dark, officials said.
Roads through the park stay open overnight because drivers use it as a shortcut to highways, officials said.
But it also gives late-night partiers and "drifters" — drivers who speed their car then let their wheels spin out of control — access to the park, according to police.
While local precincts have boosted enforcement — a recent bust yielded dozens of summonses — the Parks Department, along with the NYPD, said they're now looking at other ways to control the activity.
At a recent Community Board 3 meeting, Deputy Inspector Christopher Manson from the 110th Precinct said the entrances will be closed by July 1. The entrances are near Meadow Lake and Marina West inside the park.
20 comments:
Let's list who use sections of FMCP as a parking lot: customers of the USTA, the Mets, the miniature golf range, employees of NY Hospital Queens, etc. There are too many entrances to the park to gate effectively.
That's a lot of fencing to contain this huge park. It will be impossible to seal it 100% . A waste of money.
They aren't "fencing" it. They are putting gates across the roads to keep cars out.
It sounds like common sense to me and something that should have been done from the get go, other large parks in other cities do the same thing, why not this fucked city.
The cars will just ride up on the grass to get around the gates. A waste of tax dollars. Put it toward park maintenance instead.
Long overdue!
Why is it being done now?
Answer:
When the noise of racing and partying starts to hit Jackson Heights (landmark district) and
the influential northeast section of Queens, things get done!
Otherwise NYC wouldn't have given a measly turd.
Power speaks. Money talks.
Wah, wah, wah! What will the Latinos do now?
No drag racing. No loud music. No cervezas. There goes the summer season.
The gates won't prevent muggings and rapes that often go unreported.
Stay outta da park after dark if you value your safety.
How about staying out of the park after its officially closed?
And about the gating.... At least it's a step in the right direction. This has been going on for at least the five plus years I've lived here.
This is the first summer since that it's actually been fairly quiet on weekend nights from the drag racing. The crack down a couple weeks ago seems to have helped. Let's see how long it lasts.
Well that should last a week or so.
For old timers like me (I'm 67) who remember the once beautiful park during the World's Fair of '64-'65, what has happened there brings me to tears....
OK.. OK.. I know I'm living in the past, but anyone out there of my age group who remembers just how beautiful it was will know what I mean.
I can't bear to go there anymore, seeing what it has been reduced to....
Will the NYS Pavilion ever be rebuilt? - NO
Will the beautiful ornate fountains ever shoot streams of water again? - NO
Will the Unisphere someday become dislodged, and topple over? - YES
Will families ever walk through beautiful lush gardens? - NO
Yes, I remember, dammit, and I'm HEARTBROKEN ! ! ! !
I echo that this should have been done years ago. Get serious and confiscate the cars that are being driven in the park when it is closed. Of course, put up enough fencing so that it's not possible to merely drive around it.
You got a lot of car crazy young Asians there too. No just revved up Latinos. I will give them credit for using their skills to make their automobiles look really nice. Even rehabbing old Toyotas and Hondas, new paint, tinted windows and making them ride lower (lolz) to the street.
I remember the park was still beautiful 10 years ago...then it went to the dogs...or in this case, the gentry
Real nice. Instead of cracking down on a few lawnbreakers, they want to ruin things for everyone?
Who ever proposed this needs to be kicked out of the city for the good of the rest of us, before we all get locked out of our parks.
I have to say I have lived in Queens my whole life and never have felt the need to enter the park in order to access a highway.
Jackson Heights Johnny said...
For old timers like me (I'm 67) who remember the once beautiful park during the World's Fair of '64-'65, what has happened there brings me to tears....
Johnny, you go right on waxing nostalgic! Some of us still love hearing about the way things used to be in Queens. I was born in Astoria in 1968. Lived in Elmhurst and then in Middle Vilage during the 70's and 80's. Though things weren't perfect back then, they were MY glory days of Queens. Even then Queens, for all its troubles, was a much nicer place to live than it is now! If it keeps going the way it is, our fond memories will be the only things about Queens that are worth keeping.
Did you see how they cleaned up Bryant Park? By commercializing it, and having the vendors defend their turf.
And who exactly will be closing and opening gates 24/7/365? A Parks employee? Good luck with finding that cash.
I've only ever had to enter Flushing Meadows during the day, to avoid extreme traffic. You can get from one highway to another if you know the right way to go.
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