Uncle Steve is Watching...

 

 NY Post

Here’s one New Yorker who is not jumping on the Mets’ bandwagon.

The team uses facial recognition technology to collect information on unsuspecting Citi Field patrons, claims Chris Dowling in a new class-action lawsuit.

Citi Field cameras “at the main fan entrance” collect “facial identifiers” from patrons as they enter the stadium, and the Mets have third parties processing the data to find people on the team’s “black list,” Dowling alleged in a Brooklyn Federal Court filing.

While the Mets have publicly acknowledged they use facial recognition for security purposes, Dowling claims they use the information gleaned “for value or profit,” which violates the New York City Biometrics Law, the suit says.

Mets fans on Reddit “have detailed the use of facial recognition by Citi Field which has been weaponized against them,” according to the lawsuit.

 “I realized it when they made me take off my hat to walk through the metal detector,” said the poster. “I was confused [because] the detector would pick up anything I am trying to hide in my hat! After the third time, I realized it was because my hat was hiding my face and blocking their scan. I do not like it one bit.”

 The facial recognition tech is a breach of privacy, critics charge, and similar to Madison Square Garden’s controversial facial recognition tech.

The Mets “increase their profit margin when they choose to use facial recognition as opposed to using manual labor to adequately protect its 400,000 square foot premises,” the suit argues.

The Mets allow fans who opt-in to use facial recognition technology to enter the ballpark without paper or digital tickets, a feature the team introduced in 2002 and calls Mets Entry Express.

 “It’s a slippery slope,” Nate Wessler, a facial recognition litigation expert with the American Civil Liberties Union told The Post. “When people buy a ticket to a ball game, they expect to turn over money in exchange for a seat. They don’t expect that they’re also giving the company permission to track them based on the unique features of our faces.”

Senator Ramos kills Cohen's casino

 

 Queens Chronicle

After more than a year of deliberation, state Sen. Jessica Ramos (D-Jackson Heights) on Tuesday announced that she will not be introducing the legislation necessary to make way for Mets owner Steve Cohen to build a casino next to Citi Field. 

Instead, she is introducing her own plan.

“We’re not in a place to host a casino,” Ramos told New York magazine, which first reported the decision Tuesday morning. “The people who are here, they’re hoping to build generational wealth. And I just don’t see how a casino helps us meet that goal. I mean, it’s literally the opposite. It’s the extraction of the very little wealth we have.”

In a statement, she elaborated, “Whether people rallied for or against Metropolitan Park, I heard the same dreams for Corona. We want investment and opportunity, we are desperate for green space, and recreation for the whole family.

“We disagree on the premise that we have to accept a casino in our backyard as the trade-off. I resent the conditions and the generations of neglect that have made many of us so desperate that we would be willing to settle.”

Since the parking lot at the stadium is legally parkland, in order for anything to be built at the site, the state Legislature must pass parkland alienation legislation allowing the spot to be used for that purpose, be it a casino or otherwise. While Assemblyman Jeff Aubry (D-Corona) had introduced that legislation to back a casino as part of Cohen’s Metropolitan Park plan — which would include a casino, a hotel, 25 acres of green space, a concert hall and a Queens food hall — Ramos had not, and said Tuesday she will not do so. Aubry did not immediately respond to the Chronicle’s request for comment on the matter. 

The senator’s alternative plan, parkland alienation legislation that she introduced Tuesday, essentially includes Cohen’s entire proposal, minus the casino. Instead of 25 acres of green space, she’s calling for 50 acres. 

Ramos’ decision follows several town halls on the issue over the last year and a half, some of which she has hosted and others of which Cohen has. The senator also conducted a poll on the project within her district, which found that 75 percent were opposed to a casino; Cohen’s own poll, meanwhile, showed that 62 percent were in favor of one, with 75 percent backing the plan as a whole.

Throughout the process, Cohen and his chief of staff, Michael Sullivan, have been adamant that the project cannot go forward without a casino, saying there would be no year-round economic driver for the complex without it. But Ramos called that idea into question while speaking with reporters via Zoom Tuesday afternoon. 

“Cohen is worth an estimated $18 billion-plus, to my estimation, and so math would dictate that a casino would not be necessary to build out any part of the remaining project,” the senator said. “My hope is that he sees that people are counting on him to do the right thing here. He will remain our neighbor as long as he is the owner of the Mets, and he can gain trust and good public will by being responsive to our neighbors’ desires.”

When the Chronicle asked Aubry about Ramos’ desire for Cohen to foot the bill without a casino, the assemblyman cut in, “Stop. Just stop.”

“She isn’t hoping that they would — she’s only trying to cover up so that no one will blame her that she has denied the kind of real benefits that the community would get if the whole plan is going,” Aubry said. “You don’t take out the money-generating portion of this plan, and then say, ‘Oh, well, do everything else.’”

Meanwhile, Cohen’s camp still thinks a casino is the only way to build anything financially feasible at the site, which the team has under lease for another 81 years. Asked whether Cohen and his team will consider Ramos’ proposal, Karl Rickett, a spokesperson for the project, told the Chronicle, “Year-round entertainment is core to any realistic vision for this area, and casino gaming is that economic engine. So it’s an absolutely critical part of this process.”

As such, per Rickett’s statement, Cohen and his team “remain committed” to making Metropolitan Park a reality, and to getting the parkland alienation and one of three downstate casino licenses the state Gaming Commission will award in 2025.

Next Stop Cohenville

 

THE CITY

Mets owner Steve Cohen on Tuesday released more details about his plan to build a casino on the city-owned parking lot surrounding Citi Field, although he still needs the state legislature to approve so-called park land alienation to start any construction.

New Green Willets LLC, Cohen’s lobbying firm, has officially unveiled “Metropolitan Park,” an $8 billion vision for the 50 acres of parking lots surrounding Citi Field. The designs were influenced by months of community meetings, the group wrote in the release. They are partnering with Hard Rock International, owner of restaurants and casinos around the world, as well as the SHoP Architects and Field Operations for landscape design. 

The developers want to build a hotel with restaurants and bars, add a live music venue, and also note they plan to build a casino – “subject to Gaming Commission license.” 

The site will also still include 20 acres of public park land.

Cohen is set to submit a formal public notice for a scoping hearing, reviewing environmental and economic impact, for the casino plans on Wednesday, a spokesperson for the team owner confirmed to THE CITY. 

The blueprint comes after months of public “visioning sessions” and the statement from Cohen and crew included support from community leaders, who touted economic opportunities. 

“We have the opportunity to turn the 50 acres of asphalt around Citi Field, right across the creek from downtown Flushing, into things we need,” Peter Tu, a senior advisor to the Flushing Chinese Business Association, said in the release. 

State officials could dole out up to three new licenses for casinos in the southern parts of New York, which includes New York City, Long Island and Westchester County.

Other organizations and companies vying for the license include Genting Group’s Resorts World in Ozone Park, Queens, and a proposal from SL Green Realty Corp. to build a casino in Times Square — backed hip-hop luminaries like Jay-Z and Fat Joe. Vornado recently backed out of its plans to build a casino near Penn Station.

Cohen’s casino dreams in Flushing still need state authorization to hand over the land since it’s technically a park. Assemblymember Jeff Aubry (D-Queens) has introduced a related bill, specifically naming Cohen’s New Green Willets lobbying group. 

But that bill requires matching legislation from the area’s representative in the State Senate, Democrat Jessica Ramos — who has said she needs to hear more from the community before introducing anything. 

The stall in Albany hasn’t stopped the Mets from moving forward with development plans.

 

Greenwashing sabotage at Citifield "visioning" event

 

NY Post 

Mets owner Steve Cohen solicited input from Queens residents Saturday on how best to develop the area around Citi Field – all while preparing to potentially roll the dice on bringing a casino to the property.

The billionaire hedge funder and his team met with more than 500 neighborhood residents at the ballpark and talked about how to turn the adjacent, long dormant Willets Point area into a year-round, all-weather entertainment destination.

Cohen said he’s “looking for great ideas” but openly added “a casino is definitely an option” — despite some in attendance expressing staunch opposition to gambling on the site.

“We don’t expect everyone to support all our ideas, but that’s what this discussion is about,” added Cohen, who’s seriously considering bidding for one of three downstate casino licenses up for grabs.

Cohen wasn't just being coy, there was a lot of chicanery afoot according to this eyewitness who contacted me and it sure looks like the omniscience of Transportation Alternatives was present at this: 

Crappy,

I went to the Steve Cohen event yesterday. It wasn’t a “presentation” in the traditional sense. It was a walk along a line of easels set up with different elements of the property’s history and possible future uses.  At each station, an employee solicited attendees’ thoughts on that station’s offering.  There were a LOT of people working there.  A sign on the front door advised visitors that by entering, they were consenting to being photographed. It was from a company called “Out of Lemons LLC.” (?) 

The employees and the various easels scrupulously avoided any mention of a “casino.” In fact, they skillfully avoided presenting anything resembling Cohen’s own vision for the site.  However, as with most push polls, they did suggest vague, generic uses for the site; usually in very innocuous terms:  “more green space,” “walkability,” “enhanced access to the waterfront,” “live music,” “entertainment”… and so on. Things that are hard to argue against.  Again, no mention of a casino.

At one station, they asked how we arrived that day at the ballpark.  We were invited to provide answers by putting sticky dots on a board. That dot process was repeated at every station. Here, something wasn’t right.  We were there at the front door before the event started.  In fact, we wheedled our way inside the front door while waiting to be allowed upstairs.  Almost everyone allowed in during the first wave were media or PR people (they wore badges, carried video equipment, and/or Cohen’s media desk seemed to know almost everyone coming in). When we were allowed up, we were among the first civilians to go in. Back to the sticky dots.  There appeared to be a lot more answer-dots on the boards than there were visitors at that point.  Dozens of people said they used mass transit to get there, almost no one used a car.  But there were more dots than people.  And the designated parking area had lots of cars in it. This looked suspicious.  That was repeated at another station in which more people than possible said they wanted “walkability” (whatever that means).  There were more examples of this, but these jumped out at me.

It appears to me that the use of broad suggested “uses” for the parking lot was their way of framing the discussion.  That’s why I use the term push poll. The consultants running this can say that almost everyone wants the parking lot to change into something else.  Of course.  If you ask someone to choose among a dozen topics (“none of the above” not being an option), they’re going to pick one or more. That doesn’t mean there’s a grass roots movement demanding Steve Cohen be allowed to use parkland for commercial purposes.  The common term for faux grassroots like this is “astroturfing.”  I assume the next step is for “Queens Future” (a creature of lobbyists “New Green Willets”) to seek legislation allowing privatization of the parkland.

 Here’s what wasn’t included at the stations, or in the choices:

•  Any mention of a casino (but yes to bars, restaurants, music venue, and “entertainment”)

•   Any reference to traffic or congestion (between the stadium, the new soccer stadium, the huge residential & commercial development in the Iron Triangle, and a casino, there’s going to be a huge increase in traffic on already overcrowded roads)

•   Any mention of what’s going to happen to the parking lot – where are all the cars going to park? (I asked one of the employees… he guessed that there would be a parking structure of some kind. It would have to be enormous, and would be a nightmare trying to leave)

• Whether Steve Cohen should have any right to develop this parks department land. The courts have already ruled that the lot may be leased but the lessee can’t build on it.

• No option to leave well enough alone – it’s a parking lot, which is a necessity, and it does its job well.

• No access to any knowledgeable sources to ask any questions or express concerns. (Broadcast news says Cohen met with 500 people – I didn’t see him, and I heard his employees say they didn’t even know if he was in the building).

In short, this wasn’t as heavy handed as I feared it might be.  But it was unmistakably manipulative.  I don’t like being “played.” 

{Unrelated carping: I wish they’d stop calling the neighborhood “Willets Point.” It’s not.  Willets Point Blvd was a subway station name, based on an unfinished road that ran from 126th St. & Roosevelt Ave to (theoretically) Fort Totten (which is actually Willets Point).  Ask Kevin Walsh    https://forgotten-ny.com/2020/08/where-is-willets-point/ }

Civics revolt against Steve Cohen's greenwashing casino scheme

 

QNS

 Civic leaders from northeast and central Queens have organized to oppose Mets owner Steve Cohen’s plan to build a casino or other commercial structures on 50 acres of public parkland surrounding Citi Field. Their opposition comes days before Cohen holds a “visioning session,” which is expected to draw hundreds to Citi Field on Jan. 7, just as the state’s Gaming Facilities Location Board announced they would begin accepting applications for three downstate casino licenses.

The civics have been coalescing against Cohen’s future plans since he made no mention of a casino and instead referred to an “entertainment” venue on “50 acres of vacant asphalt,” in a Dec. 19 press release announcing the visioning session.

“We believe that Steve Cohen is trying to create a perception of public support for a vague concept of an ‘entertainment venue’ — but that he may later misrepresent that as support for a casino to be built on the parkland,” Bayside community activist Jena Lanzetta said. “He’s soliciting public opinion, without disclosing that his plans impact public parkland, or that his true ambition is a casino. We will expose such deceptions every step of the way.”

Willets Point eyed for casino...again

Well, well, well. For years, we've been covering "rumors" that the Willets Point boondoggle will result in a casino.

Now, according to today's NY Post, it's no longer a rumor.

Three large casino companies are jockeying over a rare opportunity to bring a piece of the Las Vegas Strip to the Big Apple, The Post has learned.

Wynn Resorts, Bally’s Corp. and Las Vegas Sands are all quietly positioning themselves to compete for a New York City-area casino license in anticipation of Albany putting out a request for proposals as soon as next month, sources told The Post.

Efforts have included talking to potential developer partners and wooing local politicians for support, sources said.

Locations being scouted include Willets Point in Queens, where new Mets owner Steve Cohen leases the Citi Field ballpark and adjoining parking lots; the Belmont Park development in Long Island, which is already home to the Belmont Park racetrack and the Islanders stadium; and Staten Island’s St. George neighborhood — home to both the Staten Island Ferry and the New York Wheel, a proposed 630-foot Ferris wheel to be located next to the Empire Outlets retail complex.

So which pols have been lobbied?

Citifield vac site infrastructure is a joke

 

Queens Eagle

Azaz Ahsan and his dad got to Citi Field at 10 p.m. Wednesday for their scheduled COVID vaccine appointment an hour later. By the time they left, it was nearly 3 a.m. Thursday.

After a three-hour wait in the cold, Ahsan, 28, said he and his 65-year-old father entered the warm stadium just before 1 a.m. About 150 people were waiting on line in front of them, while hundreds more queued up in the cold outside the stadium gates, he said.

“Not opening up more of the stadium so the line can be inside is a disgrace,” Azaz said around midnight. 

Joanne Kostopoulos, a 48-year-old teacher from Oakland Gardens, said she decided to leave after waiting close to two hours past her scheduled 9:45 p.m. appointment. She had to be up in the morning to teach class and was told the wait would take at least two more hours, she said.

“[I] decided to leave because I wasn’t prepared to stand in the cold,” Kostopoulos said. “When I found out that I had to wait for one or two more hours before I made it inside I knew I had to leave because between work in the morning and the cold it just wouldn’t be feasible.”

Hundreds of Queens residents spent hours Wednesday night and well into Thursday morning waiting for their scheduled appointments at the 24-hour Citi Field vaccine site. Similar lines formed at another vaccine hub in the Bathgate section of the Bronx.

Once inside, the Citi Field vaccine recipients encountered an understaffed clinic with too few medical workers administering shots, six people told the Eagle. Several others posted photos and accounts on Twitter and Facebook. 

Ahsan said that of the 50 vaccine desks inside, “maybe 15 had nurses at them.” Vaccine recipients also had to fill out the same form twice even if they pre-registered online, he said.

Kambri Crews, who owns Q.E.D. in Astoria, said she waited from about 7:20 p.m. until receiving her shot at midnight. She had an appointment for 8 p.m.

“The nurse who gave me my shot said they didn’t have enough nurses,” she said. “The doctor across from her said he had been there since 7:30 a.m.”

Steven Baker, a 32-year-old human resources professional, shared photos from inside the Citi Field clinic.

“Empty registration and vaccine administration pods,” Baker said. “They're not fully staffed up.”

 Ahsan, Baker, Crews and others interviewed by the Eagle said staff were professional and as helpful as possible, but under strain from the volume of patients. 

They said workers from the city’s Health and Hospitals Corporation told them the delays were due to a surge in rescheduled appointments without the necessary staff increase. Baker said his appointment was postponed due to a supply shortage last week and rescheduled for Wednesday. 

 

de Blasio holds self-promotion opening at Citifield site and runs out of vaccines, leaving elderly people hanging.

 NY Post

 Citi Field finally opened as a COVID-19 vaccination site on Wednesday but demand far outstripped the meager supply — with dozens of desperate elderly locals showing up with no appointment, only to go home disappointed

“I’ve been waiting here for over two hours in the cold. I have been trying to get an appointment for four weeks, but can’t and nobody here is helping us,” said Maria Fernandez, 77, outside of the home turf of the Mets.

“There are so many reporters, photographers here, but there are no vaccines,” she said. “What are we supposed to do?”

The stadium officially opened for coronavirus vaccinations at 10 a.m. Wednesday following weeks of delays due to a shortage of the coveted shots. The site is supposed to serve borough residents as well as taxi drivers and restaurant workers.

But officials this week admitted that it would only have around 800 shots for the rest of the week. During a visit Wednesday, Mayor Bill de Blasio promised that would be upped to 4,000 doses a week by next week.

 He also vowed that anyone who shows up without an appointment will be given help to make one for a future date.

“There’s no such thing as walk-up and get a vaccination anywhere,” Hizzoner said. “We do not want long lines. We do not want people congregating anywhere.”

However, following the press conference, Annabel Palma, the chief equity officer for the city’s COVID-19 Test and Trace Corps, was seen telling a group of about eight people hoping to get inoculated that future appointments could not be made for them at the moment.

“We can’t register you because there aren’t vaccines,” Palma told the group in Spanish. “We aren’t going to give you an appointment if we don’t know for sure.”

Longtime Queens resident Felix Hojas, 69, then interjected that “the mayor is a liar or you are betraying us again.”

“Nobody is betraying you. Nobody is betraying the community,” Palma said before leaving.

 These poor people should be thrilled to know that Bill's tax boondoggle wife got inoculated the day before.

COVID vaccine stadium sites strike out

 NY Post

 Plans to convert Yankee Stadium and Citi Field into large-scale coronavirus vaccination sites have officially been postponed indefinitely — while 15 existing city inoculation hubs will remain closed as New York continues to struggle with a supply shortage, officials said Monday.

The setbacks are the latest blows to New York’s problem-plagued vaccine rollout, most recently hampered by a lagging supply of shots from the federal government and manufacturer Moderna — forcing the city to reschedule tens of thousands of appointments when it became clear there weren’t enough jabs on hand.

“We want to get those to be full-blown, 24-hour operations but we don’t have the vaccine,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said of Yankee Stadium and Citi Field during a Monday press briefing.

Hizzoner did not establish a new opening date for the venues, instead saying it was tied to when the city receives ample vaccine supplies to support the operations.

Vaccination site coming to Citifield; also, Mets acquire superstar shortstop Francisco Lindor from Cleveland Baseball Team

 

 QNS

Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Citi Field will become a 24/7 mega COVID-19 vaccination site during his daily press conference on Tuesday, Jan. 12.

The site will be run inside the stadium, located at 41 Seaver Way, by NYC Health + Hospitals, and will have a capacity to administer 5,000 to 7,000 vaccines a day. It will open in the week of Jan. 25, according to the mayor.

“This is going to be fantastic. This is going to help so many people get vaccinated,” de Blasio said, praising the Mets for stepping up and helping the people of Queens and New York City as a whole. “We welcome Queens residents. We welcome all New Yorkers. We even welcome Yankees fans. There is no discrimination.”

De Blasio said there is still work to do, but it will be a “game-changer.”

New Mets owner Steve Cohen joined de Blasio for Tuesday’s announcement.

“When we heard about your initiative, we were just so excited to participate in this program,” Cohen said. “It’s so important. We know the suffering that’s going on with COVID. Anyway the organization could help support this effort, we were going to do it. We talked about being involved in our communities and I can’t think of any way that’s more important than what this hub is going to do.

Cohen described Citi Field as the “intersection of Queens,” that can be reached by subways, trains and highways.

“The goal is to just get the vaccine in people’s arms so we can get this crisis over with and get back to living a normal life,” Cohen added.

NY Post

The new Mets regime isn’t messing around.

After weeks of feeding the fan base appetizers, the organization served a main course Thursday, completing one of the splashiest trades in franchise history.

The result was Francisco Lindor and Carlos Carrasco headed to Queens in a blockbuster deal that sent Amed Rosario, Andres Gimenez, Isaiah Greene and Josh Wolf to Cleveland. The trade — the first “wow” moment of new owner Steve Cohen’s tenure — bolsters the Mets’ lineup and rotation, turning the team into an instant NL East contender.

The 27-year-old Lindor, who can become a free agent after this season, rates among the game’s premier shortstops. The Indians have been shopping Lindor the last two winters in an attempt to shed payroll. He is expected to receive around $20 million this season in his final year of arbitration eligibility.

 

Willets Point United: DOT Gives Mets Brand New Roadbed, “Stolen” from Willets Point

Willets Point United

On Thursday, June 27, 2019, the New York Mets will hold a ceremony to rename a portion of 126th Street “Seaver Way” – aided and abetted by the New York City Department of Transportation (DOT).

It’s no coincidence that DOT very recently repaved the seven-block stretch of 126th Street to be renamed “Seaver Way.” And DOT repaved it, even though the condition of that street beforehand did not require resurfacing.

 

 

Could it be any more obvious, that DOT repaved that street to beautify it for the photo op during the Mets’ street renaming ceremony? That's an unjustifiable expenditure of taxpayer funds

 

But for Willets Point, the biggest insult is that DOT needlessly repaved 126th Street, while not repairing the nearby, severely dilapidated streets in Willets Point, which property and business owners have pleaded with the City for decades to fix.

 

If these street conditions existed in any other neighborhood of the City, they would be deemed an emergency and repaired right away on that basis.

 

 

 

 

It's like this city is showing contempt for these businesses and telling them to get out right to their faces. This is no different than what a slumlord does to rent-stabilized tenants.

Francisco Moya, who represents this district, is not helping these businesses and doesn't seem to want to.

“Tom Seaver may not have laid the bricks of Citi Field, but he helped set the foundation this franchise is celebrated for,” said Councilman Francisco Moya, who sponsored the street-renaming legislation.

“Whether you were fortunate enough to watch Tom Seaver lead the Amazin’s to a World Series championship in 1969, or you grew up in the glow of that greatness, Queens residents have always known their ballpark was built on his right arm.”

 

Hey, Frankie, how about naming this neglected road after Pat Zachary? One of the guys the Mets traded for back in '77.

 

AG Schneiderman lobbied on mall in park; submits court brief in favor

Dear Editor (Queens Chronicle):

(An open letter to state Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman)

For many years I and many other residents of Queens have fought to protect the integrity of Flushing Meadows Corona Park as an urban park. We successfully defeated an attempt to construct around Meadow Lake in the park a Grand Prix racetrack. We were not successful in opposing the usurpation of parkland for the USTA stadiums and their expansions. We made it clear we would oppose any attempt to place in the park a soccer or hockey stadium.

There is currently pending before the New York State Court of Appeals, our highest state court, litigation that seeks to prevent the construction of a 1.4 million-square-foot shopping mall on the parking lot adjacent to the Citi Field stadium, on the grounds the lot is on land that is part of FMCP and there can be no alienation of parkland without New York State legislative approval and the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure before the community boards whose areas touch upon the park. The developers claim that with regard to use of the Citi Field parking lot they have no obligation to seek legislative approval nor any requirement to engage in the ULURP process. While we lost our case in the lower court, our attorney, John Low-Beer, was successful before the Appellate Division First Department in having the lower court reversed and construction of the mall prohibited. The developers then appealed to the Court of Appeals.

We recently became apprised of the fact that you as attorney general of New York State have injected yourself into the litigation and are submitting an amicus curiae brief in support of the developers and their projected mega mall. We find your 11th-hour entry into this litigation indeed strange, given that at no time while the issue was being debated before the public was there any participation by you or your office. As the attorney general we expect you to be the defender of the public trust doctrine as it relates to parkland. We are certain you are familiar that in the past the AG office has invoked the public trust doctrine in the cases of Friends of Van Cortlandt Park v. City of New York and Capruso v. Village of Kings Point. We fail to understand how you differentiate a mega mall on parkland from the cited cases.

We do not know if your initiative was prompted by yourself or as the result of lobbying from the developers or at the behest of Gov. Cuomo, who in the past has sought to settle the pending litigation and permit a mall. In this connection, we think it relevant and important to take note of the fact that, according to the Board of Elections’ website, Sterling Equities, Sterling Mets LP, Related Companies, Stephen M. Ross, Kara Ross, Jeff T. Blau and Lisa Blau — all related in various ways with the developers of the mall project — have contributed to election campaigns of both you and Cuomo a total of $187,300 since 2010. That is a large amount, which raises serious questions regarding the obligation of both you and the governor to protect the interests of your constituents and not that of billionaire real estate moguls.

Benjamin M. Haber
Flushing

Yet another stadium planned for Queens

From Bloomberg:

The New York Islanders are in talks with the owners of baseball’s New York Mets about building a hockey arena adjacent to Citi Field in Queens, people with knowledge of the discussions said.

Willets Point is emerging as a persuasive alternative to the team’s current home at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center if the Islanders’s owners and arena officials can’t agree on a series of hockey-specific improvements, said the people, who asked for anonymity because the negotiations are private.

The team’s first season at Barclays Center, which is owned by Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov, was marred by poor reviews from fans, who complained about obstructed view seats, and from players, who who said the quality of the ice was sub-par. The team’s owners also realized they couldn’t make as much money as their league counterparts, most of which play in bigger arenas.

The Islanders, who are owned by Value Retail Plc founder Scott Malkin and Jonathan Ledecky, and Sterling Equities, which owns the Mets, have been discussing a possible move to Queens for months, said the people.

What about those ramps? Affordable housing? Hmmm...

Time to investigate FMCP shenanigans

From the Queens Chronicle:

Re “Pol: FMCP belongs to public, not politics,” July 7, multiple editions:

Parks are the lifeblood of congested urban societies. While Flushing Meadows Corona Park is the second-most used park in New York City, mostly by the underprivileged, it is also the most abused, pockmarked with all sorts of structures alien to legitimate public park use, that would never be permitted in Central Park or indeed in any other municipal park. Terrace on the Park; the Mets’ stadium and its parking lot; the USTA and its newly added, ugly dome; a previous attempt to construct a Grand Prix race track around Meadow Lake; an attempt to construct a soccer stadium; and a current attempt to build a huge mega shopping mall on the Citi Field parking lot, which is parkland.

The culprits responsible for the above are former mayors, possibly current Mayor De Blasio, former borough presidents and most of all the vast majority of City Council members, all of whom have operated as if their constituents are the real estate moguls and not the little people. An example is the attempt for a 1.4 million-square-foot shopping mall on the Citi Field parking lot, which included a raid on the city treasury and for all practical purposes the demise of the 2008 approved Willets Point redevelopment plan. The Council and its prime mover, Julissa Ferreras-Copeland, negotiated and supported a plan that gave the developers property acquired by the city, for tens of millions of dollars, for $1; plus subsidies and tax abatements. To nail the coffin shut, the developers were given the right to walk away from any obligation to construct affordable housing by forfeiting $35 million, an amount that to them is akin to the tip one gives the youngster who delivers groceries. Walk away they will.

At long last there is a breath of fresh air in City Councilman Rory Lancman, who has sued the city and the Alliance for Flushing Meadows Corona Park, which he claims was formed to funnel money from for-profit entities in exchange for the use of park resources.

The time is long overdue for a full investigation into how and why FMCP has become the dumping ground for all sorts of illegitimate public park use. I am sure the public supports and thanks Lancman to let right be done.

Benjamin M. Haber
Flushing

Too much activity in the park?

From the Daily News:

One Queens lawmaker said Wednesday the promoters of the recently announced Kanye West headlining concert at Citi Field need to examine the traffic, safety and economic impact of the show if they want support from the surrounding community.

Founders Entertainment, the organizers of the Governor's Ball, on Tuesday said the first-ever Meadows Music and Arts Festival will take place in the Citi Field parking lot on Oct. 1 and 2.

City Councilwoman Julissa Ferreras, whose district includes Flushing Meadows Corona Park, said Wednesday she is worried about conflicts with the busy Makers Faire taking place the same weekend at the New York Hall of Science across the park.

But Ferreras stopped short of calling for Meadows to be canceled or rescheduled.

“I believe in bringing cultural events that can spur economic growth to benefit our community,” said Ferreras, the chair of the Council’s Finance Committee. “There are serious concerns about the impact of a music festival on our community, including how this would impact Makers Faire, an existing and popular event in the same park on the same day.”

Founders officials, who have met with Ferreras, said they are not making any parking available to attendees of the Meadows in order to accommodate other events.

FMCP the victim of piss poor event planning

From the Daily News:

Organizers of the Governors Ball are planning a two-day concert outside Citi Field in October, the Daily News has learned.

But the inaugural Meadows Music Festival could cause major headaches in Flushing Meadows Corona Park with the popular World Maker Faire taking place nearby at the New York Hall of Science at the same time.

Both events are scheduled for the weekend of Oct. 1-2. The festival, which would feature an eclectic mix of music and food, would take place in the parking lot of Citi Field.

The annual Maker Faire, which drew more than 85,000 people two years ago, takes place in the Hall of Science parking lot. But drivers are usually shuttled over from the Citi Field lot.

Trib visits NYPD Mounted Unit

From the Queens Tribune:

The NYPD Mounted Unit, or police officers who ride on horses, could be called the NYPD’s secret weapon. As is the case with the canine unit, the animals enhance the officer’s ability to do their job. They help them see further down the block. (The officers call themselves “the ten-foot-cops.”) They prevent them from getting snuck up on. They allow them to get a job done faster.

But ‘weapon’ wouldn’t really be the right word. Because the peaceful giants that the officers ride inspire the opposite reaction from a “weapon.” Mostly, the faces of children and adults alike light up with wonder and excitement when they see the mounted unit clomping down their street. And that ability is more potent and beneficial than the horses’ keen senses and size could ever be. So call them the department’s secret “strategy.”

Citywide, there are about 50 officers that are part of the mounted unit. Eight of those officers belong to Troop F, based in Cunningham Park. Depending on where they’re needed, these officers will patrol Forest Park, Steinway Street in Astoria and Citifield, as well as in the Bronx, Manhattan and Coney Island.

Katz concerned about Coachella

Photo montage by George the Atheist

From the Daily News:

The company behind the Coachella music fest has mounted a huge charm offensive, lobbying city officials for more than a year in the hope of throwing a similar concert in a Queens park.

AEG Live paid $150,000 to a lobbying firm over the past year just to be introduced to city officials.

The entertainment juggernaut plans to meet with Queens Borough President Melinda Katz later this week, after the Daily News reported on the possibility of a Coachella-sized gathering in Flushing-Meadows Corona Park next June.

“My biggest concern is there is no public process here,” Katz told The News Wednesday.

The fest, tentatively called Panorama, would fall two weeks after the Governors Ball and during a weekend when the Mets are playing at Citifield.

Telling it like it is on Willets Point

Letter to the Editor of the Queens Chronicle:

An apathetic public is a hack politician’s best friend. That cannot be said of a group of concerned citizens who took on former Mayor Bloomberg, the City Council, the City Planning Commission, former Queens Borough President Helen Marshall, the Wilpons of the Mets ballclub and their affiliates Sterling Equities and Related Companies, who are for all practical purposes a cabal trying to usurp a large portion of Flushing Meadows Corona parkland that houses a parking field so private developers can construct a 1.4 million-square-foot shopping mall. The Appellate Division: First Department of the Supreme Court of the State of New York, in a unanimous decision, hit a home run in holding the proposed development was not sanctioned by law.

In heralding the court’s decision, the Queens Chronicle’s July 9 editorial, “A major victory, just outside Citi Field,” pointed out the developers’ claim that the 1961 law that allowed the construction of Shea Stadium also authorized the mega-mall was nonsense, as indeed it was.

Equally nonsensical were the claims by the developers that they could not proceed with the 2008 Willets Point plan without the mega-mall to generate the necessary money. The developers are billionaires, and the claim they needed a mall to make money is the height of absurdity. While accepting the 2008 plan, it is evident they never had any intention to pursue it, but only to use it as a wedge for other purposes.

Not only did Bloomberg, the City Council, the City Planning Commission and Marshall approve this charade, but they rewarded the developers with the property for $1, millions in taxpayer subsidies and the right to forfeit $34 million and walk away from any obligation to construct affordable housing, which was the lynchpin in the 2008 plan to begin with. $34 million dollars for these billionaire developers is tantamount to the tip one gives the youngster who delivers your groceries. Make no mistake once they had a mega mall, they would walk. Equally outrageous was Bloomberg’s saying Willets Point was a blight and had to go, when it was the city that caused the blight, collecting sewer rent when there were no sewers and letting the infrastructure fail.

These officials’ complicity in this sordid municipal episode would cause the infamous Boss Tweed to tip his hat in admiration. Mayor de Blasio has remained silent on the subject. There now exists a good opportunity for him to demonstrate to the public whether there be any real difference between himself and Bloomberg.

Benjamin M. Haber
Flushing

Appeals court rules that mall on FMCP parkland violates law

(QUEENS, NY) Today, State Senator Tony Avella, along with the City Club of New York, Queens Civic Congress, members of Willets Point United Inc., and nearby residents/business owners opposed to the “Willets West” mega-mall proposal, announced that the Appellate Division of the First Department issued a historic decision in their favor which will keep parkland public.

The lawsuit filed by State Senator Tony Avella, City Club of New York, Queens Civic Congress, members of Willets Point United Inc., and nearby residents/business owners against the “Willets West” mega-mall proposal, challenged the give-away of 47 acres of Queens parkland worth an estimated $ 1 Billion to build the "Willets West" mega-mall adjacent to CitiField.

The suit sought a declaratory judgment to invalidate approvals already granted to the project, as well as a permanent injunction to prevent the construction of a megamall on City parkland without the proper State legislative authorization or proper zoning. The Supreme Court of New York had ruled against Senator Avella and Petitioners, and the group appealed last August.

Today, Senator Avella, along with appellants, declared that the appellate court had announced its ruling in favor of Petitioners. In a unanimous decision, the appellate court granted injunctive relief and declared that the development can go no further without state legislative approval.

“Today’s decision sends a message loud and clear – our parks are not for sale. The fact of the matter is, this land was intended to be parkland, not the development of a shopping mall. In a city where public land is in short supply, simply handing parkland over is a betrayal of the public trust. The court has affirmed what we have been fighting for all along, and I am thrilled to see this decision come down on the side of justice,” said Senator Tony Avella.

“I am very pleased that the Appellate Division, in blocking the development of a shopping mall on parkland next to Citifield, has upheld the ancient common law doctrine that requires any government agency to obtain the approval of the State Legislature before disposing of parkland. This extra layer of protection for parkland has evolved in recognition of the fact that parkland is a scarce and precious resource. It makes it a little bit more difficult for our government to give such land away. It makes sure that we think twice before doing so, no matter how worthy or expedient the proposed project may be,” said John Low-Beer, Attorney for the Petitioners.

“We’d like to thank Senator Avella for being part of this important suit. This decision confirms first that our parks are for our people, and second that city government must comply with the law, just like the rest of us. There are many people who have contributed enormously to this effort. The City Club of New York is delighted to have been instrumental in launching this case, together with Senator Avella, Save Flushing Meadows Corona Park, Queens Civic Congress, Willets Point United, and many other civic organizations and local residents, and in particular, the wonderful group of Plaintiffs” said Michael Gruen of the City Club of New York.

“Since 2007, we have battled the City at all times over its plans for Willets Point, which expanded in 2012 against the community’s wishes to include the gigantic proposed ‘Willets West’ mall on public parkland,” “Today the Appellate Division agrees with what we’ve said all along: The City and developers failed to follow lawful procedure and now as a result their whole project cannot proceed. If Queens residents knew as much as we do about the horrendous traffic gridlock and other negative impacts of this Willets West/Willets Point Phase One project, they would be celebrating this court victory together with us. Today’s court decision absolutely vindicates all of our efforts and strengthens our resolve to continue challenging and opposing bad development propositions for our area. We’re especially thankful to Senator Avella, who has always done right by his constituents, City Club of New York which spearheaded the lawsuit, and stellar attorney John Low-Beer,” said Gerald Antonacci, leader of Willets Point United.

"We are very pleased with the decision case. It is disgraceful that these developers are attempting to seize 48 acres of public parkland and the Mayor and City Council supported it,” said Geoffrey Croft, President of NYC Park Advocates, Plaintiff.

“The Queens Civic Congress is thrilled that justice has finally been served and Flushing Meadows Corona park will remain available for use by the people of Queens. QCC, as a party to this action is deeply indebted to Senator TonyAvella, our fellow parks advocates and especially to the City Club and its attorneys for their diligent hard work in making this happen,” said Richard Hellenbrecht, Vice President of Queens Civic Congress.

“The entire premise of this parkland having to be developed in order for the rest of the Willets Point development to be completed was proven wrong in this decision. This shows that the taking of public land cannot be used for private gain,” Paul Graziano, Plaintiff and Urban Planner.