Pheonix V. Casino Citifield parkland dispute

 

 Queens Eagle

Climate and community advocates over the weekend unveiled a plan to bring a park to the city-owned land currently being used as Citi Field’s parking lot. The plan was pitched as an alternative to Mets owner Steve Cohen’s proposal to bring a casino and entertainment complex to the lot the city has designated as parkland but has never been used as such.

Despite the difference in resources behind the plan – Cohen’s net worth is estimated to be a little less than $20 billion – the park plan dubbed Phoenix Meadows has caught the eye of State Senator Jessica Ramos, who has the ability to make or break any proposal made for the land.

The park plan was unveiled at a rally and march through Downtown Flushing on Saturday by a coalition of local groups opposed to Cohen’s Metropolitan Park. Phoenix Meadows was designed by a coalition of advocates aligned under the group FED UP – or Flushing for Equitable Development and Urban Planning.

The group opposes the unrelated proposed developments at Citi Field and Willets Point, and want to see the land instead used as public park space.

Under the proposal, which is still in its earliest stages, Phoenix Meadows would bring 65 acres of parkland to the lot, with a large sloped park that allows for a parking structure to remain for Mets fans and other Citi Field-goers.

“The idea is that you build parking garages, two to three stories, with the exact same amount of parking that is right now, no net loss, no net gain of parking, same traffic flow, and you build a huge park on top of that parking, you hide the parking with the park,” said Rebecca Pryor, the executive director of the Guardians of Flushing Bay.

While Pryor and others behind the Phoenix Meadows plan touted its environmental impacts – they claim the slanted nature of the park would allow for the control of rainwater in the area that often floods – they also bashed what they said would be negative environmental impacts brought on by Cohen’s casino plan.

“It doubles the number of parking spaces in an area that has some of the highest levels of air toxicity from traffic in the nation,” said Pryor. “It has no plan for flooding protection in an area that frequently floods.”

Cohen has yet to release many details about the proposal, including potential flood protection.

Advocates on Saturday also argued that while the Metropolitan Park plan would serve wealthy visitors, potentially coming at cost for locals, the Phoenix Meadows plan would prioritize those already living in the surrounding neighborhoods of Flushing, Corona and Elmhurst.

In a statement to the Eagle, a spokesperson for Metropolitan Park defended the casino plan, which they said was created after collecting input from locals during several “visioning sessions” they held in 2023.

“This visionary plan is the result of more than a dozen community workshops and hundreds of conversations with local leaders and neighbors,” said spokesperson John Collins. “We believe Metropolitan Park is exactly the kind of revolutionary proposal that community leaders can support.”

Cohen and his partners, Hard Rock, also believe that their plan – which is privately financed – hits on many of the attractions Phoenix Meadows offers, like investments into climate mitigation infrastructure, park space and food vendors.

“We are proud of the vision for Metropolitan Park, a community-led plan that will invest $8 billion to create 25 acres of new public-park space and athletic fields, deliver 15,000 good-paying jobs and careers, modernize the Mets-Willets Point 7 train station, build a Taste of Queens Food Hall and establish workforce training and community development programs.” said Collins.

Despite the land’s designation as parkland, the Phoenix Meadows plan remains a longshot.

There’s currently no money behind the plan – Pryor said that she believes the project could be funded through the state and federal government using funds dedicated to combating climate change. 

You know what's delish about the Phoenix proposal? Transportation Alternatives Lobbyist and Pathological Liar Jim Burke has been pushing Cohen's Metropolitan Park all over social media and this environmentalist group is not only disrupting the Mets owner's plans for a casino but is showing what a brazen hypocrite Burke and Transalt are for supporting a plan that will involve more parking and traffic to the so-called new "green spaces". But it's kinda expected from a cult who proclaims they are reclaiming streets from cars when they have received millions in donor money from uber and lyft. 

  

 

Mets owner closer to getting casino

 

The City

A state lawmaker introduced a bill Wednesday that would authorize New York City to build on the parking lot at Citi Field, which would help pave the way for redevelopment plans envisioned by Mets owner Steve Cohen that include a new casino.

The legislation introduced by Assemblyman Jeffrion Aubry (D-Queens) calls for the parking lot to be developed for “a gaming facility and, in conjunction with such facility, commercial, retail, entertainment, recreational, hotel, convention, and or community facility uses,” according to the bill text.

Because the Citi Field lot is technically parkland, designated in 1939 as part of Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, it requires state intervention to “alienate” it to facilitate construction. 

Aubry’s bill specifies that the land be discontinued as parkland “through the entering of leases or other agreements with New Green Willets, LLC, its affiliates, or any other entity or entities,” referencing the lobbying firm owned by Cohen. As part of what’s known as “park alienation,” the city would have to find at least 20 acres of replacement parkland or significantly improve other existing greenspace — paid for by the private developer, according to the legislation.

Cohen has pushed for redevelopment of the Citi Field parking lot, which is owned by the city and leased to the Mets, since shortly after buying the team for $2.4 billion in November 2020.

In the past few months he has hosted “visioning sessions” with locals and community leaders to get feedback on what Queens residents — and Mets fans across the city — would like to see in the area.

Aubry, who did not immediately respond to a call and text message seeking comment, previously told THE CITY that he had spoken many times with Cohen’s lobbying firm, New Green Willets, about their ideas for the parking lot. He said he was most concerned with creating jobs and recreational activities for his district, which includes Corona and East Elmhurst. 

“They have talked to me about it a number of times,” he told THE CITY in January. “The casino in my mind is important to them — not so important to me.” 

State Sen. Jessica Ramos, a Democrat who also represents the neighborhood, said she was blindsided by the legislation — a version of which she had planned on introducing.

“I was taken aback this morning, it was quite a surprise to see legislation submitted,” she told THE CITY, adding that any park alienation would require her sign-on in a jointly-introduced bill.

Ramos said she had not had the chance to read Aubry’s legislation yet.

“Not only do I have some reading to do but I also have some conversations to be had,” she added.