Comrie concerned about Cosmos

From the Queens Courier:

Some politicians feel the New York Cosmos need to do everything they can to win the community.

The soccer club, which restarted recently after not playing a game in nearly three decades, is planning to construct a 25,000 seat stadium in Elmont’s Belmont Park near the Queens and Nassau border. The team currently plays at Hofstra University’s Shuart Stadium in Long Island.

The project has come under direct fire by Carrié Solages, a legislator in Nassau County, while on the Queens side Councilmember Leroy Comrie has brought up potential community concerns, such as increased traffic, noise and lights.

“It’s a residential community and you can understand that people want to keep it that way,” Comrie said.

Comrie is not against the stadium as he was with Major League Soccer (MLS) trying to put a similar-sized venue in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park for the New York City Football Club because that project called for taking land from the park. But he thinks Belmont could be a “suitable” location for a soccer stadium.

The councilmember will gauge concerns from the community through future meetings.

Soccer stadium coming to Queens-Nassau border?

From CBS New York:

The Islanders are moving to Brooklyn, but will Long Island soon gain a professional soccer team?

The New York Cosmos have big plans for a soccer stadium on the Queens/Nassau County border.

But as CBS 2’s Carolyn Gusoff reported Wednesday, not everyone’s a fan of the idea.

In the shadow of Belmont racetrack, sits a specific parking lot. However, soon, weeds could be replaced with stadium grass, and parking stalls with sidelines.

The Cosmos, a world famous franchise that was reborn recently following three decades of dormancy, has proposed a 25,000-seat privately funded soccer stadium for the site. Proponents say it’s just what Long Island needs to generate jobs and tax revenue.

“The whole idea of taking a weed-infested parking lot and replacing that with a state-of-the-art $400 million stadium, I think, just makes all the sense in the world,” said state Sen. Jack Martins (R-7th District)

The local soccer club president welcomed community fields.

But not everyone in Belmont’s backyard is cheering. Critics are going door to door gathering signatures against the stadium.

“Selling hot dogs just does not translate into sustainable economic development for any community,” Elmont community activist Aubrey Phillips said.

“We know crime will come up and we also know that traffic will be a nuisance, and we don’t want our property values to go down any further,” added Milagros Vicentre of the North Valley Stream Neighborhood Association.