Caption the cranky mayor

Mayor Adams looks like his job isn't much fun anymore, but it's more likely he's mad because he was expecting better seats. 

Vaccine mandate makes COVIDIOTS out of tennis fans clustering on line at the U.S. Open

 

Gothamist

 Tennis fans who flocked to the first in-person U.S. Open in two years were forced to endure hours-long lines on Monday, leading to “completely chaotic” and dangerous crowding outside the stadium, according to attendees.

The full capacity tournament drew thousands of visitors to the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows–Corona Park in Queens. But while the event was slated to begin at 11 a.m., fans said they were forced to wait outside for close to 2 hours — keeping them from some of the early matches and leaving attendees at risk of heat-related illness.

 Jessica Pearson, a Greenpoint resident who previously worked at the U.S. Open and has been coming to the tournament for more than two decades, said the lines and confusion were unprecedented.

“It was out of control,” said Pearson. “There was no crowd control from the stadium all the way back to the subway.”

In a statement, the U.S. Tennis Association said the delays were primarily caused by fans bringing an “inordinate number of bags this year.” They also said that patrons had arrived at the gates earlier than usual. "Previously, the number of patrons arriving to the grounds prior to 11 a.m. averaged approximately 10,000," the group said. "This year, the number arriving prior to 11 a.m. was only 3,000."

Others speculated that a last-minute decision to require COVID-19 vaccinations at the tournament was to blame. The USTA announced the mandate on Friday, after facing criticism for their original plan not to require vaccines or masks.

Pearson said the hold-up seemed at least in part due to broken metal detectors and a lack of staff. However, the association denied that vaccination requirement was a factor.

“The slow down seems to be centered on the Bag Check area,” the USTA statement noted. “The process to check proof of vaccination seems to be working smoothly and is not a major contributor hampering entrance to the site.

The U.S. Open is exempt from city vaccine mandate and federal face mask guidelines

  

NY Post

Usually the U.S. Open is just about super tennis. Now it’s trying to avoid being a super spreader.

When the two-week tourney starts Monday in Flushing Meadows, health is going to be the priority, both mental and physical.

Players will get COVID-19 tests upon arrival, and again every four days with a positive result forcing a withdrawal.

Whereas Wimbledon required proof of negative tests and asked fans to wear masks around the grounds, the U.S. Open will do neither. Despite cases spiking due to the Delta variant, fans won’t have to be vaccinated or wear masks outdoors at Flushing Meadows.

With local vaccination rates around 70 percent, they’re banking on their protocols and common sense to keep the tourney from becoming a super-spreader.

“This is not a USTA decision or a U.S. Open decision, this is a decision made with New York City. Of course, we’ve been tracking what’s been happening at the baseball games and other events,” said Dr. Brian Hainline, a U.S. Tennis Association first vice president. “The goal is not to prevent a single infection: The goal is to prevent an outbreak and an uptick.

“We’re still relying on the goodwill of people. The unvaccinated, although it’s not going to be enforced, really should be wearing masks. … It’s like any other aspect of New York City, going to the baseball game, you make an informed decision. But based on all the data we have — we believe the current policy makes good sense in terms of avoiding any sort of a regional outbreak as a result of this event.”

Fans won’t have to wear masks in Arthur Ashe or Louis Armstrong even when the roofs are closed, because both are considered outdoor venues. Players won’t be sequestered like last year (although 75 percent will be at one of the two designated hotels) and the USTA had no figures on how many were vaccinated.

U.S. Open stadium will be used for triage for COVID-19 patients

WCBS 880

 The home of the U.S. Open will be transformed into a temporary hospital to take some of the pressure off Elmhurst Hospital, which was been described as the "epicenter of the epicenter" of the coronavirus outbreak.

An indoor training area at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center will house a 350-bed medical facility that will accept COVID-19 patients from Elmhurst Hospital, which has borne the brunt of the crisis in the city.

Mayor Bill de Blasio said while it will take three weeks to build out the facility, it will start receiving patients next week. 

"This place will be a life saving place," de Blasio said.

The Louis Armstrong Stadium is being converted into a commissary, to turn out 25,000 meals a day for patients and New York City schoolkids. They will be prepared every day with six meals per package.

 The city has been rushing to triple its hospital capacity in anticipation of the apex, which is expected to hit in a matter of weeks. A 68-bed field hospital has been set up in Central Park's East Meadow, a temporary facility has also opened at the Javits Center and the 1,000-bed U.S. Navy hospital ship USNS Comfort arrived on Monday.

U.S. Open are deadbeat renters

THE CITY
 

Visitors are already starting to descend on Queens to attend the U.S. Open tennis tournament, which holds court in Flushing Meadows Corona Park next week.

Last year, a record of nearly 830,000 spectators passed through the United States Tennis Association’s Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.

But according to a new audit by city Comptroller Scott Stringer, the USTA has not been playing fair with the city.

The comptroller’s probe found that from 2014 to 2017, the USTA failed to report $31 million in revenue, which would mean it owes more than $311,000 in additional rent to the city. In 2016 and 2017, USTA paid $6.6 million each year in rent to the city.

The audit finds USTA underreported benefits received from other companies and fees and took inappropriate deductions.

The USTA may also owe an additional $82,000 because of discrepancies in financial reports, Stringer’s office found.

The comptroller’s review also determined the lease’s restrictions on access to records hinders closer city oversight of the USTA’s finances.

“Any corporate entity leasing land from the city must pay its fair share of rent – no ifs, ands, or buts about it. The Tennis Center collects more than $300 million annually, and yet, it shortchanges city taxpayers,” Stringer said in a statement. “This arrangement should be a win-win, not just ‘advantage’ USTA.”

Some Queens residents said that the park doesn’t feel like theirs during the U S. Open, calling the Grand Slam tournament a complete takeover of the 1,255-acre park.

David Pastor, 29, a member of grassroots group Queens Neighborhoods United, said that the park is usually a safe haven for immigrant families and contended that this community character gets “overridden” around tournament time.

“I’ve lived here my whole life and I’ve never even thought to go. It’s super expensive,” Pastor said. “You have to question who it’s for.”

I think we know the answer

Great piece over at City Limits.

That which benefits the NYC general fund doesn't necessarily benefit Queens neighborhoods.

Plane noise is killing us

From PIX11:

For years, the Federal Aviation Administration gave tennis fans first-class treatment.

During the U.S. Open, the FAA diverted planes from nearby LaGuardia Airport, away from Arthur Ashe Stadium during the tournament. But in 2012, the tennis climb, as the flight path is known, stuck.

The decision permanently sent airplanes over the densely populated areas of northern Queens during takeoff.

"It's pretty loud, sometimes you think it's just a few meters above your roof," said Daniel Vasquez, who lives in Bayside.

Vasquez said he's constantly woken up by the rumbling of planes flying overhead. Now, according to a new study out of Columbia University, it turns out that turbulence may be causing more damage than anyone realized.

"I think the most damaging and shocking is the fact that given the noise impact, the air pollution impact, the noise from the planes, you could lose one year off your life," Sen. Tony Avella said.

Avella represents the impacted neighborhoods and said the FAA committed a classic double fault when it made the switch permanent. Not only was there no environmental impact study, but he said, the FAA didn't even bother to let the community know about the switch.

Missing the US Open in Forest Hills

Nice essay in the NY Times about the Forest Hills and the US Open:

This is just a theory from an old Queens boy: Deep in the mosh pit of the current United States Open, there is the gentle living Ghost of Tennis Past — another time, another place, only a few miles away in the borough of Queens.

At the National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, paying customers inhale psychological oxygen — like air pumped into shopping malls — evoking the green, green grass of the West Side Tennis Club, where this great and very-New-York event was nurtured.

Fans breathe deeply and transport themselves to that green and pleasant land of good manners and pitty-pat applause for a lovely swooping backhand return.

Chronicling the US Open invasion

"Hi Crappie, I was in Flushing Meadow Park and took these photos of all the parking lots that are marked for the US Open.Of the 6 parking areas all are on grass except 4a and 4b which have paved over many years ago for parking.

The electronic sign is directing cars to Citi Field for parking. The two adjacent parking lots by the Queens Museum are used for all the emergency vehicles and there are more police vehicles all throughout the park as every car the enters the park must be inspected at various check points.

Remember the lie put forth by the Wilpon's and Related developers that Citi Field parking lot is not needed? This week on top of hosting the US Open there was two days of concerts by Lady Ga Ga.There was a traffic nightmare and I saw cars going all through the park on the various roads not just the outer roadways and none are well marked and are dangerous to cars,bikes and pedestrians alike.

Yes there are plenty of parking areas in the park and surrounding areas but Citi Field lot is well used too and needed.Add a mall with stores, restaurants, movie theaters on top of the Met's, US Open and large events and concerts is a recipe for disaster and not what a park should be.

The Mayor and our city council wanted a mall so I guess their plan is to use our park as a parking lot for all the stadiums they want to build.

I sure hope the city is making lots of money from the US Open because one can only imagine what it is costing us with all the police,firefighters and other assorted first responders involved each day.I know one thing the money isn't going back into the maintaining the park.I bike from the Promenade along Flushing Bay to around the lake all the time and I see roads not marked and in bad shape, I see homeless camped out on the rocks of the bay, I see lots of garbage washed up on the shore.Yes for the Open they plant lots of flowers and it looks pretty for the people going in but with all the millions of dollars from baseball,tennis and concerts you would think we would have a world class park up there with Central and Prospect Park.

I've been trying for 12 years just to get the city to put in a crosswalk for pedestrians walking and biking to the Marina and they have done nothing.They spend millions on building a promenade not realizing the people are going to want to get to it and this is a very busy road with trailer trucks whizzing by. For years I wrote the Park's Dept. and they said there was no funds available and there is a Master Plan and these things take time. This year I contacted Councilwoman Ferraras's office and they contacted DOT to do a traffic study.

The city is so concerned about putting bike lanes everywhere how about in Flushing Meadow after all it is a park and there is even a bike rental concession .Biking around the park there are no bike lanes or signs informing drivers to share the road and many of these roads drivers treat as extensions of the highway's that surround the park.

The future of the park looks grim, when you think that the Mayor ,the City Council and the Boro President all were in favor of the shopping mall and it was only a small group that opposed the plan that got it stopped for now.Remember the Formula 1 race track that was to race around the lake or the many stadiums that have been proposed?It will only be a matter of time when a plan will come along that can't be refused and the people will be too complacent to care." - Richard

Drunk tennis fans get a pass

From the NY Post:

Parks Department officers are under strict orders not to issue summonses for public drinking, urination and other offenses around Arthur Ashe Stadium so as not to spoil the fun for tournament-goers, it was revealed Thursday.

In the past, Parks Enforcement Patrol officers usually wrote hundreds of tickets during the two-week tennis championship, said Geoffrey Croft, the head of NYC Park Advocates.

But this year, officers were specifically told by the head of the Flushing Meadows-Corona Park command, “Don’t write summonses during the US Open,” Croft said.

“Talk about a Tale of Two Cities — it’s selective enforcement,” one officer told Croft, who writes the blog “A Walk in the Park.”

“Crime is going up and summonses are down. We’re being hindered from doing our job. The US Open is calling the shots.”

The head of the union that represents the PEP officers, Joseph Puleo, accused the city of “using our officers as political pawns and allowing crimes to be committed without coverage.”

US Open closes Queens Museum

From the Daily News:

The Queens Museum is shutting its doors for the rest of the U.S. Open because of increased security for the popular tennis tournament, officials announced Friday.

The museum is located next to the sprawling USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park.

"Due to the heightened security for the tennis tournament, access to the Museum is affected," the museum wrote in a message on its website. "As such, we will be closed from Saturday, Sept. 3 until the September 11 conclusion of the tournament."

The Museum tweeted the news around 7:30 a.m.

Big Bird booed badly

From DNA Info:

Fresh off a week-long trip with his family to New England, Mayor Bill de Blasio spoke Monday at the kickoff for the U.S. Open at Flushing Meadows-Corona Park — but it wasn't exactly an ace.

Tennis fans loudly booed the mayor from the minute he was announced through his praise of Arthur Ashe Stadium's brand-new roof and into his remarks about a player he planned to root for, according to video of the event and social media.

During his remarks, de Blasio told the crowd "a lot of New Yorkers are going to be rooting for Puerto Rico's own Monica Puig, we are so proud of what she achieved in the Olympics."

But the recent gold medalist had been eliminated from the tournament earlier in the day, losing in the first round to China's Zheng Saisai.

Yes, we know

The NY Times is obsessed with the new US Open facilities:

Things were noticeably coming together. Promotional banners with big fuzzy tennis balls were hung on every post along the wooden-planked bridge from the subway stop to the tennis center. Construction workers were putting together a baggage-check area, and inside the grounds, larger banners, featuring tennis champions, past and present, had gone up. (It takes eight people to install the banners, Mr. Zausner said.)

Inside Ashe Stadium, Ashley Devolder, 26, from nearby Astoria, painted a fresh coat of blue on a wall near the players’ entrance and media center. Before this task, she said, she had been part of a team of 20 who freshened up the 34,000 armrests on the stadium’s seats. “We had to sand them, clean them, and paint them,” she said. “It took a week.”

Outside Ashe, rubble was removed and replaced by either grass or smooth asphalt. Lights were strung at the patio of Mojito, one of the Open’s sit-down restaurants, and a new bar had been built around one of eight hard-to-miss bright blue bases that support the new roof structure (Mr. Zausner’s idea). The main plaza was cleaned up, trees were replanted and colorful flowers were in place at the entrance.

Corona convention center will now just be a hotel

From the Times Ledger:

When the Fleet Financial Group purchased the DiBlasi Ford Dealership in Corona for $17 million in December 2013, it announced it would build the borough’s first convention center. The $200 million project called for a 106,000-square-foot-complex that would “rival the Javits Center” and include a 25-story hotel, residential apartments and plenty of retail space.

Fleet Financial Group has modified its plans considerably. Instead of the LaGuardia Convention Center, the company will build The Eastern Emerald Hotel at 112-21 Northern Blvd. across the Grand Central Parkway from Citi Field.

“The reason we scaled down is because we are trying to take more consideration about the existing traffic conditions in the area,” Fleet Financial Group President Richard Xia said. “It’s no longer a convention center, but a conference hotel that will still take advantage of the proximity to LaGuardia Airport and all the highways in the area.”

Xia could not go into any great detail on the specifics of The Eastern Emerald Hotel because “the project is still in its early design phase” and he did not have a timeline. “Right now we’re doing an environmental cleanup, contaminated soil remediation, and then we’ll go forward with the land use process.”

A conference hotel would serve the Asian business community in Flushing, but Xia has his eyes on an annual event that brings nearly a million visitors to the area each year.

“The US Open is huge and you have all these corporate sponsors who have no place large enough to suit their clients,” he said.

Xia is also counting on other business from the $3 billion mega-mall and housing complex that is planned for Willets Point.

Koo kisses up to the USTA while a small businessman gets the shaft

From the Times Newsweekly:

City Council Member Peter Koo told Zausner that business owners around the tennis center say they don’t get promotional support from the USTA or see much additional business during the U.S. Open, which the center hosts every year and which the USTA cites as a serious boon for the local economy.

Koo suggested the USTA offer promotional opportunities inside the stadium to local restaurants during high-profile events.

“They have so many hot dog stands. What about a Chinese food stand?” he said.

“I will tell you that we have not done a good enough job reaching out to all the businesses in downtown Flushing,” Zausner responded, adding the tennis center has garnered lauds from the Sheraton LaGuardia East Hotel and the Flushing Business Improvement District.

“There will not be outright ‘no’s,’” he said. “There will be a conversation, and we will figure out what we can do together.”

Koo stated he would support the expansion if he could be assured the USTA would reach out to area businesses.

Why does Peter Koo think that it's his job to tell the USTA what they need to do to gain his support? Why doesn't he just let them try figure it out on their own?

Now you know who the Council Members really represent.

Why isn't Koo concerned that the Parks Dept suddenly, and for no reason, pulled Tommy Chan's vending permit this year?

Tommy has sold hot dogs for years near the mosaics in the park. According to the Courier, he was the only vendor authorized to sell in the park during the U.S. Open.  (Figure that one out.  The USTA has a legal monopoly?) Now he's been removed, as per a story featured on WPIX, which unfortunately was not posted online.

So who pulled the plug and why?

US Open's local economic impact

From DNA Info:

The United States Tennis Association, the organization that runs the U.S. Open, claims that the event generates more than $750 million in annual revenue — up $330 million from 2001 — for the New York City region, according to published reports.

But while thousands of fans head to Flushing Meadows Corona Park every day during the two-week tournament, some businesses in neighboring Corona and Flushing say that they haven't seen the love from the influx of tourists.

The impact, or lack therof, can be seen at the Skyview Center, a shopping mall located across the Roosevelt Avenue Bridge. The mall, which houses a big chains like Best Buy, Bob's Furniture and Bed, Bath & Beyond, was been sparsely visited during the Open's first week.

At the Roosevelt Sports Bar, located down the street from the Skyview Center, Fann noted that 20 to 30 additional people have stopped by the bar in the two weeks since the tournament started, an increase he called insignificant.

"I don't think we really get the foot traffic," Fann said. "I don't recall anyone saying 'I'm going to watch the Open.'"

The problem, store owners say, is that the U.S. Open is self-contained. Fans exit the 7 train at Willets Point, walk down the boardwalk, and enter the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center — all without ever setting foot on a Queens street. Once inside the tennis center, fans have access to food, drinks, retail stores and ATMs.

I've long thought the economic impact on local businesses, like Lemon Ice King, has not been all it's cracked up to be. But using Bob's Furniture Store and Bed, Bath and Beyond as examples of this is kind of a stretch.

Open tix nixed

From the NY Post:

The US Tennis Association yanked all invitations to elected city officials and city employees last week because the Conflict of Interest Board quietly ruled that they can’t accept the freebies, The Post has learned.

The perk — doled out for decades — usually lands officials in choice seats for whatever match they choose.

This ethics volley came after The Post first reported this month that state lawmakers had to ditch their complimentary tickets.

The state Ethics Commission nixed the perk after state Sen. Tony Avella (D-Queens) called the practice to light.

USTA officials declined to comment yesterday and refused to release the brief letter they sent city lawmakers and employees on Friday.

But good-government advocates hailed the end of string-pulling for city pols.

“I think that privileges given to elected officials similar to these free tickets are out of line,” said Susan Lerner, executive director of Common Cause New York.

“If an elected official wants to go, they should pay their way.”

Tweeders can't get free US Open tix

From the NY Post:

State lawmakers must ditch their luxury seats to this year’s US Open after an ethics panel nixed the freebie, The Post has learned.

The Legislature’s Ethics Commission told the US Tennis Association to rescind invitations to legislators after state Sen. Tony Avella (D-Queens) questioned whether he was even allowed to attend the sporting event in Flushing and sit in the USTA’s ritzy President’s Suite, which boasts an open bar and great views of the action.

“It’s inappropriate. It’s one thing to invite elected officials to maybe an opening ceremony, but it’s another thing to invite an elected official to sit in the President’s Box,” Avella (right) said.

“That’s something that would cost hundreds of dollars for the average person, easy. The elected officials should know enough to realize this is inappropriate.”

Now city lawmakers who have long enjoyed the perk — including Queens members of the City Council and Council Speaker Christine Quinn — are awaiting a decision from the city Conflicts of Interest Board on whether they can attend the event this year for free.

Another tennis stadium at Flushing Meadows

From the NY Post:

The Billie Jean King Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows Park, the site of the US Open, will get a brand-new 3,000-seat stadium to complement its three existing arenas, the United States Tennis Association said.

The Parks Department refused to release the preliminary designs for the new facility, but said it wouldn't require any public money and would not change the current borders beyond the 46.5 acres the tennis center already has.

It's unclear if any of the 30 public courts would be bulldozed to make room for the new facility.

The USTA pays the city about $1.5 million a year to rent the park space. The stadiums, except for the US Open and a handful of other tennis matches, sit empty the rest of the year.

Forest Hills' historic stadium may be a goner

From the Wall Street Journal:

The West Side Tennis Club is considering selling its historic stadium, a decaying landmark that hosted the U.S. Open for more than six decades before the game was moved to the National Tennis Center a few miles away.

The horseshoe-shaped stadium, which also was the venue for numerous other events such as a Beatles concert, is revered for helping tennis to grow into a mainstream phenomenon.

"Forest Hills is a U.S. Open icon," said Jim Curley, the U.S. Open's tournament director. "It's unfortunate when you lose a stadium like that with so much history."

The stadium is surrounded by some of the most prestigious real estate in Queens, which has fueled speculation that the site could be a prime candidate of high-end residential development.

West Side Tennis Club President Kenneth J. Parker declined to comment. Nancy VanDerbeck, the club secretary who notified some members about the potential sale Friday, also declined to comment. But according to a notice posted at the West Side Tennis Club, an informational meeting about the potential sale is scheduled for Aug. 10, with a vote by members planned for Aug. 19.

The stadium seats 15,000 and is the former home of the U.S. Open but now is little used.

Two-thirds of West Side Tennis Club members with voting rights must agree to the sale. It is unclear if a buyer has already been selected and how much land would be included in any deal. The letter says the sale proposal would only cover the "stadium parcel."

The issue of what to do with the little-used stadium has long split the club's 825 members. Some want it refurbished; others prefer demolition.