In the previous 2 articles we’ve shown the long history of Flushing Meadows-Corona Park being under funded so that wealthy outsiders could exploit it. Now we’re going to talk about the current plan which will make billionaire Steve Cohen richer.

Proposed Parkland Destruction

Unable to fill their stadium seats, Mets owner Steve Cohen wants more parkland to build an $8 billion dollar casino complex. Citi Field has a capacity of 41,922, which is around 15,000 fewer seats than Shea Stadium (possibly to not make it look so empty on television). Last year the Mets players had a great season and yet the average attendance was only 28,757 which means it was about 69% full. Major league baseball is loosing fans and is not a good long-term investment, especially while finance by $614.3 million of your tax money. Why do local politicians keep using your money and your land just to make billionaires richer?

You may also remember Steve Cohen from his hedgefund that joined Citadel, loosing money in the GameStop scandal until Robinhood stopped letting users trade their own stocks. Laissez-faire capitalism might burn you when you loose your job, but it doesn’t exist when certain businesses are failing and want to change the rules.

Council Member Francisco Moya’s district covers much of the area being discussed. It is unclear to us how much Moya and their team have received in donations from Steve Cohen and their partners, but they appear to have been some of the local politicians who are advocates for the project.

In New York City, when a politician wants something in their district, other politicians often support it as “member deference”, no matter what it is. They’re willing to help their political enemies, even when it’s not wanted by their constituents, since in this system they know their backs will eventually be scratched.

Interesting QNS reported that, “Sen. Jessica Ramos…said last May that she would not introduce legislation to alienate parkland in Corona for a casino.” Assembly Bill A6781 which “Authorizes the city of New York to discontinue the use as parkland and alienate certain land within Flushing Meadows Corona Park” does not have a partner Senate Bill.

What do New Yorkers get for the loss of their park-space and for the perpetual problems that come with any casino industry? Supposedly part of the sell is that a pedestrian bridge will be built from Flushing to Steve Cohen’s Casino. We’ve spent a lot of time talking to politicians about bridges to parks and we’re not confident this is going to work.

First off, even if Steve Cohen’s casino wants to build the bridge on Iron Triangle land, we haven’t heard of any developer on the Flushing side of the river that wants to give up their land for that end of it.

Second off, even if the bridge is built, there are no protected bikelanes in Flushing that could bring people to it. (We know, we’ve tried to get them installed for the past decade, namely our “Flushing Loop” project that was never implemented.)

Third off, developers have been incredibly good at building the for-profit section of these proposals and then running out of money for the promised public good section. Hudson Yards was supposed to include affordable housing…and instead has become the “billionaire’s fantasy city” costing us $2.2 billion in taxpayer dollars. This was done in part due to “creative financial gerrymandering,” where the Empire State Development drew census tracts over 100 blocks long so rich developers in Hudson Yards could take money dedicated to distressed areas of Harlem. (Hudson Yards seems to be failing so badly now they want to build a casino too!)

Similarly, the Atlantic Yards project to build the Barclays Center is said to be failing on its public commitment, “(i)t has been clear for some time that Greenland will fall short on its commitment to complete the affordable housing part of the project by 2025.” In 2003 it was promised to have 2,500 affordable housing units.

“If, for some reason, they are unable to complete the (Flushing) Skypark, they will then pay 100 million dollars for capital improvements in Flushing Meadow-Corona Park,” said local politician, John Liu, who is backing the project. Even from the start it seems we don’t have faith this bridge will ever be built.

To stay up to date with this and other community stories, enter your email address and click the “FOLLOW” button or connect with us @queensgreenway on bluesky. If you’re outraged, call your local politician and ask them how they go to bed every night after selling out our land. It may be a local issue, but it’s a city-wide decision.