Something interesting happened last week. Tom Grech, President and CEO of the Queens Chamber of Commerce, wrote an op-ed published April 3 laying out all the reasons why the existing Resorts World casino is the Queens location that deserves a full casino license. Needless to say, this undermines Grech’s support for a casino at Citi Field, which has none of the benefits cited by Grech for Resorts World.

Interestingly, major online publications pulled Grech’s op-ed the same day it was posted. It appeared again in Caribbean Life on April 6 and was immediately pulled from that publication as well.

​Casino licensing is very messy business, and will only get more so as the process plays out. 

Here is the dead link from Caribbean Life.
Google cached the latter, and it has been screenshot and posted below for posterity.

UPDATE 4/11: After we pointed out that the op-ed was pulled a week ago from all Schneps outlets, the op-ed reappeared on QNS' site. It appears to be word for word the same piece, absent the  lengthy description of the Chamber of Commerce at the end. The timing of its republication is interesting. Was it something we said? 

Let the record show: There is strong opposition to a casino on public parkland
 
(Flushing, NY, January 29, 2023) Save FMCP, a coalition of concerned groups and residents committed to protecting public parkland at Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, has submitted the feedback received by the Gaming Commission in 2021 to the members of the Gaming Facility Location Board and has also made it publicly available. That feedback includes objections of civic groups to the Citi Field area as a potential casino site.

Although numerous civic organizations submitted written objections to the Gaming Commission in 2021 in response to its Request for Information, the Commission never prepared the report of the results of the RFI that was to be distributed to the state legislature and the governor. Save Flushing Meadows-Corona Park cannot presume that the Location Board members ever saw the written objections to the Citi Field area that were submitted in 2021. Therefore, we are providing those written responses directly to the Location Board members now and will continue to supply them with information as circumstances warrant.
 
So far, the Gaming Commission has appointed 3 members (out of a maximum 5) of the Gaming Facility Location Board: Quenia A. Abreu, Vicki L. Been, Esq., and Stuart Rabinowitz, Esq. With 3 members in place, the Location Board can issue a Request for Applications for casino licenses and did so on January 3.
 
Once casino license applications are received, those that survive the upcoming Community Advisory Committee process, and then obtain any necessary land use approvals, will be evaluated by the Location Board, which will eventually choose which of the remaining applicants receive casino licenses. (The Location Board's choices then go to the Gaming Commission for final approval.)
 
Save Flushing Meadows-Corona Park is writing to the Location Board to ensure it is aware at this early stage of strong opposition to siting a casino in the Citi Field area, and the reasons why. A downloadable copy of our letter with supporting documentation may be found here.

Dear Sir:

In your January 9th appearance on PIX11 News, you addressed the "visioning session" held by Mets owner Steve Cohen on January 7th and referred to "a proposal, of course, to do a casino on Steve Cohen's lot." You further said Cohen “would take that concrete jungle and turn it into its own little utopia.”

We are extremely disappointed to hear you refer to the land at issue as "Steve Cohen's lot" and “a concrete jungle” when in fact it is municipal parkland, which belongs to the people, is being held in trust for us by the State, and regularly hosts events best suited for a large, paved location. You must not be misled to believe that Mr. Cohen is entitled to develop said parkland for his profit. To the contrary: As the elected representative of the people of Queens, we expect you to protect our parkland, and prevent any unnecessary loss of this irreplaceable resource.

Moreover, it is unnecessary for the City to sacrifice any parkland in order to obtain a new casino. Numerous proposals reportedly will be made to site new casinos in areas that do not impinge upon parkland, including at Hudson Yards, Times Square, on Fifth Avenue, near the United Nations, at Coney Island and on Staten Island, to name a just few.

Sincerely,

Coalition Membership of Save Flushing Meadows-Corona Park
SaveFMCP.org
[email protected]​

​Queens, New York – Prominent civic leaders have organized to oppose the construction of a casino or other commercial structures on the public parkland surrounding Citi Field stadium. Their announcement of opposition comes days before Mets owner Steve Cohen will hold a “visioning session” to advance his desired development scenarios for that parkland. It also comes one year after numerous Queens civic groups first notified the NYS Gaming Commission of strong objections to siting a casino in the vicinity of Citi Field stadium, including on the public parkland.
 
Although Cohen’s visioning session will be held just as the Gaming Facilities Location Board is accepting applications for three downstate casino licenses, and although Cohen reportedly intends to submit an application to construct a casino on parkland surrounding Citi Field, Cohen’s press release for his upcoming visioning session conspicuously lacks any specific mention of building a casino on the parkland – instead vaguely referring to an “entertainment” venue on “50 acres of vacant asphalt.”
 
“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,” said Jena Lanzetta, a Bayside community activist. “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.”
 
The civic leaders are especially outraged by Cohen characterizing the land at issue not as public parkland, but merely as “50 acres of vacant asphalt.” The 50 acres in question – the former site of Shea Stadium – are not only leased for parking operations at Citi Field, but also host numerous events, including carnivals and fairs, para-athletic sports matches and a variety of other public uses. (see photo above)
 
“The land surrounding Citi Field is public parkland, part of Flushing Meadows-Corona Park,” said Richard Hellenbrecht, a founder and officer of Flushing Meadows-Corona Park Conservancy. “Yes, it’s paved over and sometimes used as parking spaces for events at Citi Field. But the fact that it’s paved makes it perfectly suitable for the numerous concerts, circuses, festivals, marathons, and other popular public events that are held year-round on that very parkland. For Cohen to imply that ‘vacant asphalt’ is all it is, or that it is un-used as parkland, is deceptive and misleading – and plain wrong.”
 
A previous attempt by Queens Development Group to construct a 1.4 million square foot commercial shopping mall on the same parkland where Steve Cohen wants to build a casino was disallowed by a 2017 Court of Appeals decision. That court upheld a unanimous decision of the Appellate Division, that the parkland at issue could not be constructed upon for non-park use, because the legislature never explicitly authorized it. Included among the civic groups and individuals who presently oppose commercialization of the parkland are many who were plaintiffs or organizers of the prior lawsuit, including the Queens Civic Congress, urban planner Paul Graziano, Whitestone civic leader Alfredo Centola, and community activists Christina Wilkinson of Maspeth and Robert LoScalzo of Whitestone.
 
Queens Civic Congress President Warren Schreiber, said: “Our message to state legislators is: Our parkland is irreplaceable. It is not for sale. Contrary to what would-be casino owners may say, public parkland is not ‘developable property,’ and it must never be viewed as such. Why is Flushing Meadows-Corona Park – which this planned ‘entertainment center’ and casino has been proposed in – over decades consistently targeted by commercial schemes, when other parks throughout the city are not? Can you imagine a Manhattan developer holding a ‘visioning session’ to consider repurposing the portion of Central Park between 59th and 61st Streets? If it’s outrageous to do that in Manhattan, then it’s just as outrageous to do it in Queens.”
 
The civic leaders are not only concerned that Cohen’s plans will take away precious parkland. They also believe that a major year-round attraction built on land surrounding Citi Field will exacerbate traffic on major roadways that commuters already find intolerable; and that if a casino is built, its negative impacts include demonstrated social ills that will spill into surrounding communities and populations.
 
Willets Point, located east of Citi Field, is already approved to be developed – all 62 acres of it. The traffic impacts of that project alone will worsen conditions on most of the popular roadways in the vicinity of Citi Field – so much so, that one professional engineer testified to the City Planning Commission that ‘I have never seen this level of unmitigated impact, in the 40 years I’ve been practicing. This is an unprecedented overload of the local roadway system.’ Any additional year-round attraction constructed on land west of Citi Field will generate even more traffic – further congesting roadways such as the Van Wyck Expressway and the Whitestone Expressway.
 
Tony Nunziato, President of Juniper Park Civic Association, said: “Touting the economic benefit of a casino is like putting the proverbial ‘lipstick on a pig.’ In fact, casinos extract wealth from communities, and typically weaken nearby businesses. Casinos depend on problem gamblers for their revenue base, and living close to a casino increases the chances of becoming a problem gambler.”
 
That affects families and communities, as well as individuals. Casinos lead to social ills including increased substance abuse, violent crime, auto theft and larceny, and bankruptcy. The latter three all increased by 10 percent in communities that allowed gambling, and 8 percent of crime in counties with casinos was attributable to their presence. The New York Times published an investigative report on December 26, 2022 plainly headlined, ‘Casinos Target a Vulnerable Clientele: Older Asian Gamblers.’ A Citi Field-area casino, then, will ‘target’ the ‘vulnerable’ Flushing population of ‘older Asian gamblers.’”
 
Paul Graziano, an urban planner who was also a plaintiff in the 2014 lawsuit that enjoined construction on the parkland, said: “From a planning perspective, the development of a casino on public parkland is just plain wrong. Back in the 1980s, former Borough President Donald Manes supported the construction of a Formula One Grand Prix raceway around Meadow Lake, with the intention of turning Flushing Meadows-Corona Park into the ‘Meadowlands’ of New York City. As a parks advocate stated at the time: ‘This is not just a race track in the park. Once you’ve said yes to this, how do you stop the next guy? How do you stop a race in Central Park?’ Four decades later, we now face yet another attempt to take away our parkland for a private entity’s monetary gain. The continued attempts to monetize, privatize and destroy this particular park must stop.”
 
The civic organizations and leaders that have organized to oppose commercialization of the parkland or construction of a casino anywhere in the Citi Field vicinity include:

• Queens Civic Congress, which represents the interests of 60+ civic groups throughout Queens

 
Individual civic organizations including:

• A Better College Point Civic Association
• Auburndale Improvement Association
• Bayside Hills Civic Association
• Bay Terrace Community Alliance
• Bellerose Commonwealth Civic Association
• Douglaston Civic Association
• Flushing Meadows-Corona Park Conservancy
• Holly Civic Association
• Juniper Park Civic Association
• Kissena Corridor Park Civic
• We Love Whitestone

 
And area residents and experts.
 
The civic organizations and leaders oppose construction of a casino anywhere in the Citi Field vicinity, whether on the parkland located west of Citi Field, or on Willets Point land located east of Citi Field (as the negative impacts upon key roadways and community populations would be the same, irrespective of which property is used).
 
For additional information about negative impacts of casinos, see:
 
“Studies: Casinos bring jobs, but also crime, bankruptcy, and even suicide:”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2012/10/30/studies-casinos-bring-jobs-but-also-crime-bankruptcy-and-even-suicide/
 
“Why Casinos Matter: Thirty-One Evidence-Based Propositions from the Health and Social Sciences”:
http://instituteforamericanvalues.org/catalog/pdfs/why-casinos-matter.pdf
 
“Casinos Target a Vulnerable Clientele: Older Asian Gamblers:”
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/26/nyregion/nyc-casino-asian-immigrant-gamblers.html
 
“Simple but Local, Queens Slots Are Hurting Gambling Meccas” (“… Resorts World Casino New York City generated nearly $630 million in revenue over the last 12 months from electronic slot machines …”)
https://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/24/nyregion/aqueduct-casinos-success-may-spur-industry-expansion-in-new-york.html
 
For further information, please contact:
 
Paul Graziano (718) 309-7522
Robert LoScalzo (929) 391-8693  
[email protected]

Today, the residents of Flushing and Queens have won a great victory against big developers, the Mets and the government of New York City, all of whom tried to steal 45 acres of our public parkland in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park.

The perpetrators in question - the Wilpon family (who owns the Mets baseball team) and the Related Companies - formed a development entity known as Queens Development Group, LLC. As the winning bidders to develop the Willets Point Urban Renewal area, where the automobile junkyards have been located for over a half century, their mandate was to build a new community based on the zoning approved in 2008. This new community was to have millions of square feet of commercial buildings as well as residential development (including affordable housing), a school and new parkland. All of this was to be built on the private property to the east of Flushing Meadows-Corona Park and Citifield.

In 2013, Queens Development Group announced that they would not be able to develop Willets Point without first building a new development to the west of Citifield. They called it Willets Point West, which would be a vast "entertainment and shopping mall complex" on 45 acres of public parkland. They argued that the property was only parking lots anyway, so building a mall there was perfectly fine. 

There is only one problem with this: the city has no right to give away dedicated public parkland - whether used for a parking lot or a wilderness preserve - to private developers. 

The power to alienate public parkland and return it to private use is under the sole jurisdiction of the New York State Legislature. In essence, New York City and Queens Development Group tried to bypass that legal process by claiming that they had the right to do it under an obscure New York City law.

Soon after, State Senator Tony Avella and I, along with other property owners, residents, business groups and civic and community organizations like the Queens Civic Congress became plaintiffs in a lawsuit to stop this giveaway of public parkland to developers. The lawsuit was initiated by the City Club of New York on our behalf.

While the Supreme Court of New York, the lowest court, sided with the developers, this was overturned with a unanimous decision by the Appellate Court. Finally, today the New York State Court of Appeals - which is the highest court in New York State - affirmed that decision with a 6-1 vote.

​If the courts had allowed our public parkland to be given by the city to developers without following the normal - and very rare - process of going through the New York State Legislature, Mayor de Blasio and the City Council could have done this to any public park in New York City - Central Park, Prospect Park, Kissena Park - and, of course, Flushing Meadows-Corona Park!

The link to the decision by the Court of Appeals is below:

https://www.nycourts.gov/ ctapps/Decisions/2017/Jun17/ 54opn17-Decision.pdf

Justice Manuel Mendez, NYS Supreme Court, NY District, has issued his decision to dismiss the lawsuit brought by plaintiffs Sen. Tony Avella, City Club of New York, Queens Civic Congress and others, challenging the plan of Queens Development Group LLC to construct a 1.4 million square foot mega-mall on 40+ acres of Queens parkland.

Justice Mendez concludes that the 1961 authorization to construct Shea Stadium also allows construction of the mega-mall on parkland.

Below is the official statement of John Low-Beer, attorney for plaintiffs, concerning the decision of Justice Manuel Mendez to dismiss the case:

"Plaintiffs believe that the decision misunderstands the common law doctrine that prohibits any nonpark use of parkland without the specific and explicit approval of the State Legislature.  The State Legislature, when it passed the 1961 law permitting the construction of Shea Stadium, did not intend to allow construction of a shopping mall.  That law did not allow the construction of anything except a stadium and related facilities on the site.  Plaintiffs will appeal, and believe that this decision will be reversed on appeal."

Please head on over to Willets Point United to read the judge's decision.

Senator Avella and Advocacy Groups who are challenging the “Willets West” mega-mall proposal completed their oral arguments before Justice Mendoza yesterday

On Wednesday, the lawsuit filed by State Senator Tony Avella, City Club of New York, Queens Civic Congress, several members of Willets Point United Inc., and nearby residents/business owners against the “Willets West” mega-mall proposal was argued before the New York State Supreme Court.

Attorney John Low-Beer argued the matter on behalf of the Plaintiffs/Petitioners.

The lawsuit is challenging 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 seeks a declaratory judgment to invalidate approvals already granted to the project. In addition, the suit seeks a declaratory judgment for a permanent injunction which would prevent the construction of a megamall on City parkland without respondents having obtained required State legislative authorization and without respondents having obtained any zoning for this un-zoned park area.

During the oral arguments, both parties presented their case, with the City and developers claiming entitlement to the land based on a 1961 law which authorized the construction of Shea Stadium. However, Mr. Low-Beer explained that the 1961 law never granted the defendants complete control over the premises, which is comprised of public park land. 

Following the arguments, Mr. Low-Beer stated, "As they did in their legal papers, yesterday the developers and the City spent a lot of time talking about how great their project was and very little time addressing the legal issues that are before the Court.  We argued that the defendants are brazenly violating State law and the City Charter's land use provisions, and we are confident that the Court will so hold." 

Senator Avella added, “Most of their response, in their argument, had actually nothing to do with the issue at hand. The issue is that they still have to get the necessary approval from the State Legislature and undergo the City’s land use process before being able to develop on-site. As things stand right now, the developers are illegally taking away parkland and the City is letting them! It’s absurd and I am confident that the Court will agree.”

Mr. Michael Gruen, President of The City Club of New York, stated, “Too often in recent years, the City has acted as if parks exist to generate income rather than to serve the public’s need for places for recreation and relaxation.  A strong body of law called the public trust doctrine is supposed to protect against such abuse by barring any non-park use of park land without the specific consent of the State Legislature.  When the past City administration decided, without legislative approval, to turn over a large portion of the most important park in Queens to private commercial exploitation, the City Club felt it had to act to remind present and future City administrations that parks belong to the people, not to shopping center developers.” 

Marty Kirchner, street organizer with Queens Neighborhoods United, stated:

"As a social justice organization, Queens Neighborhoods United is honored to stand by the many plaintiffs in this lawsuit who would not comprise on such a scandalous parkland give-away. Together with numerous local residents and small business owners, we believe that under no circumstances is this mega-project justified. Not only would the city's largest mall take away precious parkland, but it would significantly diminish the quality of life throughout the surrounding neighborhoods, displacing low-cost housing and reducing the ability of immigrant family-based small businesses to thrive on nearby Roosevelt Avenue." 

Senator Avella concluded, “The bottom line is that this case must be decided on merits. And from what we heard today, the defendants have no explanation as to why they did not follow the law, just that they didn’t. I think their case simply does not make sense.”

Senator Avella And Advocacy Groups who are challenging the “Willets West”
mega-mall proposal will begin their oral arguments tomorrow  
 
(Flushing, Queens) TOMORROW, Wednesday, July 30th at 2:15 PM, the lawsuit filed by State Senator Tony Avella, City Club of New York, Queens Civic Congress, several members of Willets Point United Inc., and nearby residents/business owners against the “Willets West” mega-mall proposal will be argued before the New York State Supreme Court.
 
The lawsuit is challenging the give-away of 47+ acres of Queens parkland worth
$ 1 Billion to build the "Willets West" mega-mall. The suit seeks a declaratory judgment to invalidate approvals already granted to the project as well as a declaratory judgment for a permanent injunction to prevent the construction of a megamall on City parkland without respondents having obtained required State legislative authorization and without respondents having obtained any zoning for this un-zoned park area.
 
A press conference with the plaintiffs will directly follow the oral arguments, taking place on the front steps of the Supreme Court.
 
Attorney John Low-Beer will be arguing the matter on behalf of the Plaintiffs/Petitioners and will be available to speak to the press after the Court’s adjournment.
 
WHO: Senator Tony Avella, Mr. John Low Beer, lawsuit plaintiffs, community leaders, local residents and business owners
 
WHEN: TOMORROW, Wednesday, July 30th at 2:15 PM  
 
WHERE: New York State Supreme Court, located at at 71 Thomas Street in Manhattan;
                   Room 210 (Justice Mendez).
                   Doors to the second floor courtroom open at 2:00PM.
                   Press Conference with the Plaintiffs to follow directly afterwards
                   on the front steps of the Court