August 28, 2013

Queens Civic Congress Testimony to New York City CouncilConcerning Proposed Willets Point West Mall at Flushing Meadows Corona Park

The Queens Civic Congress would like to say up front that the proposed Willets Point West Mall
project is an unconscionable alienation of public parkland and the City Council should strike it
down immediately and definitively. The Congress and its members are not happy to have
parkland as part of Flushing Meadows Corona Park used as a parking lot, but we have always
believed if the parking lot became unnecessary the land could quickly and easily be returned to
true public, recreational use. Please say NO to this outrageous land grab.

As many of you know, the Queens Civic Congress is an umbrella organization consisting of over
100 civic associations throughout the Borough. The Congress has been active with the Flushing
Meadows Corona Park Conservancy, the Fairness Coalition of Queens, Save Flushing Meadows
Corona Park and the New York City Parks Advocate over the past several months to help ensure
the Park remains available to the numerous communities in nearby Queens. The Congress has in
the past opposed commercial development in the Park and remains adamantly opposed to any
further encroachment on public spaces.

Flushing Meadows Corona Park is the largest park in Queens and ought to serve as the flagship
park in Queens, but instead it has become the dumping ground of last resort for placing projects
that no other area will accept. CitiField has used many acres of park land on a deal that benefits
only the Mets owners and their profits return very little direct financial benefit to the City, to
Queens or to the Park. The parking lots surrounding the stadium sit on parkland and any change
in use should be subject to alienation requirements.

But the introduction of a massive steel and concrete mall to these western parking lots would
permanently destroy a public park amenity the community should enjoy for recreation and fun.
Not only will the mall remove forever land that could be used by the thousands of nearby
residents, but a mall will destroy hundreds of nearby “mom-and-pop” businesses in surrounding
neighborhoods, introducing potentially devastating competition to existing, struggling malls,
such as the struggling Shops at Atlas Park, Rego Park Mall and even Queens Center Mall.
Furthermore, there is no pedestrian traffic nearby to support a mall. Residential development
plans for Willets Point remain unclear and far in the future.

If, as the City is proposing, the CitiField parking lots are excess and can be repurposed, the space
could better be used by the people for additional picnic and recreational space -- not for stores
and movie theaters that have highly questionable demand and little or no access.

Please preserve our open space at Flushing Meadows Corona Park - just say “No.”

Richard C. Hellenbrecht, President
president@qccnyc.org

Auburndale Improvement Association, Inc.
P.O. Box 580331, Station A
Flushing, NY  11358
September 3, 2013
 
New York City Council, Land Use Committee, Zoning Subcommittee
City Hall
New York, NY  10007
 
To the Land Use Committee, Zoning Subcommittee of the City Council:

     My name is Henry Euler and I am the First Vice President of the Auburndale Improvement Association, Inc.  My testimony today is on behalf of my civic organization.  We are the oldest and geographically the largest civic group in Queens County and our membership numbers close to six hundred families and individuals living in Auburndale Flushing and western Bayside.

    We are very concerned about the three proposed projects to be constructed on parkland at Flushing Meadows Corona Park.  These projects include expansion of the tennis center, the building of a soccer stadium and the construction of a huge mall.  We oppose all three proposals.

    Today you are considering the proposal dealing with the 1.4 million square foot mall to be constructed on the parking lot to the west of Citi Field.  This land is parkland and should be off limits to any private development. Parkland is sacrosanct.  It belongs to the people, not private developers. With the rate of intense development in Queens, we need all of the green space we can spare.

    The asphalt on the unused part of the parking lot to the west of Citi Field should be removed and trees and other vegetation should be planted on the site in order to make it look more like a park once again.  There is no shortage of people living in close proximity to the park, or even further away, who could use that refurbished parkland.

    Have you seen how many people use Flushing Meadows Corona Park?  It is staggering.  How could anyone think of usurping land for private gain when people living in overcrowded neighborhoods look to the park as their backyard and a source of relaxation, exercise and tranquility?  This park should be a New York City landmark, just as Central Park is in Manhattan and Prospect Park is in Brooklyn.  Queens is tired of being ignored!

    And what will happen to local businesses if this mall is completed?  And what is the impact on traffic and quality of life in the surrounding community if the mall is built? Is this land, where the mall is to be built, stable enough to support the structures to be built on the site?  This area was originally wetland.

    There are so many questions to consider in this case, and so many concerns.  We stand with the coalition known as Save Flushing Meadows Corona Park and our neighbors in western Flushing and Corona.  No mall in this location!  Just preserve the parkland and find additional funds to sustain and maintain our precious park.  Thank you!

Henry Euler, First Vice President
Auburndale Improvement Association, Inc. 

There will be a Community Board 7 public hearing this Monday night regarding Willets Point / Willets West mall.  The public is encouraged to testify.  This past Wednesday, the Land Use Committee of CB7 rejected the proposal with a "NO" in a landslide 7-2 vote, but the vote Monday is the one that counts.

What: Community Board 7 full board meeting
Date: Monday, May 13th
Meeting Time: 7:00pm
Place: Union Plaza Care Center, 33-23 Union Street, Flushing, NY 11354
Sign up to speak upon entering.

The application is being portrayed as a "minor amendment to the previously-approved project" -- but it obviously is not. The effect of the amendment is to nearly double the size of the project from 62 acres to 108.9 acres, and to prioritize the construction of a previously undisclosed 1.4 million square foot mall on public parkland that is presently a Citi Field parking lot. If you thought the original Willets Point development was a monstrosity, this is no comparison ...

The Queens Borough President and Community Board were promised a hand in selecting the developer for the project, but they were not consulted before Sterling/Related was chosen by the Bloomberg administration.  If they had been involved, perhaps a proposal that did not take public parkland would have been selected.
 
It also is not likely that the City Council will call up the project, hear testimony and publicly debate it.  Again, the project is being framed as just a "minor amendment to the previously-approved project," but the previously approved plan did not involve a mall, the Mets parking lot, or mapped parkland.
 
Here is an article from this week's Times Ledger newspaper, which reveals that the City and the developers are aware that parkland alienation is involved in this proposal: First Willets plan called for parkland swap.  Here also is a list of alternate proposals rejected by the City that would have spared parkland.

Save FMCP encourages the public to testify against the USTA expansion at the City Planning Commission hearing this Wednesday, April 24th at 10am at 22 Reade Street in Manhattan.  The official announcement is below:

USTA BILLIE JEAN KING TENNIS CENTER 
CDs 3, 4, & 6-9 C 130155 PPQ

PUBLIC HEARING: 

IN THE MATTER OF an application submitted by the NYC Department of Parks and 
Recreation (DPR) and the USTA National Tennis Center Inc., pursuant to Section 197-c of the 
New York City Charter, for the disposition of a lease of city-owned property to the USTA 
National Tennis Center Inc. located northerly of United Nations Avenue North, between 
Meridian Road, and Path of Americas (Block 2018, p/o Lot 1) within Flushing Meadows-Corona 
Park. 

(On April 10, 2013, Cal. No. 6, the Commission scheduled April 24, 2013 for a public hearing 
which has been duly advertised.) 

Close the hearing. 
__________
NOTICE 

On Wednesday, April 24, 2013, at 10:00 a.m., in Spector Hall, at the Department of City 
Planning, 22 Reade Street, in Lower Manhattan, a public hearing is being held by the 
Department of Parks and Recreation in conjunction with the above ULURP hearing to 
receive comments related to a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) concerning a 
disposition of non-residential City-owned land at the USTA Billie Jean King National 
Tennis Center (NTC), located in Flushing Meadows Corona Park in Queens. The NTC is 
located on a portion of Queens Block 2018, Lot 1, on park land leased by The City of New 
York Department of Parks and Recreation to USTA National Tennis Center, Incorporated 
(USTA). The leased site is bounded to the north by the railway tracks of Long Island 31 
Railroad (LIRR)’s Port Washington line; United Nations Avenue North to the south; the 
Passarelle Building and Path of the Americas to the east; and Grand Central Parkway to 
the west. The proposed actions would facilitate a proposal to improve and expand USTA 
facilities, collectively known as the NTC Strategic Vision. To accommodate the proposed 
project, up to 0.94 acres of land would be added to the NTC site, including up to 0.68 acres 
of park land that would be alienated. Written comments on the DEIS are requested and 
would be received and considered by the Lead Agency through Monday, May 6, 2013. 
This hearing is being held pursuant to the State Environmental Quality Review Act 
(SEQRA) and City Environmental Quality Review (CEQR), CEQR No. 12DPR005Q. 

There will be a Community Board 7 full board meeting on Monday night, which will offer an opportunity to address the board about Willets Point / Willets West mall, prior to committee meetings starting.  Please note that Willets Point is not on the agenda, but you may still speak about it during the public participation period.  (The project is expected to be on the agenda for the May 13th meeting, when you may also sign up to speak.)

What: Community Board 7 full board meeting
Date: Monday, April 8th
Meeting Time: 7:00pm
Public participation Time: 9:30pm (but may start earlier)
Place: Union Plaza Care Center, 33-23 Union Street, Flushing, NY 11354
Sign up to speak upon entering.

The first (and perhaps only) committee meeting on the matter will happen this Thursday.  There will be no public participation, but you may observe the discussion about the Willets Point project, which is on the agenda.

What: Community Board 7 buildings and zoning committee hearing
Date: Thursday, April 11th
Time: 7:30pm
Place: Union Plaza Care Center, 33-23 Union Street, Flushing, NY 11354
For observation only - no testimony accepted.

The application is being portrayed as a "minor amendment to the previously-approved project" -- but it obviously is not. The effect of the amendment is to nearly double the size of the project from 62 acres to 108.9 acres, and to prioritize the construction of a previously undisclosed 1.4 million square foot mall on public parkland that is presently a Citi Field parking lot. If you thought the original Willets Point development was a monstrosity, this is no comparison …

The Queens Borough President and Community Board were promised a hand in selecting the developer for the project, but they were not consulted before Sterling/Related was chosen by the Bloomberg administration.  If they had been involved, perhaps a proposal that did not take public parkland would have been selected.
 
It also is not likely that the City Council will call up the project, hear testimony and publicly debate it.  Again, the project is being framed as just a "minor amendment to the previously-approved project," but the previously approved plan did not involve a mall, the Mets parking lot, or mapped parkland.

USTA Chief Operating Officer - Daniel  Zausner. The USTA refuses to make its proposal publicly available.

Chief-of-Staff to the Borough President Alex Rosa (L) and Queens Borough President Helen Marshall (R).

Save FMCP member Phil Konigsberg testifies.

SaveFMCP co-founder Ben Haber testifies.

SaveFMCP co-founder Robert Loscalzo testifies.

The bottom line is that the USTA does not require more land to build new stadiums.  They just want it.  In light of this, why would any elected official vote to approve alienation of parkland?  As the last paragraph of Robert's testimony reads:

"This USTA proposal, like the two others that impinge on our park, are efforts to close deals on parkland while the Bloomberg administration is still around to sign the papers. Please do right by the people of Queens: Tell USTA to renovate within its existing space, and reject its self-serving application to expand its size and its impacts."