Opinion: A once-in-a-generation opportunity for Queens

An overhead view of Citi Field. Photo via metropolitan park

By the leadership of the Coalition for Queens Advancement

We all want to see a thriving Queens. We want our neighbors and friends to be able to build their careers and businesses right here. We want more open community spaces where we can get together. And we want greater connection and accessibility across our neighborhoods.

That is why we came together to found the Coalition for Queens Advancement, and it is why we are so strongly supporting the vision for Metropolitan Park.

This project is Queens-focused and community oriented, and from day one the leaders of this proposal have ensured that our voices are heard, and that the needs of our neighborhoods and communities are at the heart of the vision for Metropolitan Park.

For too long the parking lots surrounding Citi Field have been nothing more than vacant asphalt and wasted opportunity—isolated from the local neighborhoods and the broader Queens community. And as we increasingly see the impacts of climate change here in Queens, these acres of asphalt lack the climate-resilient infrastructure to mitigate the flooding and heat that is only getting worse.

Metropolitan Park will bring to the heart of Queens the type of new open park space our families need and deserve. Twenty acres of new open space, as well as new soccer fields, batting cages, and other facilities and amenities for our families.

This is also an opportunity to see a major investment in climate-resilient infrastructure for the area. This means more accessible mass transit, and improved parking to help alleviate the game-day traffic we’re all too familiar with. The plan will also create new bike and walking paths to increase easy, safe access to the waterfront.

Most importantly for our families and communities, Metropolitan Park will bring 15,000 local, good-paying union jobs to Queens. This means long-term careers, salaries and benefits for New Yorkers who grew up in Queens and want the opportunity to work and raise their families right here. And with the leaders of Metropolitan Park committed to hiring locally and supporting minority and women-owned businesses, our neighbors and community members will benefit from the types of opportunities that we too often miss out on.

And beyond the new jobs Metropolitan Park will bring, though, is the wonderful effect it will have on the local small businesses we already have in the area. Today, Citi Field and the surrounding parking lots sit almost empty outside of Mets’ 81 home games. Metropolitan Park will bring year-round entertainment like live music, events, and a casino. That is going to mean more visitors to Queens every day of the year, more shoppers at local businesses, and more diners at local restaurants and bars.

We know that our local elected representatives and city leaders are taking a thoughtful approach to reviewing this proposal, and we commend them for ensuring that our communities and neighbors have had a chance to weigh in. We are convinced that Metropolitan Park is a once-in-a-generation opportunity for our area of Queens, and we strongly encourage you to do everything in your power to make it a reality. If we don’t seize this chance, the area will remain nothing more than empty lots of asphalt. Maybe forever. We have the chance for transformational change not seen in our borough in a hundred years, let's not strikeout.

The leadership of the Coalition for Queens Advancement includes Costa Constantinides, Tom Grech, Dirk McCall de Palomá, Rev. Patrick Young, Tammy Rose, Karla Dos Santos, Michael De Valera, Shanel, Thomas Henry, Ted Teng, Leah Carter, Jose Tejada, Helen Arteaga Landaverde, Ph.D.