Park proposed for site where Cohen has pitched casino
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Advocates and locals rallied on Saturday to propose Phoenix Meadows, a park-based plan to counter the Steve Cohen-backed Metropolitan Park.Eagle photo by Ryan Schwach
By Ryan Schwach
Climate and community advocates over the weekend unveiled a plan to bring a park to the city-owned land currently being used as Citi Field’s parking lot. The plan was pitched as an alternative to Mets owner Steve Cohen’s proposal to bring a casino and entertainment complex to the lot the city has designated as parkland but has never been used as such.
Despite the difference in resources behind the plan – Cohen’s net worth is estimated to be a little less than $20 billion – the park plan dubbed Phoenix Meadows has caught the eye of State Senator Jessica Ramos, who has the ability to make or break any proposal made for the land.
The park plan was unveiled at a rally and march through Downtown Flushing on Saturday by a coalition of local groups opposed to Cohen’s Metropolitan Park. Phoenix Meadows was designed by a coalition of advocates aligned under the group FED UP – or Flushing for Equitable Development and Urban Planning.
The group opposes the unrelated proposed developments at Citi Field and Willets Point, and want to see the land instead used as public park space.
Under the proposal, which is still in its earliest stages, Phoenix Meadows would bring 65 acres of parkland to the lot, with a large sloped park that allows for a parking structure to remain for Mets fans and other Citi Field-goers.
“The idea is that you build parking garages, two to three stories, with the exact same amount of parking that is right now, no net loss, no net gain of parking, same traffic flow, and you build a huge park on top of that parking, you hide the parking with the park,” said Rebecca Pryor, the executive director of the Guardians of Flushing Bay.
While Pryor and others behind the Phoenix Meadows plan touted its environmental impacts – they claim the slanted nature of the park would allow for the control of rainwater in the area that often floods – they also bashed what they said would be negative environmental impacts brought on by Cohen’s casino plan.
“It doubles the number of parking spaces in an area that has some of the highest levels of air toxicity from traffic in the nation,” said Pryor. “It has no plan for flooding protection in an area that frequently floods.”
Cohen has yet to release many details about the proposal, including potential flood protection.
Advocates on Saturday also argued that while the Metropolitan Park plan would serve wealthy visitors, potentially coming at cost for locals, the Phoenix Meadows plan would prioritize those already living in the surrounding neighborhoods of Flushing, Corona and Elmhurst.
In a statement to the Eagle, a spokesperson for Metropolitan Park defended the casino plan, which they said was created after collecting input from locals during several “visioning sessions” they held in 2023.
“This visionary plan is the result of more than a dozen community workshops and hundreds of conversations with local leaders and neighbors,” said spokesperson John Collins. “We believe Metropolitan Park is exactly the kind of revolutionary proposal that community leaders can support.”
Cohen and his partners, Hard Rock, also believe that their plan – which is privately financed – hits on many of the attractions Phoenix Meadows offers, like investments into climate mitigation infrastructure, park space and food vendors.
“We are proud of the vision for Metropolitan Park, a community-led plan that will invest $8 billion to create 25 acres of new public-park space and athletic fields, deliver 15,000 good-paying jobs and careers, modernize the Mets-Willets Point 7 train station, build a Taste of Queens Food Hall and establish workforce training and community development programs.” said Collins.
Despite the land’s designation as parkland, the Phoenix Meadows plan remains a longshot.
There’s currently no money behind the plan – Pryor said that she believes the project could be funded through the state and federal government using funds dedicated to combating climate change.
Signs were put up by Phoenix Meadows advocates around the busy and crowded areas of Downtown Flushing. Eagle photo by Ryan Schwach
The plan also currently doesn’t have the support of a lawmaker at the city, state or federal level.
But organizers attempted to change that on Saturday, noting that the aim of the rally was to get the word out about the plan and to get lawmakers, including Ramos, State Senator John Liu and Assemblymember Ron Kim, on board.
“I think it's convincing Senator Ramos to support a community-based vision,” said Pryor. “I think the elected officials are accountable here.”
“The whole premise of our organizing is that people power wins and people power is critical,” she added. “There are a lot of folks in Corona, Flushing, East Elmhurst and College Point who don't want a casino.”
Although Cohen and his backers have already spent millions to lobby for the casino project, Ramos is giving the community-designed Phoenix Meadows equal footing at a town hall she’s hosting on Wednesday.
“We are giving them the platform and the opportunity to present their idea to the rest of the community,” Ramos told the Eagle in a phone call on Monday. “We are going to give them the same amount of time as the Metropolitan Park.”
Ramos has previously held two other town halls on the casino pitch. The first served as a primer on how such a process would unfold and the second involved asking supporters of the plan to draft a wish-list of community benefits to ask from Cohen and those opposed to the plan to propose an alternative.
Ramos said the town halls are about establishing a process for reviewing casino proposals where one didn’t exist previously, and making the community aware of all the ideas on the table.
“We want to put all the cards on the table,” Ramos said. “We want the community to be well informed.”
While Cohen is competing with around a dozen developers for one of three downstate casino licenses expected to be handed out by the state’s Gaming Commission in the next year or two, he’ll also need Ramos to approve of his project if he has any shot of it moving forward.
Because of the land’s designation as parkland, Ramos and her Assembly counterpart, Jeff Aubry, would need to introduce a piece of legislation known as a parkland alienation bill that would specifically allow for Cohen to build his casino.
Though Aubry introduced such a bill last year, Ramos held off. Cohen will likely need Ramos to introduce a parkland alienation bill this year in order to build a casino there.
Speaking with the Eagle on Monday, Ramos declined to comment on her view of either Metropolitan Park or Phoenix Meadows. The senator said constituents she’s spoken with over the past year appear to be split, at least on the casino plan.
“Anecdotally a lot of people like the idea, a lot of people don’t, it's not as clear,” she said. “That is why these meetings are so important.”
“I think we’ll see how Wednesday night goes,” she added. “The conversation continues, I’m in no rush.”
