Queens Triple Play: Willets West, Major League Soccer, and the National Tennis Center highlights the major changes that will impact Flushing Meadows Corona Park. Willets West, a 1.4 million square foot mall, is expected to be completed by 2018, which will be constructed in the parking lot of Citi Field’s parking lot. Also Major League Soccer hopes on building a 25000 seat brand new stadium for the new NYC team. The proposed place to build the stadium is the Fountain of the Planets. Lastly, in the West, the National Tennis Center is planning an expansion of 7000 new seats, suites, retail space, and 700 new parking spaces.

The article sums up the effects of these three major proposals – these three projects will change the northern half of Queen’s flagship park into a “car-dependent” and “largely commercialized destination”. The new plans will easily add more than 10,000 parking spaces and the residents are worried about the heavy traffic those cars are going to bring. With these new changes, it would be difficult to implement “green” plan (with new spaces for park being taken away).

Although these changes will bring some positive results, there seems to be major disadvantages too. The biggest concern has to be the massive amount of traffic the projects are going to bring (especially that 7 train line!!). It really is difficult to find the neutral and the fairest method to resolve these problems. Personally, I’m worried about the park. It seems like developments are closing in on the park and the park is losing its chances of expanding because of these proposals (as shown by the statistics in the article – Flushing Meadow Corona Park is labeled in public documents with 1,255 acres of land, including Citifield and its parking lots. However, when non-park spaces are counted out, only 347 acres of the park is open for use )

“Queens Triple Play: Willets West, Major League Soccer, National Tennis Center” talks about the three new additions that will be built in Flushing Meadows Corona Park. While this project is not immediate, residents and business owners will slowly be displaced over the next twenty years. While the idea of a mall, soccer stadium and tennis stadium sound nice in theory, many other projects come with these three. For example, parking lots must be created for each of the projects. Many residents of Willets Point will find that either their homes are in the way of these plans and therefore must move or that their way of life will be drastically changed. A sudden influx of tourists, sports fans and shoppers will crowd the streets surrounding the area and the residents will have to suffer for it. Suddenly, there half hour commutes turn into a few hours just to make it to the crowded train station on game nights.

The construction of these three projects will almost completely deplete what is left of the park. It is already hard enough to find a small lot of grass in the vast city but after these projects, it will be difficult to even call the space a park. Small patches of grass separated by large stadiums and parking lots offer very little peace and quiet to that resident who just wants to spend their lunch break in nature. Many residents are outraged and have every right to be when their backyard, playground and peace are being disturbed.

Northern Queens has had a rich history in terms of developmental progress in the 20th century. As far back as 1939, Queens has drawn attention from major capitalist investors as a use of space. Originally, the Flushing Meadows-Corona Park was renovated as the location of the World’s Fair of 1939. The same area is drawing contemporary attention in serving as a major center of attraction, housing the largest mall in the city alongside three major sports arenas. Though the same area is being contested, there are significantly different implications in the modern proposal concerning the immigrant populations in the surrounding areas. The mid-20th century saw an influx of Asian and Hispanic immigration, significant numbers of which settled in the county of Queens. However, these groups have been marginalized in the discussion of these proposed projects and their best interests have not been taken into account.

As well articulated in the Pratt Center report, “though the three projects are being proposed separately, their sites are contiguous, and they would collectively transform the under-maintained but heavily-used northern half of Queens flagship park into a car-dependent and largely commercialized ‘destination’ serving a citywide audience.” Effects would include the creation of 13,000 parking spaces, the displacement of over 60 local companies and business and hundreds of workers, increases in traffic and congestion, severe overcrowding on the #7 line, and most of all, the loss of a well-used public space.

Bearing in mind these proposed changes, one must also examine the ongoing ones to evaluate and predict the outcomes of these future projects. Construction has begun on Flushing Commons, which transforms a five-acre municipal parking lot into “235,00 square feet of small-scale retail, 185,000 square feet of office space, about 600 condos, a 62,000-square-foot YMCA, a one-and-a-half-acre park, and, to make up for the lost parking lot, 1,600 underground parking spaces.” Furthermore, the Sky View Center, an 800,000-square-foot mall is located on the Flushing waterfront, already serves as home to several big-box stores and Sky View Parc, the attached luxury condo towers, is severely under populated. With this much commercialization and development in Flushing, the question is raised of why further development is needed in the adjacent Willets Point area, and who these developing areas will serve, as “the local economy is Flushing is very strong.”

Furthermore, Flushing Meadows-Corona Park is already serving the variety of immigrant groups that consider Queens home. As Sarah Goodyear reports, “Flushing Meadows may not be the most beautiful park in New York—it is mostly flat and featureless, surrounded by highways and short of amenities—but it is one of the best used.” It is home to the Queens Museum of Art, the New York Hall of Science, the Billie Jean National Tennis Center, all of which are affordable destinations for local residents. But at its core, Flushing Meadows is “a true people’s park.” In serving Flushing’s increasingly diverse immigrant population, the park is home to cricket matches, soccer rivalries, volleyball games, and barbecues. Although being comprised of 1255 acres of land, only 347 acres are open to the public today. Despite this shortcoming, parks like these are a major component of the immigrant enclave. As Arturo Sanchez says, “Dense immigrant networks are an important reservoir of for accessing scarce economic, psychic, and informal resources that support migrant civic engagement.” Essentially, what he his saying is that something like a Mexican immigrant soccer club can “promote interpersonal contact, mutual assistance, and lubricate migrant civic incorporation.” Park space can act as a social center and information source, and therefore engage residents in community building.

The article “Queens Triple Play: Willets West, Major League Soccer, National Tennis Center” highlights the upcoming plans and changes that are being attempted to made. These plans look to increase the value of Queens and create a mini-city within the area of Citi Field, USTA, as well as part of what they plan to make a MLS stadium. Throughout this expensive, yet promising task, this article addresses the pros and cons for each of the developments.

With the newly created baseball stadium, Citi Field, comes with garage areas where cars can be fixed (Willets Point). However, with the Queens Triple Play, there is going to be the largest mall in Queens, that is aimed to be created South of Citi Field as well as hotels on the north side. Not only, but also there is going to be an expansion in parking. However, with the addition of the mall and hotels and parking, many tenants, workers, and residents will be negatively effected. Residents would be displaced, certain businesses will have to move, and workers will have to look for new jobs since the mall will look for “low-wage” workers.

On the north east side will be the site of the new, 25,000 seat MLS stadium. As a result, 7.5 acres of land will be needed to construct this stadium, which will probably include park land. This will allow professional soccer to expand in the city and also allow MLS to rehabilitate various soccer fields, wetlands, and surrounding park areas. Through previous research, the stadium will have a positive impact on the surrounding areas in which local businesses will benefit. However, for this 3-5 year construction period, soccer fields will not be available for the public. The last development would be the expansion of the USTA tennis center.

In total, 60 companies and hundreds of workers will be displaced and a good amount of money will have to be given in from companies and organizations to support the Queens triple play. Although the idea of these expansions and developments may sound appealing, they also have downsides. That being said, the creation of all these new sites will lead to a large influx of immigrants/people around Queens to observe these new developments and will increase traffic surrounding that area, which is a negative factor to this plan.

In “From Dump to Glory”: Flushing River and Downtown Transformation, Tarry Hum explains the plan Bloomberg has in store for the area around Flushing waterfront. The revitalization plan is to lessen the traffic in the area, clean up polluted lands, and generally beautify the area. Luxury condos, a soccer stadium, tennis courts, and large shopping centers are to be built in these areas and will definitely displace lower-income residences such as those in Bland Houses and small, mostly immigrant-run businesses. Yet, despite taking place near their homes and businesses, nearby residences are largely unaware of this revitalization plan and the opinions of immigrant stakeholders don’t seem be heard by the government.

The question is who exactly will benefit from this plan? Real-estate prices will go up and perhaps it will be better for New York City’s economy, but what about the residents and businesses that may be displaced because of increased rents? People would lose jobs and homes. These people are probably immigrants who flocked to ethnic neighborhoods for jobs. What will happen to them? Will they receive help in finding new jobs and homes? These people are probably working long hours for minimum (or not even) wage. They probably won’t benefit very much from this plan and won’t even be able squeeze the money out for tickets to see games in the stadiums that are to built. As Hum and Sanchez describe in their writings. These are the people who will be most effected by this plan and yet they aren’t even aware of what’s happening and their voices aren’t even heard by the government.

Will the time, money, and efforts invested in this plan really pay off in the end? The area will become extremely commercialized. This will displace many immigrants and businesses. As result of the entering of large nation-wide stores such as Target and the exiting of small immigrant-run businesses, the entire area will lose its ethnic personality and become a generic form of commercialized areas such as Times Square and Roosevelt Field Mall. What exactly can be done to prevent this generalization? Is there anything that can be done? If the area does become commercialized, Queens may tragically lose some of its uniqueness and diversity.

Willets West Shopping Mall, Major League Soccer Stadium, and National Tennis Center expansion all in one area, coincidence? These are three big projects set to take place in the same area, Flushing Meadows Corona Park, over a span of the next twenty years. Imagine walking through Flushing Meadows Corona Park twenty years from now, and it being completely different from the way you once knew it, that’s exactly what is going to happen here. Why Flushing Meadows park of all places? When you look at the numbers, only 28% of the lands 1,255 acres of land is available for public use and to take more of that could prove costly for the people living in the area. And the ones most likely to be affected the most is the residents of Willets Point. The temporary parking needed to replace what Citi Field would be losing with the creation of the Willets West Shopping Mall would cause many of the residents of Willets Point to be displaced many years before the proposed restructuring of Willets Point, which includes new housing and schools, will take place. The biggest tradeoff facing the residents is the prospect of new jobs versus the public space they have grown accustomed too. These issues may not be resolved while Bloomberg is in office, so voters must beware of a mayoral candidate promising to bring new jobs to New York City, because in the end you may just get what you wish for.

The people of this area have legitimate concerns, there is no questioning that. The streets and the 7 line is crowded enough as it is, will even be more so after these projects are introduced. Consequently, this could eventually lead to using more park space or empty land to build more streets or expand subway lines to accomodate the four big attractions that will have now settled in that area. What does the future hold for the park, and the residents of nearby neighborhoods? Will we see a big victory for public opposition, or will we see the biggest land grab ever to occur in Queens?

Generally, I am somewhat suspicious of the seemingly good intentions held by large corporations. Even if a corporation honestly means to do good for a community, the leaders are usually out of touch with the needs and demands of the residents. I believe that this is the case with the proposal for an MLS soccer stadium in Flushing Meadows Corona Park.

Officials with the MLS claim that they want to create jobs for the surrounding communities. MLS has also offered aid to help maintain the park and some aspects of the surrounding neighborhoods. In their proposal, they claimed that the presence of a soccer field in FMCP will bring increased business to local shops and restaurants. This is, of course, assuming that those who come to the games will stay around neighborhoods like Corona afterwards. This idea is very top-down, that is, it assumes that placing one economic engine in a neighborhood will somehow revitalize the entire neighborhood.

This way of thinking is incorrect. There is no way that the presence of one business can aid dozens and dozens of others. Besides that, what about other business types that have no sort of association with the demands of soccer fans? What do they have to gain? Also, what about the residents of Corona who work outside of it, but make use of the open space in FMCP as it is?

The lack of resident inclusion in the decision making process here is alarming. A company cannot honestly say that they are looking out for the needs of the people if they aren’t reaching out to the people. What do a few executives at the top know about neighborhood dynamics and the true needs of its residents? Little to nothing, most likely.

Hopefully, one of three things will happen here: the MLS will realize that they are not truly catering to the needs of the public and they will create new proposals that will be more inclusive of the residents, the city will hold them accountable for their claims of improving the surrounding neighborhoods, or the people of the surrounding neighborhoods will raise their voices and let the MLS know what they really want, or that they want to be included in the decision making process. If none of these things happen, the residents of Queens just might remember this year as the year they let themselves get taken advantage of for the financial gains of others.

The Pratt Center did a report called Queens Triple Play: Willets West, Major League Soccer, and the National Tennis Center that describes the different proposals for park space in Corona, Queens.  The first plan is a continuation of a project that started in Willets  Point and was supposed to revamp that area.  However, a mall, Willets West, and other commercial buildings are set to be built on the parking lot of Corona’s CitiField.  This disrupt the lives of Corona residents because of the additional amounts of traffic, both vehicles and people, that would develop around that area.  The project does call for demolishing commercial buildings in Willets Point to make space for parking, but that does not compensate for the new commercialization that will surround CitiField.  The second proposal is for a soccer field in the Flushing Meadow Corona Park.  It was originally proposed to be built on Pier 40 in Manhattan, but was rejected because of the community opposition.  On the west side, a tennis center is to be built, as well as more seats for the soccer stadium, retail spaces, suites, and parking space.  Although this proposal has moved locations, the same reservations are prominent in Corona.  The first, and biggest problem that residents of Corona have is the fact that the stadium is going to be built on park land.  It may not be the most maintained area, but it is one of the few park spaces that Queens has and residents are not ready to lose it.  They are also concerned with the amount of traffic that come from adding yet another stadium with commercial properties around it.  If these three projects are finalized, the only people that will benefit are the businesses that are in charge of the projects.  The residents and local businesses would most likely be negatively effected because of the spaces that would not be open to the public and the businesses that would be displaced.

The article, “Queens Triple Play: Willets West, Major League Soccer, and the National Tennis Center”, gives the readers a glimpse of the fate of Flushing Meadows Corona Park.  As the article points out, there are several pros and cons in regards to the construction of the “largest mall in Queens” on the Citifield parking lot, the Major League Soccer (MLS) stadium and the National Tennis Center. The construction of a large mall and new stadiums will attract more customers and fans to the neighborhood, which in turn will have a positive impact on local businesses such as restaurants and bars. In class, we previously discussed that Willets Point is not much of a residential area and lies on the outskirts of New York City. Also, as Prerana Reddy discussed in our visit to the QMA, Flushing Meadows Corona Park does not have as many employees as Central Park in Manhattan does. Therefore we can see that the Flushing Meadows Corona Park is not as well maintained as Central Park. Such differences occur due to the parks’ location. Central Park is located right in the middle of Manhattan while Flushing Meadows Corona Park lies on the outskirts of the city. In class, we previously discussed that the surrounding neighborhood of Willets Point is not much of a residential area either. So by building a stadium or a large mall in the area, the neighborhoods surrounding Flushing Meadows Corona park will get citywide attention. Local businesses will thrive and the neighborhood aesthetics will improve in order to attract a larger crowd to these huge centers of entertainment.

Although these benefits sound great, the use of public park space to build such huge complexes is detrimental to the lifestyle of the local neighborhoods’ residents. According to the article, the public space in Flushing Meadows Corona Park is the only open space where residents can come to participate and enjoy outside recreational activities. If this space is taken over by malls and sports centers, residents will not have the open park space to enjoy anymore. Also, the surrounding neighborhoods of Flushing, Corona and Elmhurst are already experiencing rapid population growth and the construction of such crowd attracting centers will only make the problem of overcrowding in homes and on the number 7 train line worse. Traffic will also be a huge contributor to the overcrowding issue. Although businesses such as restaurants and bars will thrive, small local businesses will be replaced by huge chain stores in the large shopping mall.

Also, it is interesting to note that the project to create more housing units in Willets Point was pushed back to as far as 2028 while the three projects (which is the construction of a large mall, MLS stadium and the National Tennis Center) will only take about four to five years to complete. It is easy to see that the focus right now is on the completion such extravagant projects (which may cause more harm to the local communities than actually benefitting them). Meanwhile the projects (such as the construction of housing) that will directly benefit the local communities have been put on hold. Although the construction of these major projects is not complete, we can pretty much predict the detrimental impact of these commercialized projects on Flushing Meadows Corona Park and the surrounding neighborhoods.