New Yorkers Rally Against Casino at Citi Field

New Yorkers rallied against a casino that developers hope to build in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, adjacent to Citi Field, at a news conference organized by the Flushing For Equitable Development and Urban Planning (FED-UP) Coalition. Representatives of the Guardians of Flushing Bay, the Flushing Workers Center, the Flushing Anti-Displacement Alliance, and other members of FED-UP spoke out against the proposed casino, which they argue will prey on and devastate the Flushing community.

"Flushing Workers Center is happy to join others in speaking out against the treatment of our community and to unequivocally say no to a casino at Willets Point. This is not about whether or not we like to gamble, it is about whether or not we sit silent and let someone come in and get more people hooked to gambling, destroy families, and bring only more problems to Flushing. We urge everyone to join us in not only rejecting the racist casino plans but in protecting our community- our residents, small businesses and jobs- and demanding development that helps Flushing thrive," stated Sarah Ahn from the Flushing Workers Center.

Developers seek one of the State’s three casino licenses to push a mall-like casino project next to Citi Field that would privatize 50 acres of publicly-owned parkland inside Flushing Meadows-Corona Park. This project is just the latest step in the decades-long plan to develop the 140 acres across the Flushing Creek waterfront—from Downtown Flushing to Willets Point to Citi Field— which has skyrocketed the cost of living in Flushing and has displaced much of the community.

“There are no two ways about it,” said Rebecca Pryor, Executive Director of the Guardians of Flushing Bay, “privatizing 50 acres of public parkland in the middle of low and middle income communities of color is environmental injustice. This is not the time to sit back and enable a 50-acre, public park land grab. Our neighbors have been flooded in their homes, our waterways are soaked in sewage and our local park is one of the most prone to flooding in NYC. Communities from Flushing to Corona to East Elmhurst are in the 95th percentile for toxic air quality and proximity to traffic. We do not need a backroom deal casino. We need transparently planned, community-generated neighborhood projects that absorb rainfall, reduce air pollution, protect our public parkland and prioritize—rather than prey upon—our environmental justice communities. We call on local community organizations, NYC parkland advocates and elected officials to oppose the Citi Field casino license, protect parkland and stand with us as we fight for an environmentally just future for our northern Queens watershed.”

The proposed casino project publicly targets Flushing, attempting to sell the project’s profitability on its ability to exploit the local Chinese community, and threatens the livelihoods of all Queens communities. The harmful neighborhood impacts of gambling centers are well-documented and devastating—they siphon off money from local communities, while residents, like many in Flushing, are struggling with rent and the soaring cost of living.

“The rents and real estate tax in Flushing have been very high. Whether we live, work or do small business here, it has become more and more unaffordable for us. To make matters worse, Cohen wants to use the casino to take away more of our blood and sweat money, making it more difficult for us to pay rent, making us broke, destroying our family and forcing us to leave our community. He particularly prey on us Asians, spending so much to advertise on Asian media, claiming we all agree with his plan. Over a century ago, the European and American colonizers forcefully sold us opium, and then slandered Asians as opium addicts. Today, Cohen targets Asians with a casino, and then portrays Asians as gamblers. Isn't this the same kind of exploitation, the same kind of racism? We refuse to accept this humiliation!” stated Julia Gu, retired home attendant.

Concerned local leaders and community members called on elected officials to oppose the casino at Citi Field, protect 50 acres of public parkland, and promote development that is for the community’s benefit. Community members demanded that elected officials should support improving the parkland around Citi Field, not privatizing it, and should support the Flushing Community Special District Plan, which seeks to protect Flushing’s residents, small businesses, industrial business, and green spaces against displacement.

“Time and again, people like Cohen and other elites working together on this project, including luxury developers, corrupt politicians, and nonprofit bosses looking for a handout from a billionaire, have openly shown us how they look down on us,” said Joseph Jung, Flushing Anti-Displacement Alliance member, “We have been seeing disgusting, racist news coverage about how they want to “cash in” on Asian people and their ‘love for gambling.’ It is shameful that these people who make decisions about our lives have such little regard for our community. That’s why FADA and the FED UP Coalition are fighting for the Flushing Community Special District Plan, which advances a vision for economic development with the people of Flushing at heart. This must end. We, as the Flushing community, have to come together and fight for the future we want.”

“Governor Hochul is pushing to end the sale of menthol cigarettes because Big Tobacco is targeting African-Americans and Latinos. Yet, when another predatory industry wants to target our community here in Flushing no one raises an eyebrow,” stated John Choe, executive director of the Greater Flushing Chamber of Commerce. “Governor Hochul and the owner of the Mets will argue that casinos and stadiums promote economic development and will be ‘good for us.’ They ignore common sense and decades of research that prove otherwise: promises of good-paying jobs and local business growth are a mirage. Just look at Citi Field and tell us if you see any local businesses inside the stadium. We are sick and tired of the lies and empty promises. We want real economic development – we don’t want to end up like Atlantic City, a cesspool of crime and violence where small business is displaced and residents end up in dead-end jobs.”

"Our community parks need more green infrastructure like bioswales and permeable pavement, not the kind of green built on losing our hard earned dollars to casino profits," said Maggie Flanagan, board member of the Guardians of Flushing Bay.

“The land adjacent to Citi Field stadium – the former site of Shea Stadium, currently used for parking but officially New York City parkland - is situated within Flushing Meadows Corona Park,” said Paul Graziano, member of the Save Flushing Meadows Corona Park Coalition, “Since Citi Field has a capacity of nearly 42,000, the baseball team’s operators are required to provide adequate parking spaces for game attendees throughout the surrounding parkland – as they currently do at this site. They may also make it available for temporary, large, public events, such as the popular concerts, circuses, marathons, auto expositions and holiday light spectacles that we enjoy there throughout each year. Constructing a permanent building of any kind on that parcel for a non-park purpose – such as a commercial gambling casino, which can more easily be built on non-parkland sites – cannot be done without alienation of this parkland. This truly would be a drastic action which would remove this land from Flushing Meadows Corona Park forever. Queens must not lose 50 acres of its flagship park – a park built for and enjoyed by the residents of Queens – for the sole purpose of further increasing a billionaire’s personal profit margin at the expense and misery of the surrounding communities.”