Opinion: A Generational Opportunity to Finally Fund Flushing Meadows Corona Park

A one-time capital pledge cannot fix recurring operational deficits that have left Flushing Meadows Corona Park in poor condition. The nearly 900-acre park has major historic and contemporary value for New York City, hosting major events and serving hundreds of thousands of Queens residents through sports, recreation, and community facilities. Despite its importance, funding has been neglected across budgets and administrations, resulting in deterioration affecting landmarks such as the Unisphere fountain and essential drainage infrastructure. New development nearby creates a generational opportunity to secure long-term support. A $8.1-billion Hard Rock casino and entertainment complex and a $780-million Major League Soccer stadium will border the park and bring large economic activity that can be linked to a sustained funding stream for maintenance and management.

"A one-time capital pledge does not address the recurring operational deficit that has left the park in its current state. What Flushing Meadows needs-what it has always needed-is a dedicated, recurring funding stream tied to the economic activity happening on its doorstep."

"Flushing Meadows Corona Park was born-and then reborn-to serve as New York City's showcase to the world. Home to the city'w two historic World's Fairs and the U.S. Open, our nearly 900-acre park has been host to presidents and popes, works by Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, and Phillip Johnson, not to mention every tennis great of the past 50 years."

"Given the park's outsized historic and contemporary role in New York City's cultural and recreational life, one would imagine funding to maintain and preserve the park would meet at least a minimal standard. One would be wrong: across budgets and administrations, Flushing Meadows Corona Park has been sadly neglected, leading to a state of poor repair that touches everything from the iconic Unisphere fountain to the drainage infrastructure that underlies the park."

"Metropolitan Park, the $8.1-billion Hard Rock casino and entertainment complex, and Etihad Park, the $780-million Major League Soccer stadium, will both border Flushing Meadows Corona Park, and together they will arrive in Queens with an impact similar to another World's Fair. But where the 1939 and 1964 expos built out enormous public assets in Queens without endowing funds to sustain and manage them for the longterm, we now have the opportunity to lock in support for Flushing Meadows Corona Park for generations"

Read at City Limits