For years, a vast slab of land in Queens has been neglected. Surrounding Citi Field, home of the Mets, most of it is taken up by parking lots.
Technically, the land was, until recently, designated as parkland, part of the nearly 900-acre Flushing Meadows Corona Park.
But last year the city separated much of it from the park to allow for commercial use, making way for one of New York’s three newly approved casinos. Backed by $8 billion in funding from Hard Rock and New York Mets owner Steve Cohen, the planned Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Metropolitan Park site promises 5,000 slot machines and 375 live dealer tables. It will take up 78 acres.
Many neighbors are concerned.
“They put a bunch of handball courts around Queens in the past, so then we all grew up playing handball,” said Graciela Quispe, 27, who lives in Corona. “If you put a bunch of casinos in all of our neighborhoods, we’re going to see people going to the casinos.”
Flushing and Corona, which border the park, have large working-class and immigrant populations. Many worry what the development means for the park and the well-being of neighbors.
