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.
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.
