Northwest Queens is at a crossroads.
For decades, communities like Corona, Elmhurst and Jackson Heights have been deliberately disinvested in by our city, leaving predominantly immigrant families to survive with little to no opportunities for growth. Even before the pandemic, this region experienced higher rates of unemployment, poverty and survival work than other parts of Queens.
COVID-19 exacerbated these already dire conditions, as Corona and Elmhurst became the epicenter of the epicenter of the pandemic — ending not just lives but livelihoods, forcing residents to find other ways to survive.
Four years later, we still see the ripple effects. Along Roosevelt Ave., for example, sex work is prevalent as our neighbors — including thousands of newly arriving asylum seekers — struggle to earn a stable living.
We’ve made progress at Corona Plaza, where my office helped institute a program to help keep the famed space’s beloved vendors afloat. But it is untenable to continue putting Band-Aids on the societal wounds that have been inflicted on this community.
We have the potential to change this narrative, however, thanks in part to the $8 billion Metropolitan Park proposal for the Citi Field parking lot, which sits unused and untouched for more than 200 days per year.
Crafted by New York Mets owner Steve Cohen, Metropolitan Park would be an investment in the economic vitality of Northwest Queens unlike any other in recent memory.
The project would create 23,000 good-paying union jobs, putting families on the pathway toward upward mobility. Don’t believe it? Look no further than Resorts World in Southeast Queens where all employees, down to those sweeping the floors at night, are unionized and earn a living wage with benefits.
Cohen has also committed to creating a $163 million community investment fund, which will provide badly needed financial support for local community-based organizations (CBOs) in fields like legal aid, health care, youth programming and more.
Metropolitan Park would even include a Taste of Queens Food Hall, which I was proud to have successfully negotiated, providing Northwest Queens street vendors with a physical, brick-and-mortar location to sell their cuisine.
I am not a gambling man, but the gaming portion of this project is not geared toward people like me. It’s geared toward the countless fans of the New York Mets, U.S. Open tennis and New York City Football Club — which will move into its new stadium at Willets Point in 2027 — coming into Queens for a game. It’s geared toward the tourist flying into LaGuardia Airport right down the street.
With New York City tourism returning to pre-pandemic levels, it’s clear that Metropolitan Park has the potential to become a regional tourism magnet, a major job creator and a generational wealth builder for local families that have been long denied that possibility.
That’s a reality understood by dozens of CBOs, community leaders, labor unions, elected officials, civic groups, small businesses and countless area residents who support the project. We understand that our borough is growing like never before, and we cannot turn our back on unprecedented economic development opportunities for communities that have historically been left behind.
That is why no one single elected official should be the sole arbiter of this historic $8 billion investment in tourism, union labor and culture. And that is why Community Advisory Committees (CACs) were established by the state Legislature to oversee casino license application projects in the first place — to allow for collaborative decision making, provide public oversight and ensure any concerns the community has are acted on.
These CACs ensure that elected officials from every level of government can review these projects, foster a public process and create the best deal possible for our constituents. We all deserve to have a voice and have our votes be cast after a thorough, transparent community discussion.
Alienation of public land shouldn’t be at the discretion of one person, as every elected official representing the Metropolitan Park site has said in recent months. And by no means should acres of asphalt block families from ascending the financial and societal ladders to the middle class.
Given the choice between a little-used parking lot and creating the borough’s next great revenue-generating tourism hub, I proudly support the option that will create jobs and uplift countless working-class families.
“Queens get the money” isn’t just a motto — it’s our mission. We deserve to be the city’s premiere live, work and play borough. This is our chance to be just that, and we must not let this historic opportunity pass us by.
Richards is the Queens borough president.
