OK Please stop with this nonsense headline:
Fans to Mets Owner: We Don’t Want to Drive to Citi Field
It comes from NYC StreetsBlog and thanks to @bobmrik for putting it on my radar.
First of all, to be fair, I am sure SOME fans don’t want to drive to Citi Field. Some would want to bike. Others might walk. Some might take an Uber. Some might take a limo.
I myself enjoy a bicycle. However, even if we had World Class Bike Lanes from my house to Citi Field, it would still take me many hours to get there, so I DO want to drive to Citi Field (well, I don’t want to go to Citi Field at all, but if I did I would drive and park in Corona and THEN walk.)
Guys like @mediagoon live within biking distance, but he’s been known to drive to Citi Field, so ask him. T-Shirt enthusiast tailgaters seem to have cars with tailgating paraphernalia, beverages and food in their cars, so they seem to drive.
Anyway, SOME fans probably don’t want to drive, and some do. But the notion that MOST fans don’t want to drive is nonsense.
Next, be sure to click through to the piece so that you can see the graphic they shared. Am I really to believe that one of the top ways most people want to get to Citi Field is by…wait for it…WALKING?
Really?
Now it’s possible that the people who could be bothered to show up at a casino propoganda meeting visioning session were nearby residents – for example, Steve could have offered me $500 and I probably would have rather stayed home and played video games than trek to Citi Field – and I surely would not have walked.
Fortunately, part of this discussion turned Anti-Casino!
“I don’t think that we need a casino in order for that to be done,” said State Sen. Jessica Ramos, who attended the workshop. “We need bike lanes yesterday. For eons, so many of us have been talking about coming down 34th Avenue and crossing over the highway [exit and entrance ramps]. There’s all sorts of issues there, and cars don’t properly stop, it can be very dangerous. Ideally, I would love to bike to a Met game with my kids on a nice summer day, but right now, I don’t feel that that’s something I can consider.” (Via NYC Streetsblog)
I don’t know where Jessica Ramos lives, but her office is listed on Google as 74-09 37th Ave Suite 302. Jackson Heights, NY 11372.
I grew up in Jackson Heights, and went to many many Mets games as a kid. We usually took the subway, but occasionally my dad would drive and park in Corona. I do not recall us ever using the lot for a game.
But, having grown up there, the notion that I would have my kids bike from 74th street and 37th avenue, up to 34th avenue, and then the 50 blocks down 34th avenue – FIFTY BLOCKS!!! Do you guys have kids? They will be complaining before we get to 82nd street. And then after a 4 hour baseball game they have to bike home? Are you insane?
An article from 2018 mentioned Ramos “lives in Jackson Heights with her husband … and her two sons, aged 4 and 6.” If I did my math right those kids would now be 9 and 11…or thereabouts. You think a 9 year old is biking home 50 blocks AFTER the game? I don’t.
So I don’t know what’s going on here. Are the cyclists teaming up with the casinosists to get rid of a parking lot. Will we trade parkland for half a mile of a bike lane and a casino? Is it good business for the New York Mets Baseball Team if it’s annoying to drive to Citi Field? If your casino is making a million dollars a day do you care if your baseball stadium is half empty? Will people walk to the casino? Will they bike there?
So many questions, but one thing is clear….. it’s parkland.
…
“No tourists are going to fly to New York to go to Queens,” Brett Herschenfeld, an executive vice president at SL Green, told Janaki. “There’s nothing unique about Queens.”
Mets owner Steve Cohen, who is proposing a casino on the parking lot of Citi Field, opted not to respond. But Borough President Donovan Richards threw some jabs of his own. “Queens is the future,” he told Sally. “Manhattan? That was maybe 1983. We’re in 2023 now.” Most officials who have sway over the process spoke favorably about Cohen’s plan, though state Sen. Jessica Ramos expressed some reservations. (via Politico)
My take: if you are a tourist coming to NEW YORK CITY and what attracts you is a CASINO IN QUEENS….you’re doing NYC…and casinos for that matter….all wrong.
