Now that Pete Alonso got his $14,000,000 payday, I guess he didn’t feel the need to spend Saturday working out and watch game film.  He spent Saturday at a Hugh School taking selfies.

Standing on the field at Plant on Saturday, before hosting his “Battle for the Bay,” Alonso, 28, said the contract was something he could only dream about when he was hitting homers for the Panthers.

“(Friday), it was really special. As a young kid, thinking back on it, I never thought that that would be a possibility. I mean, it was a dream, ” the two-time home run derby champion said. “As a young kid, you … just want to get (to the majors), and then once things start to become more of a reality, then it’s like ‘OK, this is this is real. This is real.’

“So, it’s a really special moment, and I had to go out and perform, but also at the same time, I feel blessed.”

I mean, I just kind of sat back and just kicked my feet up and watched (Cohen). I thought we have some great players that are on the roster, and I think that making some new additions was awesome.

“I think that we have a great core of kids. We have great talent. And I feel like we made some really positive additions. So it’s going to be really exciting.”

“I feel like we’re on the brink of something extremely special.  And I know that we don’t just want to win one (championship). We want to win multiple championships. And in order to do that, we’ve got to perform. We definitely have the talent to be able to do that.” (Via TampaBay.com)

Let’s take a break from Steve’s Casino Project to look at the other side of the street.  The New York Times asks: Will New York City’s Soccer Stadium Cost Taxpayers $0 or $516 Million?  An independent budget analysis suggests that the city will be losing $516 million in tax revenue from its deal to place a new soccer stadium in Queens.

The Times writes:

In a new analysis, the city’s Independent Budget Office has concluded that the actual cost to taxpayers for the new soccer stadium in Queens will be at least $516 million, spread over the course of the 49-year term of the New York City Football Club’s lease.

…

Because the city chose to lease the land in the Willets Point neighborhood to the developers rather than sell it, no property taxes will be generated.

..

The stadium’s other developers, a joint venture of Related Companies and Sterling Equities, are also not without substantial resources. Stephen M. Ross, the founder and chairman of Related Companies, is worth nearly $12 billion, according to Forbes magazine. Sterling Equities was co-founded by Fred Wilpon and Saul Katz, who, with Jeff Wilpon sold the Mets to Steven A. Cohen, a hedge fund manager, for $2.4 billion in 2020.

Well, at least it isn’t parkland.

Looks like Media Goon has solved the casino crisis!

Steve wants a casino built on parkland.   I want “Boston Common” above underground parking.  We all want a domed stadium.  So Media Goon came up with this – let’s knock down Citi Field, start over and build UP.

My first idea is that the new stadium should two stories above ground level. Just like how DisneyWorld is built one story off the ground with service tunnels under it.

My idea is that the casino and shopping can occupy those two levels underneath the stadium. But then what happens to the parkland you want to be built?

Knock down Citi Field and then you have new ground there. Along with the new casino and shops you build a two deck parking area and the roof becomes the parkland and attaches to the stadium to make it seamless as if it was all ground level. Plant trees, build fountains, have foot paths around the area. This level can also have restaurants, bars, museums, and more retail space attached to the new ballpark.

Oh one more thing. This ballpark now has a retractable roof.

So now you have parkland, casino, restaurants, shopping, a new retractable roof stadium, and parking. (Via TheMediagoon.com)

Mr. Goon points out

I know Citi Field is only 14 years old but by the time 126th street has all the affordable housing, retail shops, schools NYFC stadium done, it will probably be closer to being twenty years old. That means it either is or will be obsolete within a few years of that. The Mets should get ahead of that.

 

 

Long Island Business News reports:

Las Vegas Sands plans to purchase the long-term lease of the Nassau Coliseum site to develop a “multi-billion-dollar” casino and entertainment project at the Uniondale property.

Sands, which has been lobbying heavily to snag one of the three downstate casino licenses, will partner with RXR on the planned project, as RXR remains the master developer of the Coliseum site. But Sands will now take the lead on the project which will center around the casino.

So, given that we have a casino at Aqueduct, 7 miles from Citi Field,  and one in Yonkers (18 miles away) and now this one at the site of the Coliseum (23 miles away, and as a former Northern Queens resident, the easiest of the three to get to from Citi Field – you guys can argue amongst yourselves about Aqueduct, there’s a reason there’s a Seinfeld episode about the Van Wyck)….why do we need a Citi Field Casino built on parkland?

I think Steve is a smart man and will realize we don’t.  Also, Steve is an honorable man of his word, and since he truly wants to improve the parkland near Citi Field, I am hopeful he will agree he should adopt my “Boston Common” plan where we would move parking underground and top it with beautiful green space, which would truly improve the area and use parkland as intended.  Thanks in advance Steve, you’re the best!

…

Some of you might not understand why I use the Stonecutter image for casino posts….well, it goes back to an old Simpsons reference,  You see, some people think there are secret deals between rich people and politicians and the rich people get to do whatever the hell they want, as parodied in this classic Simpsons but in which Homer finds himself at a meeting with Mayor Quimby and Mister Burns.

Simpsons fans might enjoy this clip in which Mr. Burns is meeting with the mayor who is excited Mr. Burns wants to build a casino on the waterfront.

Hey gang, check out this wonderful piece from HellgateNYC which has my kind of snark and sarcasm called….

Let the Great Mets Parking Lot Casino Schmooze-Fest Begin!

If you vision it, it might come [a private casino on public parkland].

 

So I am going to excerpt a little bit because I know nobody bothers to click on links in the 2020s. and most people just want to hear about free agents.  But you SHOULD READ THEIR ENTIRE PIECE, but since you won’t, let me educate you a bit…

 

Mets owner Steve Cohen’s quest to build something undisclosed atop the parking lots around Citi Field—psst it’s a casino—held its coming-out party on Saturday, as roughly 450 Queens residents and assorted Mets fans trooped through the stadium’s Piazza 31 Club to provide input on what they would like to see sprout in the team’s infamously barren surroundings.

..

This parkland designation became an issue when, in 2012, then-Mets owner Fred Wilpon and his son Jeff announced that they were partnering with Related Companies, the developer of Hudson Yards, to build a massive shopping mall, dubbed Willets West, in the Citi Field parking lot. Five years and several lawsuits later, Willets West had a fork stuck in it by an appeals court judge who ruled in no uncertain terms that parkland can’t be used for anything other than recreational purposes unless the state legislature specifically acts to allow it.

When Cohen took possession of the Mets in 2020, at a cost of $2.4 billion of his estimated $14.6 billion in net worth, he made no mention of wanting to revive Willets West or do anything else with the stadium lots. But that was before Governor Kathy Hochul announced she was opening up applications for three additional casino licenses, to be specifically reserved for sites in and around New York City.

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The presentation included very little information about Cohen’s actual plans—the man himself put in a cameo but stuck to generalities—preferring to stick to open-ended questions about what local residents would like to see built; handwritten suggestions from the masses included a “jobs training center,” “soapbox derby track,” and “community cannabis gardens. (via HellgateNYC)

Soapbox Derby Track?  Did some boys scouts from the 1940’s attend this thing?   Also how is a “jobs training center” a good use of PARKLAND.  IT’S PARKLAND FOLKS!!! PARKLAND!!!!