Willets Point Meets Criteria

By Corey Bearak

News stories and editorials as the month began discussed an Olympic stadium in Willets Point, an area nestled among Shea Stadium, Roosevelt Avenue, Northern Boulevard and the Flushing River. Junkyards and body shops predominate in this area that also lacks traditional municipal infrastructure such as sewers. What development ought to occur there? Should it include a stadium?

These days I am more likely to watch the Jets practice summers at my alma mater, Hofstra University, than to venture to Giants Stadium. Though many make the long trek from Queens and Long Island, I allowed my season tickets to lapse and attend only an occasional game.

Despite longing to watch the Jets near where they made their Super Bowl run with Broadway Joe, I write not to argue for a stadium near Shea. The larger issue concerns the plans for the Olympic stadium proposed by NYC2012 on the West Side of Manhattan.

Despite the denials of Deputy Mayor Dan Doctoroff and others connected with bringing the Olympics to New York, "secret" memoranda existed concerning a backup site for the West Side stadium, either using a remodeled Shea Stadium or building another facility nearby, most likely at Willets Point.

I strongly support efforts to bring the Olympics to New York. I said as much in several meetings I attended on the proposal with Doctoroff before and after he became Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s Deputy Mayor For Economic Development and Rebuilding. I expressed concerns about flaws related to some of the sites proposed. Despite continued statements by the deputy mayor and NYC2012 representatives, I fully expect changes in the site plan after New York City wins the bid in 2005.

My friend David Oats, head of the Queens Olympic Committee, promotes abandoning the West Side stadium and building the Olympic stadium as a companion to Shea. My friend John Fisher of the Chelsea Clinton Coalition opposes the West Side site. Fisher and other West Siders could embrace a Queens site if their civic partners in Queens express support, but that has not occurred.

Many Queens activists, including advocates for Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, which includes Shea and the National Tennis Center, remember Oats’ advocacy of a Grand Prix race "a dumb idea" that would have used the park. They fear any plan Oats advocates could mean a stadium in the park rather than nearby Willets Point or the Shea parking lot.

When Oats last advanced his proposal, following the city Economic Development Corporation presentation on possible development on both sides of the Flushing River, including Willets Point, Bloomberg reacted.

Interestingly, Manhattan’s Far West Side, where the Olympic stadium would go and the Javits Center sits, lacks transportation infrastructure. No rail. No subways. No interstate.

Over the last several years, I visited cities that built new stadiums. When I visited Baltimore, I worked for a borough president who developed an entire Yankee Village plan. I saw two stadia almost side by side. Bus routes. An interstate highway and light rail. More than a year ago, we visited Cleveland. Two stadia also were off the interstate, near the mass transit.

Yankee Stadium, in contrast, is near buses, the Major Deegan Expressway and the subway. A light rail connection has been promised and the existing Melrose Metro North station is not that far a walk in any event.

Let’s look at Shea, near the Long Island Rail Road, the IRT No. 7 subway, the Grand Central Parkway and the Van Wyck and Whitestone Expressways. You cannot find a better site for a stadium. It meets all criteria.

The mayor says the West Side stadium needs to happen there because it facilitates the much-needed expansion of the Javits Convention Center. The mayor said all boroughs would benefit from a large convention center and that it would bring jobs and the entire city benefits. New York City does need a much larger convention center. We’ll all benefit from the economic activity.

Some questions. Where do the non-New Yorker exhibitors come from? How do they arrive? Might they fly in? Might they fly in or truck in their wares? What airport is near the far West Side? If the stated reason to build the West Side stadium is to build a larger convention facility, why not inject economic development outside of Manhattan?

The Willets Point site certainly is accessible to LaGuardia Airport. Flushing Meadows-Corona Park includes the Hall of Science, the Queens Museum and the Queens Zoo, and nearby attractions include Flushing Town Hall.

The Queens Chamber of Commerce has long advocated for a convention center in Queens. Rather than expand Javits, why not consider a new, large facility in Willets Point, perhaps combined with the Olympic stadium (maybe named Jets Stadium) with a tenant that will get back to the Super Bowl soon?

Corey Bearak is an attorney and adviser on government, community and public affairs. He is also active in Queens civic and political circles.