Posted Dec 29, 2021, 5:11 AM
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New Yorker for life
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Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Borough of Jersey
Posts: 51,907
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Most people just go into casinos for fun anyway. Most people don’t go in expecting to hit the jackpot.
https://www.qchron.com/editions/quee...60ffd0e5b.html
Casino at Willets Point a possiblity
NYS Gaming Commission sent out requests for information
by Sophie Krichevsky
Dec 23, 2021
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….. Among those who responded to the RFI are a variety of local politicians, organizations and businesses, many of whom have expressed discontent with the possibility of a casino on Willets Point.
The path to the current juncture is two-pronged: It is the culmination both of efforts to build a third casino downstate and a continuous push to build in Willets Point.
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The possibility of a casino being built in northeast Queens specifically has been seriously discussed as early as January 2021, when it was noted in a Gaming Commission study. Meanwhile, New York Mets owner Steven Cohen is said to have been in conversations with casino and resort company Las Vegas Sands about putting up a gaming center near Citi Field.
When asked for confirmation on that, a senior communications official in the Mets organization said, “No, I can’t, I don’t have any details on that right now.”
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Back in 2011, the team’s former owners, the Wilpons family and Saul Katz, also proposed building a casino just west of Citi Field, on land that is legally parkland. Since then, several projects have been proposed in the area, including a soccer stadium, numerous apartments and a shopping mall. In 2017, however, the New York State Court of Appeals ruled that the land could not be used for that kind of development. The Mets have a limited exception to the rule; since 1961, the organization has had a long-term lease of the land from Flushing Meadows Corona Park.
The land in question, then, is that to the east of Citi Field, given that it does not have the same level of protection. Currently, that land is zoned as C4-4, which does not allow for casinos.
To change that would require a Uniform Land Use Review Procedure, which would allow for public hearings on the matter; the decision itself would be left to the City Council — with input from the borough president and affected community boards. Community Board 7 would have jurisdiction.
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Such an effort would further be complicated by the fact that 1,100 affordable housing units have been slated to go up there since 2018; the city finally began environmental cleanup earlier this year in preparation.
Councilmember Francisco Moya (D-Corona) is co-chair of the Willets Point Task Force, and has been deeply involved in the effort to build affordable housing there. It’s no surprise, then, that he opposes the potential casino. “We are opposed to anything that could be built that interferes with the two plans approved by the Willets Point task force — including the historic project that will bring the deepest levels of affordability with the 1,100 units of affordable housing,” he said in a prepared statement. “I encourage my colleagues at the state level to ensure that the state doesn’t grant licenses for projects that may impact our most vulnerable families.”
State Sen. John Liu (D-Bayside) was concerned about the “potential displacement” a casino at Willets Point might cause. “[A casino is] a very big ‘if’ at this point,” he said. “It doesn’t seem like Willets Point would be a great place to put a casino.”
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Jennifer Shannon, president of the A Better College Point Civic Association, cited traffic congestion as one of several reasons the association opposes a potential casino.
“If [the Mets] have a game at Citi Field, you can’t move. You can’t get off the highway, you’re rerouted. It’s ridiculous,” she said. “You have the U.S. Open, it turns into that. So now we’re going to add a casino into that mix?”
According to Al Centola, president and founding member of We Love Whitestone Civic Association, the possibility of adding ramps off the Van Wyck Expressway has been floated. He does not think that is sufficient.
“None of the ramps that were proposed initially would be able to handle and divert the traffic,” he said.
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