Northern Queens has had a rich history in terms of developmental progress in the 20th century. As far back as 1939, Queens has drawn attention from major capitalist investors as a use of space. Originally, the Flushing Meadows-Corona Park was renovated as the location of the World’s Fair of 1939. The same area is drawing contemporary attention in serving as a major center of attraction, housing the largest mall in the city alongside three major sports arenas. Though the same area is being contested, there are significantly different implications in the modern proposal concerning the immigrant populations in the surrounding areas. The mid-20th century saw an influx of Asian and Hispanic immigration, significant numbers of which settled in the county of Queens. However, these groups have been marginalized in the discussion of these proposed projects and their best interests have not been taken into account.
As well articulated in the Pratt Center report, “though the three projects are being proposed separately, their sites are contiguous, and they would collectively transform the under-maintained but heavily-used northern half of Queens flagship park into a car-dependent and largely commercialized ‘destination’ serving a citywide audience.” Effects would include the creation of 13,000 parking spaces, the displacement of over 60 local companies and business and hundreds of workers, increases in traffic and congestion, severe overcrowding on the #7 line, and most of all, the loss of a well-used public space.
Bearing in mind these proposed changes, one must also examine the ongoing ones to evaluate and predict the outcomes of these future projects. Construction has begun on Flushing Commons, which transforms a five-acre municipal parking lot into “235,00 square feet of small-scale retail, 185,000 square feet of office space, about 600 condos, a 62,000-square-foot YMCA, a one-and-a-half-acre park, and, to make up for the lost parking lot, 1,600 underground parking spaces.” Furthermore, the Sky View Center, an 800,000-square-foot mall is located on the Flushing waterfront, already serves as home to several big-box stores and Sky View Parc, the attached luxury condo towers, is severely under populated. With this much commercialization and development in Flushing, the question is raised of why further development is needed in the adjacent Willets Point area, and who these developing areas will serve, as “the local economy is Flushing is very strong.”
Furthermore, Flushing Meadows-Corona Park is already serving the variety of immigrant groups that consider Queens home. As Sarah Goodyear reports, “Flushing Meadows may not be the most beautiful park in New York—it is mostly flat and featureless, surrounded by highways and short of amenities—but it is one of the best used.” It is home to the Queens Museum of Art, the New York Hall of Science, the Billie Jean National Tennis Center, all of which are affordable destinations for local residents. But at its core, Flushing Meadows is “a true people’s park.” In serving Flushing’s increasingly diverse immigrant population, the park is home to cricket matches, soccer rivalries, volleyball games, and barbecues. Although being comprised of 1255 acres of land, only 347 acres are open to the public today. Despite this shortcoming, parks like these are a major component of the immigrant enclave. As Arturo Sanchez says, “Dense immigrant networks are an important reservoir of for accessing scarce economic, psychic, and informal resources that support migrant civic engagement.” Essentially, what he his saying is that something like a Mexican immigrant soccer club can “promote interpersonal contact, mutual assistance, and lubricate migrant civic incorporation.” Park space can act as a social center and information source, and therefore engage residents in community building.
