Bloomberg Offers Flushing Airport to Replace Stadium Parkland

In a fashion that could only be described as "typically Bloomberg," New York City's mayor has managed to yada yada the building of a stadium on public parkland in Queens. 

Bloomberg talked about the plan to build a soccer stadium in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park during a press conference on Monday, saying essentially that the part of the park where they're planning on putting it is kind of crappy, so whatever. 

"Keep in mind, that end of the park is not...it has seen its better days," Bloomberg said. "There's not a lot of money to fix it. This will improve that area. The new parkland will be great parkland."

This will be familiar to Queens residents as the same justification for the city's attempt to takeover Willets Point, which has been ongoing since Citi Field was just a gleam in the mayor's eye. 

The new parkland in question is the old Flushing Airport in College Point, which, as public parkland goes, could be categorized as largely inaccessible. 

The old airfield is not currently connected to the larger park, and has no nearby subway stations. The closest public transportation, aside from bus lines, is the terminus of the 7-train on Main Street, which is a long way south.

Still, Bloomberg said, they're replacing it with the same acreage, so stop complaining. 

"The total parkland will remain the same...There's a lot of things that people want to enjoy life and recreation," Bloomberg said. "Some is organized things in stadiums, like soccer, which has become very popular as our immigrant population has grown larger here."