[NYguy]

https://thevillagesun.com/town-hall-...r-midtown-east

Town hall to ask: Is casino the right play for Midtown East?





JANUARY 4, 2024

Should Midtown East roll the dice on a massive casino and mixed-use project that would also include market-rate and affordable housing?

The scheme could well be in the cards for the centrally located area — but first must pass muster with an advisory committee whose members are appointed by politicians.

State Senator Kristen Gonzalez, Assemblymember Harvey Epstein and Councilmember Keith Powers, along with the Stuyvesant Town Peter Cooper Village Tenants Association, are sponsoring a Casino Town Hall to hear community feedback on the proposal on Thurs., Jan. 11, at 6 p.m., at the New York University School of Dentistry, at 345 E. 24th St., at the corner of First Avenue.

Dubbed Freedom Plaza, the plan is being pitched by developer Soloviev Group. The proposal calls for a hotel, two residential towers, retail space, a human rights museum, public green space and a partially subterranean casino operated by Mohegan, all stretching from 38th to 41st Streets between First Avenue and the F.D.R. Drive.

The proposal includes 1,325 apartments, with more than 500 of them slated to be permanently affordable.

The sprawling site, just two blocks south of the United Nations, was formerly home to Con Ed’s historic Waterside power plant, which was the city’s oldest operating electricity-generating station. But Con Ed decommissioned Waterside in 2005 and increased capacity at its East River plant at E. 14th Street. The East Midtown site was sold to a private developer.

Currently, the 6-acre parcel is being used for a yearlong art installation called “Field of Light,” which opened Dec. 15. The nighttime attraction features 17,000 low-light, fiber-optic bulbs that change color — like a made-for-Instagram, technicolor field of glowing poppies. Tickets are sold out through Feb. 1.

Meanwhile, for an applicant to obtain a casino license, they must demonstrate community support by gaining the required two-thirds vote of a Community Advisory Committee (CAC), which holds public meetings and takes testimony from the public. The membership of each CAC depends on the proposed site location, with members being appointed by the mayor and governor and the remaining seats being filled by politicians.

The CAC for the East Midtown site includes one appointee each chosen by Governor Hochul, Mayor Adams, state Senator Gonzalez, Assemblymember Epstein, Borough President Mark Levine and Councilmember Powers.

The Gaming Facility Location Board (GFLB) can only consider applications that are approved by a two-thirds threshold of the CAC.

The purpose of the Jan. 11 town hall is to gather community input and ensure that the voices of those who live in the community and the surrounding areas have a say in the decision-making process regarding the establishment of a casino in their area. Presumably, a casino — even one in an urban setting with access to mass transit — would have a major impact on traffic and potentially quality of life, too. The area already is hammered annually by increased traffic, plus street and sidewalk closures, during the U.N. General Assembly.