Posted May 28, 2024, 7:10 PM
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New Yorker for life
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Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Borough of Jersey
Posts: 52,912
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https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/28/n...en-casino.html
State Senator Opposes Casino Proposal in Queens, Rebuffing Mets Owner
Jessica Ramos, a state senator from Queens who is considering a run for mayor, moved to stop a proposal from Steven Cohen, the billionaire owner of the New York Mets.
By Emma G. Fitzsimmons and Dana Rubinstein
May 28, 2024
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Ms. Ramos said that she resented the pressure she had received from the bid to support the proposal after her community had faced “generations of neglect.”
“We want investment and opportunity, we are desperate for green space, and recreation for the whole family,” she said. “We disagree on the premise that we have to accept a casino in our backyard as the trade-off.”
….. The vast team of lobbyists and consultants assembled by Mr. Cohen and Hard Rock could spend much of the next year trying to change Ms. Ramos’s mind or maneuver around her.
The only likely workaround in the State Legislature would be for Mr. Cohen and Hard Rock to persuade one of Ms. Ramos’s colleagues to introduce the necessary legislation, but the Legislature typically defers to local lawmakers on issues affecting their districts, and it is considered unlikely that a state senator would break that practice.
Ms. Ramos, whose intentions were first revealed in a lengthy article in New York magazine published early Tuesday, said that she would make an alternative proposal that would permit Mr. Cohen and his partners to build a convention center and hotel on a parcel of land near La Guardia Airport, allowing them to “still make a profit, albeit less.”
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https://www.hudsonriverblue.com/sena...mlb-nycfc-mls/
Senator Jessica Ramos: Steve Cohen's casino at Citi Field "all but dead"
New York Magazine drops bombshell that Mets owner's $8 billion "Metropolitan Park" casino won't get Albany approval.
OLIVER STRAND
May 28, 2024
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The epic article by Noah Shachtman, titled "New Jackpot City," drops us into the middle of the frenetic endgame for the single downstate New York casino license that will allow a developer to reap unimagined profits "and remake an entire section of the city" in exchange for a $500 million fee and an agreement "to pay tax rates approaching 70 percent."
Up until this morning, the leading candidate was New York Mets owner Steve Cohen, whose Metropolitan Park proposed to turn 50 acres of Citi Field's parking lot "into a top-of-the-line casino and resort, with a Hard Rock Hotel, several restaurants, a concert venue on par with Radio City, a manicured new green space, and more."
In addition, Cohen promised to rebuild the subway station, and underwrite new medical and mental-health centers. His family foundation already "donated $116 million to a local community college for a 'workforce training center,' the largest in the City University of New York system’s history." What's a few billion dollars in giveaways when tens of billions of dollars in profits are on the line?
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https://qns.com/2024/05/sen-ramos-de...de-citi-field/
Sen. Ramos delivers potential death blow to Mets owner’s dream of a casino alongside Citi Field
By Bill Parry
Posted on May 28, 2024
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State Senator Jessica Ramos dealt a serious blow Tuesday to New York Mets owner Steve Cohen’s dream of building a massive casino and entertainment complex on the parking lot adjoining Citi Field where Shea Stadium once stood.
Ramos announced she would not support the $8 billion Metropolitan Park proposal, rejecting major pressure from her colleagues in government, including Queens Borough President Donovan Richards, and community leaders from nearby neighborhoods, who urged her to support permitted use legislation that would be required to build the complex on state-owned public parkland.
Ramos is moving ahead with new legislation that would authorize the City of New York to allow development on the 50 acres of parking lot that is technically part of Flushing Meadows Corona Park.
“I have drafted an alternative alienation bill that strikes a balance and would allow Mr. Cohen and Hard Rock to build a convention center and hotel, and more than double the proposed open green space,” Ramos said. “The parcel in question is in strategic proximity to LaGuardia Airport and allows for visitors and tourists to feed into our vibrant food scene while addressing the consequence of climate change in the area. Mr. Cohen and Hard Rock would still make a profit, albeit less.”
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