Time is running out to stop a Vegas-style casino next to Citi Field stadium. Many neighbors do not know that Metropolitan Park — hedge fund billionaire and Mets owner Steve Cohen’s casino proposal — is steamrolling through city and state approvals, despite opposition from local state Sen. Jessica Ramos.
This month, the project passed New York City’s land use review process and Assembly Member Larinda Hooks introduced a bill (A06781) to “alienate” public parkland to allow for the casino. As we write this, Cohen’s multiple firms are lobbying the state Legislature, attempting to circumvent Ramos by having a senator from a different district introduce the bill to push it through the state budget.
While Cohen’s legion of lobbyists and consultants promote a “mixed-use development,” make no mistake — the centerpiece of the proposal is a predatory casino.
Nowhere in the flashy presentations do they acknowledge the harmful impacts of casinos. As Queens residents and organizations based near the proposed site, we are clear-eyed about these dangers and strongly oppose yet another billionaire enriching himself off the backs of working-class people.
Casinos, much like parasites, extract wealth from the communities that host them. Research shows that proximity to a casino correlates with higher rates of problem gambling — a public health issue with well-documented links to domestic violence, family breakdown, bankruptcy, depression, and suicide. Casino gambling is also the most addictive form of gambling.
When people lose everything, some may resort to crime. A decades-long study published by MIT found that crime rates — including burglary and violent offenses — are higher in counties with casinos compared to those without, and increase over time.
The casino business model of racial targeting and predation is the last thing our communities need. Immigrants and low-income individuals are twice as likely to develop problem gambling. Citi Field is next to Flushing and Corona, neighborhoods that are predominantly immigrant and low-income. Yet casino operators deliberately seek locations near large immigrant — and particularly Asian — communities and even provide free transportation and slot machine vouchers to lure low-income gamblers.
In Flushing, long-time residents and small businesses are already feeling the pressure of real estate speculation and skyrocketing rents, with mom-and-pop bakeries and shops shutting their doors and being replaced by large chains. Mega-developments like the proposed casino threaten to exacerbate these challenges.
Moreover, the environmental review submitted for the project glaringly overlooks the neighborhoods of Flushing, East Elmhurst, Jackson Heights, Elmhurst, and much of Corona. Without a comprehensive impact study on the risks of displacement, this project cannot be responsibly approved.
This development would permanently kill the possibility for a much-needed genuine public park in Queens, which ranks last among the five boroughs in parkland. While parks make up 14% of New York City, Queens has just 7%. Instead, the proposal includes a massive 3.7-million-square-foot casino complex with 20-plus story towers in the heart of environmental justice communities.
It nearly doubles the parking spaces on-site, adding traffic, air pollution, and health risks like asthma. Though developers tout a 20-acre park, a closer look at the proposal reveals it is mostly a 7-acre steeply graded grassy plaza tucked between an sprawling 18-acre casino complex and the stadium.
This casino bid broke records in 2024 and 2023 for the highest lobbying expenditures in New York City, inundating local Community Boards and drowning out opposition voices. Their votes are now being used to manufacture a false perception of broad community consent and support.
Despite Cohen’s well-funded lobbying campaign, data from surveys conducted by both Sen. Ramos and MinKwon Center for Community Action show that the majority of residents surveyed oppose a casino. The process for defining “community benefits” has been opaque, lacking legally binding agreements, and prone to back-room deals.
Nevertheless, the casino pushers repeat the refrain “Do you want a [Metropolitan] Park or a parking lot?” Citing their 99-year lease, Cohen’s team is trying to bully our communities into submission. We reject this scare tactic. The lease is already on its second holder in only 14 years and there is simply no way to predict what the future holds.
We call on our state senators and assembly members to resist the lobbying pressure, protect the communities they represent, and oppose parkland alienation that would allow for a billionaire’s casino.
Queens deserves real investment in our parkland, not a casino.
Maniace is on the board of Jackson Heights Beautification Group. Fan is an organizer with Flushing Workers Center. Lau-Burke is a mom and volunteer in the FED UP Coalition opposing the casino. Rosato is a public school parent and homeowner in East Elmhurst.
