Meeting Tabs Flushing Meadows Site

In football terms, it was the team huddle before the big drive.
Queens drew up a number of potential plays and offered them up to the Jets Tuesday, and the franchise decided that if it was to return to its home base, it would be in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park.
A closed-door meeting lasting an hour-and-a-half was attended by Borough President Helen Marshall, Jets’ President Jay Cross and almost every Queens elected official.
Sources in the room said the meeting was almost all positive, with the primary objective of coming to a consensus on a stadium site achieved.
At a press conference following the session, Marshall announced, “The Jets are proposing to come to Flushing Meadows-Corona Park (to the former site of the “Fountain of the Planets).” A throng of cheers arose from the rowdy Jets contingent.
Willets Point was taken off the table as a potential site because the Jets, facing a 2008 expiration of their lease at the Meadowlands, do not believe there is enough time for the city to condemn the property and relocate the businesses currently occupying the land. That fact was also cheered.
Cross said the Jets were not there “to waste New Yorkers time,” in a reference to those who said this was merely a negotiation ploy to sweeten their deal with New Jersey.
“There’s a lot of work still to be done, but we’re excited about the prospects of bringing the glory days of 1939 and 1964 back to Flushing Meadows,” Cross said.
“What you saw today was unity in the concept for having the Jets here,” said Councilmember Helen Sears. “That end of the park needs improvement and sometimes you have to give up a little to get a lot.”
Brian McLaughlin added, “With 10,000 construction jobs created, 2,000 permanent jobs, $250 million in annual economic impact projected to the region and $1.6 billion in new tax revenue over the next 30 years, I’d say, ‘Jets, welcome home!'”
Dozens of excited fans from a group called “Bring Our Jets Home” (BOJH) held a celebratory tailgate party outside Borough Hall to show the Jets the kind of support they have in Queens.
“The Jets should play in the world’s greatest city with access to mass transit,” said BOJH president Pat Curry. “In Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, you have the Long Island Rail Road, the subway and people can also tailgate — it’s perfect.”
editrich@queenscourier.com