When Mets fans come to Shea Stadium to watch their hometown team play this year, it will be impossible to ignore the large structure going up beyond the center field wall.
That structure - Citi Field - will be the new home of the Mets at the beginning of the 2009 season.
While the team was preparing for the season in Florida, the franchise debuted a new logo for the stadium.
“With the unveiling of the Citi Field logo, and the construction of our new home, we are one step closer to bringing the dream of a new home for Mets fans to reality,” Mets COO Jeff Wilpon said.
Mets officials maintain that Citi Field construction is both on time and on budget. Approximately 90 percent of Citi Field’s structural steel frame is complete, including the Jackie Robinson Rotunda, as well as the pouring of structural concrete on the Promenade Level. In addition, masonry brick walls for concession stands and restrooms are currently under construction on the Field and Club Levels, according to a recent Citi Field newsletter.
When Citi Field opens, Mets fans will be able to watch baseball in a state-of-the-art facility complete with a contoured seating configuration that will bring spectators closer to the field on all levels and provide optimal sightlines for a more intimate and entertaining experience throughout the park.
In addition to the roughly 45,000 fans that will be able to take in home games, the surrounding communities are expected to see a benefit from the new facility.
“It will be a boon to the great park and cultural attractions in and around Flushing Meadows-Corona Park,” said Queens Chamber of Commerce President Al Pennisi. “Citi Field will bring prospects for new jobs, incremental business revenue and act as an anchor to true economic development in the heart of the borough.”
When the Mets first announced plans for their new “field of dreams,” the team vowed to include the local Queens community in making their dream a reality.
In a recent newsletter detailing the progress of Citi Field, the Mets reported 36 percent of the construction contracts were awarded to Queens-based businesses while 22 percent of the workforce was also from Queens.
In addition, the Mets also promised to make a strong commitment to provide significant opportunities for local, minority and women-owned business enterprises.
The Mets have been working with an advisory committee of community leaders co-chaired by Borough President Helen Marshall and City Councilmember Leroy Comrie to ensure the involvement of minority- and women-owned businesses in Queens and the immediate area.
Thus far, minorities and women have accounted for 24 percent of the workforce since the project’s commencement, according to the most recent numbers from the Mets.
However, Comrie said that he has not been completely satisfied with how the Mets have involved the local community in the process.
“I am still getting a lot of complaints from vendors that they still haven’t been able to get access to contracts,” Comrie recently said. “They aren’t getting calls returned.”
Comrie said that he hopes that the locals will see a benefit from the remainder of the construction work.
“While it’s a beautiful and necessary project, it was also one that was approved to create opportunities for the local communities,” Comrie said.
Saying Goodbye to Shea
Try to remember
the good old days at Shea.
There were the JETS-
to our beloved METS who played at Shea.
Not to mention the concerts,
like the Beatles, who rocked at Shea.
We even had Pope John Paul II
who led us in prayer at Shea.
It is sad to say goodbye to a place like Shea
where good times were shared
by those who went to Shea.
But maybe Citi Field
will bring something new,
so don’t be blue;
this place could be cool too!
Frederick R. Bedell Jr.
Bellerose
