By Joe Anuta
The Bloomberg administration probably will be tapping a state lawmaker from outside Queens to carry a state bill allowing the United States Tennis Association to expand its Flushing Meadows Corona Park facility.
At a news conference earlier this week the mayor also alluded to where Major League Soccer would find replacement greenspace should its proposal to site a 25,000-seat soccer field in the same park successfully obtain approvals from the city.
In order for the USTA to expand its 42-acre footprint of the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center by 0.68 acres and perform renovations — a proposal that is currently under the city’s land-use review procedure — a strip of land needs to be transferred from city ownership to the association’s lease in a process called alienation.
Parkland alienation involves many steps, but eventually requires a state bill to be passed in both the state Assembly and the state Senate. Typically, the bills are sponsored by the lawmakers whose districts encompass the park to be leased or sold. In this case, those lawmakers are Sen. Jose Peralta (D-East Elmhurst) and Assemblyman Jeffrion Aubry (D-Corona).
Aubry has said he would sponsor the legislation and support the project provided the USTA meets a set of conditions. Peralta has not decided if he is for or against the project, but said he would not sponsor it.
Multiple sources told TimesLedger Newspapers that instead of Peralta the administration may be looking to Sen. Martin Golden (R-Brooklyn) to carry the legislation. Golden has received tens of thousands of dollars from Mayor Michael Bloomberg in campaign funds, but also incurred a tongue-lashing from the billionaire earlier this year for nixing state speed camera legislation.
Neither Aubry, Golden nor the mayor’s office responded to a request for comment.
Peralta has said on numerous occasions the USTA needs to replace any parkland taken up by an expansion of the tennis center. He has also called on the association to be a better neighbor and hire more union workers.
After the USTA and the city announced an agreement to transfer roughly 1.5 acres of leased parkland from the USTA back to the city last week — a move widely panned by critics since it involves greenspace already accessible to the community — Peralta released a statement.
“I’m looking forward to seeing the details and hearing what the community has to say, but it seems that the USTA and Parks Department reached a sensible agreement,” he said.
Political observers said Peralta may be trying to distance himself from a controversial subject in an election year.
The senator is running for borough president, and developments in Flushing Meadows Corona Park could become easy ammo.
“That’s a political decision that some legislators have to make,” said Barbara Bartoletti, legislative director for the good government group New York State League of Women Voters. “If he thinks it is politically unpopular, that explains why he would want to remain distant from it.”
Meanwhile, Bloomberg suggested at a Monday news conference that MLS would replace the 13 acres of Flushing Meadows with acerage at the old Flushing Airport.
“In fact, there’s an old airport, Flushing Airport, which is going to be turned into a park. So the total parkland would be the same,” the mayor said, according to the New York Post.
Reach reporter Joe Anuta by e-mail at januta@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4566.
