Councilman Rory Lancman and community leaders gathered Tuesday to denounce the Mayor’s decision to exclude City Council representation from the southern half of the park on the newly-created Flushing Meadows Corona Park Alliance board of directors.
Lancman said the decision disenfranchises hundreds of thousands of parks users who use Meadow and Willow Lakes and the playgrounds, ballfields, barbecue areas and cricket fields in the southern half of the park.
“The southern half of Flushing Meadows Corona Park, which I represent, and the hundreds
of thousands of people who use it every year, deserve representation on the Alliance board,” Lancman said.
Flushing Meadows Corona Park Conservancy President Jean Silva offered that his organization feels concern that the alliance board may have been created in a haphazard manner.
“There is not enough of a representation of cross sections of the community, as well as zero representation from the community boards,” Silva said. “This Alliance’s board was put together without input from every community and relevant stakeholder.”
Active park user Alan Sherman cited issues related to the southern half of the park, including the need for an official entrance and a total renovation of playgrounds around the lake. He questioned how these concerns would be addressed if the southern half will not be represented on the board.
“This park has always been my backyard,” Sherman said. “I always wondered why the southern end near the lakes have never received the same attention the northern end does.”
