Two more City Council representatives have joined Rory Lancman in speaking out against the mayor’s choice of representatives on the newly formed Flushing Meadows Corona Park (FMCP) Alliance.
Council Members Karen Koslowitz, Peter Koo and Rory Lancman sent a joint letter to Mayor Bill de Blasio this week to express their “extreme dissatisfaction” with the lack of transparency in the creation of the FMCP Alliance. The representatives also took issue with the fact that they were not included on the board to advocate for their respective areas.
“Unfortunately, the board’s structure was negotiated in secret and fails to include fair City Council representation, ignoring the concerns of hundreds of thousands of park users,” the letter read.
The southern half of the park is represented in the City Council by Lancman, the southwestern communities near the park are represented by Koslowitz and the communities near the northeastern part of the park are represented by Koo.
The three have asked de Blasio to reconsider the structure of the Alliance’s board of directors by adding seats for additional members.
While Lancman was among the initial critics of the selections for the board of directors, this marks the first time that Koo and Koslowitz have spoken out against the arraignment. Both were present for the mayor’s Nov. 16 launch of the Alliance.
The alliance’s board of directors is comprised of 15 leaders in government, community and business, including Danny Zausner, chief operating officer of the National Tennis Center; Carol Conslato, director of public affairs of Con Edison; and Javier Valdes, co-executive director of Make The Road New York, a nonprofit reducing poverty in low-income Latino communities.
It also includes a representative of the Community Advisory Board which will host regularly scheduled meetings in order to hear community concerns and discuss potential projects.
Additionally, the board includes five ex-officio members: First Deputy Mayor Anthony Shorris, Parks Commissioner Mitchell J. Silver, FAICP, Acting Cultural Affairs Commissioner Edwin Torres, Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito and Queens Borough President Melinda Katz.
