Design

The Heart of a New York Park Is for Sale in Stadium Deal

A plan to build a soccer stadium raises this question: If you have enough money, you really can buy anything in New York?
New Yorkers for Parks

Mayor Michael Bloomberg appears to have found a partner with the financial muscle to bring a Major League Soccer stadium to the largest public green space in Queens, Flushing Meadows–Corona Park. It’s a project he’s been pushing for awhile, and now it looks closer than ever to becoming reality.

But there are urgent questions about how this for-profit enterprise will displace the ordinary New Yorkers who currently use the park in huge numbers. How much should cities should be willing to give up when it comes to encouraging private investment? Is it worth trading away the core of a neighborhood’s vital park?