Queens has some of the best parks to picnic in — even better than the famed Central Park!
According to a recent study by Holland Bikes, a bike rental provider, Kissena Corridor Park ranked second out of 166 NYC parks, followed closely by Flushing Meadows Corona Park in third place, and Hunter’s Point South Park in sixth place.
The survey assessed each park according to five equally weighted factors as found in the NYC Open Data Portal: park size in acres, food concession per 100 acres, operational restrooms per 100 acres, bike rack provisions per 100 acres and tree canopy cover as a percentage of parkland.
Kissena Corridor Park, located in Fresh Meadows and Flushing, scored 69.76 percent; Flushing Meadows Corona Park, the second-largest park in the entire study at 870.8 acres, scored 64.08 percent; and Hunter’s Point South Park in Long Island City scored 58.33 percent.
Hunter’s Point South was deemed the best park to reach by cycling due to its having the highest score of the top 10 parks for bike racks per 100 acres — 57.02 percent, or 13 bike racks.
Overall, Queens ranked third out of the five boroughs for the highest average of the park scores. The top borough was Manhattan, though the No. 1 green space was Prospect Park in Brooklyn.
One Corona resident, Michael Anderson, frequents Flushing Meadows Corona Park four to five times a week. “I think it is a wonderful park,” Anderson told the Chronicle over the phone. “It’s got great great history. It has to be one of the most used parks in the city because on a weekend it’s packed.”
Anderson, who leads tours of the park as a volunteer for the Alliance for Flushing Meadows Corona Park, explained that one of his favorite historical facts about the park is that it was home to the UN General Assembly from 1946 to 1950. The building is currently the Queens Museum.
The park also is renowned for hosting two World’s Fairs — in 1939-40 and 1964-65. The Unisphere was created ahead of the second of the world’s fairs.
Anderson said, “During the fair, it had a light bulb for every major capital city in the world. Except there was one extra light bulb, and that light bulb was set between what would be the New York State line and the and the Canada line. That represents the Mohawk Indian tribe because the Mohawk Indians were the predominant construction workers that built the Unisphere.”
In comparison, Manhattan’s famed Central Park scored ninth (57.7 percent) due to the park having zero bike racks.
Eric van der Zanden, managing director at Holland Bikes, wrote in a statement, “New Yorkers are cycling more than ever, and parks are the natural endpoint of any great bike ride, for people to enjoy some food and drink with friends in the sun. We found that the city’s most famous parks aren’t necessarily the best to host a picnic, as many are lacking simple infrastructure such as bike racks or toilet facilities, which can really make or break the experience.”