The Unisphere in Flushing Meadows Corona Park
Photo by Ramy Mahmoud
Over the next three weeks, millions of tennis fans and people-watchers will converge upon the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Queens for the US Open.
The tennis center is on the northern end of Flushing Meadows Corona Park, which ought to be a crown jewel among public parks in the Big Apple. While many improvements have been made in and around Arthur Ashe Stadium — new tennis courts and arenas, training facilities and other amenities paid for through more than a billion dollars in private investment — Flushing Meadows itself has not seen anything close to that scale of improvement.
In truth, the park can be vastly improved through a few million dollars of investment to make up for decades of disinvestment that have left many of its landmark features looking well past their prime.
The majority of US Open visitors coming in via the Long Island Rail Road and the 7 line will pass across the Passerelle Pedestrian Bridge and its weather-beaten wooden planks. They will get a glimpse of the iconic Unisphere, the ultimate symbol of Queens, whose glorious water fountains have not been in operation for years due to flood-related mechanical problems.
They will see, in the distance, the New York State Pavilion, the futuristic needles built for the 1964-65 World’s Fair, still cloaked in scaffolding amid an ongoing restoration project. And those who travel deeper into the park before or after the US Open matches will see plenty of dirt fields, with large patches of grass weathered away from athletic use without adequate reseeding or replacement.
If Flushing Meadows Corona Park had a greeting for its visitors today, it would be: “Don’t mind the mess.” The fact, however, is that many New Yorkers, including the thousands of people who live in and around the park, do mind the mess and want regular investment to make their park as beautiful as it can be.
After years of ignorance, the wheel is finally starting to squeak — and some much-needed grease is coming.
Since amNY and QNS published a report in July about the woeful state of Flushing Meadows, Queens Borough President Donovan Richards announced a $22.5 million investment in restoring the Playground for All Children. Richards also announced the formation of a new task force to help find additional ways to improve all of Flushing Meadows. The United States Tennis Association, which operates the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center and the US Open, is part of that ad hoc committee.
Volunteers also sprang into action to power-wash many of Flushing Meadows’ most iconic statues and landmarks.
But no one should declare “game, set, match” for improving Flushing Meadows yet. Beyond what the task force can do in forging public and private partnerships for new investment, the city’s Parks Department must make a significant effort in the years ahead to make sure the park’s most basic maintenance needs are met. The Mamdani administration must make that commitment.