{"id":310158,"date":"2026-07-30T21:34:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-30T21:34:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/310158\/"},"modified":"2026-07-30T21:34:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T21:34:09","slug":"richards-unveils-flushing-meadows-corona-park-task-force-to-tackle-chronic-disinvestment-in-queens-park-qns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/310158\/","title":{"rendered":"Richards unveils Flushing Meadows Corona Park Task Force to tackle \u2018chronic disinvestment\u2019 in Queens park \u2013 QNS"},"content":{"rendered":"

Queens Borough President Donovan Richards unveiled a new Flushing Meadows Corona Park Task Force to rectify \u201clongtime injustice\u201d and \u201cchronic disinvestment\u201d as elected officials and community members gathered in the sprawling Queens park Thursday morning to celebrate a $22.5 million investment in the park\u2019s Playground For All Children.<\/p>\n

The new task force features dozens of public and private partners, including Richards, Council Members Shanel Thomas-Henry and Shekar Krishnan, the USTA, Governor\u2019s Ball and the Alliance for Flushing Meadows Corona Park.<\/p>\n

Several city agencies and local community boards also feature on the new task force, as do a number of cultural institutions located within the park, including the New York Hall of Science, Queens Museum and Queens Zoo.<\/p>\n

Richards, who will co-chair the task force alongside Tiebreaker Productions Partner Mike Luba, formed the group in response to what he described as \u201cchronic disinvestment\u201d that has plagued the area for generations.<\/p>\n

\"QueensQueens Borough President Donovan Richards. Photo by Shane O\u2019Brien<\/p>\n

The task force comes almost exactly one year after a report<\/a> published by the Center for an Urban Future describing Flushing Meadows Corona Park as the most \u201coverlooked\u201d park in New York City. The report outlined 20 ideas and solutions for \u201charnessing the full potential\u201d of the 900-acre park.<\/p>\n

It also called on all relevant public bodies to prioritize future spending in the park to address the constant threat of flooding, noting that even minor rainfall can leave the park unusable for days.<\/p>\n

One of those solutions was to revamp the Playground For All Children, which opened in 1984 and was designed to cater to children with physical disabilities as well as those who have sensory and vision issues. However, the playground has not been upgraded over the last 42 years.<\/p>\n

Richards announced $22.5 million in funding for those renovations on Thursday morning, with $17.5 million coming from his office and $5 million coming from Thomas-Henry.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is very personal to us,\u201d Richards said. \u201cI have loved ones and friends who are disabled, and I see them in the faces of the children who play here, and they deserve a high-quality playground tailored to their needs. And this is what we will deliver.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

NYC Parks Queens Borough Commissioner Jackie Langsam said the Parks Department and the task force will now conduct outreach to the local community to determine the neighborhood priorities for the renovated playground.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want it to be the best of the best,\u201d Langsam said. \u201cWe want to retain the international or national standard that we had once upon a time. We want to be back there again.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"NYCNYC Parks Queensborough Commissioner Jackie Langsam. Photo by Shane O\u2019Brien<\/p>\n

The funding for the playground renovations mark one of the first acts of the newly formed task force, with Richards outlining that Flushing Meadows Corona Park needs baseline funding of at least $100 million in order to address existing issues within the park.<\/p>\n

Richards said the task force will look to first address \u201csystemic issues\u201d in the park, such as blocked catch basins, adding that it will be difficult to invest significantly in a park that continues to flood. He is also targeting \u201clow-hanging fruit\u201d like turning on the Unisphere lights and fountain and establishing an NYPD satellite office to improve safety in the park.<\/p>\n

Richards and Thomas-Henry vowed to lobby a number of private partners who benefit from the park to provide funding for the Alliance, including the USTA, Metropolitan Park, New York City FC<\/a>, Gotham FC and Governor\u2019s Ball. Richards also said he would soon travel to Washington to lobby for funding for the park.<\/p>\n

Anthony Sama, the Alliance\u2019s executive director, said the formation of the task force is a symbol that the \u201ccity should get ready for Queens\u2019s moment.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\u201cFlushing Meadows Corona Park is\u00a0the crown jewel of the borough and perhaps it is soon to be the crown jewel of New York City,\u201d Sama said. \u201cSo we should be really proud of all this park has accomplished, but so much prouder of all that\u2019s ahead of us.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Richards was joined by numerous elected officials and community partners at Thursday\u2019s event, including Thomas-Henry, Krishnan, Sama, Assemblymembers Larinda Hooks and Catalina Cruz, and Council Member Ty Hankerson. Queens Community Board 4 Chair Marialena Giampino, Queens Night Market founder John Wang and Queens Botanical Garden Executive Director Evie Hantzopolous were also present at the event.<\/p>\n

\"AssemblyAssembly Member Larinda Hooks. Photo by Shane O\u2019Brien<\/p>\n

Thomas-Henry said Thursday that the investment in the refurbishment of the Playground For All is particularly important because it presents a \u201cvision of what inclusion looks like.\u201d The playground was unveiled six years before the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and helped set a \u201cnational standard,\u201d Thomas-Henry said.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday, we\u2019re making sure it continues to serve families for generations to come,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"CouncilCouncil Member Shanel Thomas-Henry. Photo by Shane O\u2019Brien<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Queens Borough President Donovan Richards unveiled a new Flushing Meadows Corona Park Task Force to rectify \u201clongtime injustice\u201d…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":310159,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[114511,117323,65663,310,2100,25661,9,24,63,117324,117325,122,7919,124,123,22910,60696],"class_list":["post-310158","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-alliance-for-flushing-meadows-corona-park","tag-anthony-sama","tag-council-member-shanel-thomas-henry","tag-daily-newsletter","tag-flushing-meadows-corona-park","tag-larinda-hooks","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-parks-queens-borough-commissioner-jackie-langsam","tag-playground-for-all-children","tag-queens","tag-queens-borough-president-donovan-richards","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news","tag-shekar-krishnan","tag-unisphere"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310158","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=310158"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310158\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/310159"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=310158"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=310158"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=310158"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}