Advocates say the disparities between the parks will never close without support from community partners, private entities and, most importantly, City Hall.\n<\/p>\n
The current state of affairs
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Landscaping and plants, some wilting in the heat, lining the Etched Granite Pavement. Photo by Renee DeLorenzo<\/p>\n
Jonathan Bowles, executive director of Center for an Urban Future (CUF)<\/a>, co-authored a report in August 2025 titled \u201cThe Park Queens Deserves<\/a>,\u201d arguing that not only is Flushing Meadows the most important park in Queens, but it\u2019s the most underappreciated one.<\/p>\n The park is over 50 acres bigger than Central Park and is the fourth most visited park in New York City, with an estimated 54 million visitors each year<\/a>. It is also the only expansive green space in Queens, which many apartment-bound residents view as the backyard they don\u2019t have.<\/p>\n In the report, Bowles argued the park needs more long-term capital funding and a commitment from the City Council to dedicate city funding to the park, which it does not otherwise obtain through donors with deep pockets as many of the parks in Manhattan do.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s often been in the shadow of other city parks,\u201d Bowles said. \u201cIt\u2019s in Queens and mainly being used by working-class immigrant New Yorkers. It\u2019s never had the resources that Central Park or even Prospect Park has.\u201d<\/p>\n According to Statistical Atlas, over 70% of Flushing residents are Asian<\/a> and over 70% of Corona residents are Hispanic<\/a>.<\/p>\n The population of the communities surrounding Central Park, however \u2014 the Upper West Side<\/a> and the Upper East Side<\/a> \u2014 is 67% white and 78% white, respectively.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you dig a little deeper, it has to do with the populations that use the park,\u201d added Anna Dioguardi Moyano, director of community engagement at Queens Community House. \u201cIt\u2019s predominantly immigrant, non-native English-speaking communities that are often marginalized and neglected.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0\n<\/p>\n Median income in Flushing<\/a> and Corona<\/a> both sit around $48,000; on the other hand, the Upper West Side sits at $119,000<\/a> and the Upper East Side at $130,000<\/a>. However, those numbers only include taxable income and not accumulated wealth or net worth.<\/p>\n Even the wealthiest households in the top 5% of Flushing and Corona, which earn an average of around $200,000, earn significantly less than the top 5% of households in the areas surrounding Central Park, which both exceed an average of $1 million.<\/p>\n Aside from private donors, CUF\u2019s data shows only $100 million in city funds have been allocated to the park in the past 13 years, although federal funds briefly supported the park after Hurricane Sandy blew through downstate New York and caused heavy flooding.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt might sound like a lot, but that\u2019s over a 13-year period,\u201d he noted. \u201cEven just one playground is going to take $22.5 million to renovate \u2014 and it might not be the whole thing\u2026 It is not enough to keep up with the fundamental infrastructure challenges that the park has.\u201d<\/p>\n While QCH and the Alliance have made many improvements at the park possible, Moyano admitted that addressing the many issues faced by Flushing Meadows is too large a project for the nonprofits to take on alone.<\/p>\n After meeting with the park administrator, she said she was told the park needs at least $15 million in baseline funding every year just for maintenance. As of now, however, it\u2019s unclear how much the park receives for those operations.<\/p>\n \u201cThis park has many, many issues that will take maybe decades to resolve,\u201d she said. \u201cWe started to talk about how the only way we\u2019re going to tackle this chronic underfunding is through an increase in both private and public investment.\u201d<\/p>\n Advocacy at Flushing Meadows Over the years, several advocacy organizations have fought for Flushing Meadows and taken on the responsibility of maintaining it. Moyano, for example, helps keep the park alive through QCH beautification efforts.<\/p>\n The organization has a long history with Flushing Meadows, she explained, dating back to 2012 when it served as part of the Fairness Coalition of Queens \u2014 a grassroots collective of local civic groups, small business owners and residents \u2014 to advocate for protection of the park from private development.\u00a0<\/p>\n Eventually, QCH helped create the Alliance \u2014 one of the park\u2019s key advocates \u2014 as well as the Neighbors in Action community engagement initiative.\n<\/p>\n The Alliance operates much like the Conservancy, hosting volunteer events and drumming up support in the community to care for and maintain the park. However, the Alliance has only been around for 10 years, while the Conservancy will be celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2030.\u00a0<\/p>\n According to Anthony Sama, a parks administrator and executive director of the Alliance, the time over which the Conservancy has built its community greatly boosts its power and influence.<\/p>\n He said it\u2019s also important to contextualize the conditions under which the Conservancy was founded and the surrounding communities it first relied on for donations.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Conservancy was established when the city was practically bankrupt and needed to rely heavily on these nonprofit partnerships in order to do just basic maintenance,\u201d Sama said. \u201cFlushing Meadows is surrounded by a diverse community that has arguably been marginalized over the decades. It makes it difficult to fundraise compared to Central Park that has neighbors whose income and capacity to give are greater.\u201d<\/p>\n The Alliance also has significantly less full-time staff and members. It only has two full-time employees \u2014 a director of development and a director of programming \u2014 along with Sama\u2019s role that he said is largely volunteer-based.\u00a0<\/p>\n There are also 26 board members, including appointees from elected officials \u2014 and over 2,000 volunteers who attend events throughout the year.\n<\/p>\n Sama explained that the Alliance does not have major funding for operations in the park, but rather raises funds to provide the park with anywhere between 8 and 12 seasonal staff members to supplement the existing park staff. Those staff members, however, are managed by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation<\/a>.<\/p>\n A model that works for Central Park According to the Conservancy, the nonprofit is responsible for raising the majority of Central Park\u2019s annual operating budget \u2014 around 80% \u2014 through individual donations and private support. The team works year-round to generate funds needed to care for the park, whether it be daily maintenance, arboriculture, restoration, visitor services or long-term preservation.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Conservancy said every dollar invested by the city is spent on park operations, which is outlined in its operating agreement with the City of New York.\n<\/p>\n While the Conservancy receives no revenue from concessions in the park operated by the Parks Department, it does derive revenue from the two licensed premises the Conservancy operates \u2014 the Dairy Gift Shop and the Davis Center. Those funds, the spokesperson continued, are used to fund the two facilities\u2019 maintenance and operations.<\/p>\n In general, the Conservancy has built strong relationships with citywide partners. The success of its model has given it the opportunity to extend a helping hand to other parks like Flushing Meadows. For more than 20 years, it has supported parks throughout New York City through its Five Borough Program.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Conservancy recently announced a partnership with NYC Parks at Flushing Meadows in early 2025 and has since helped restore landscapes, improve access and create a better experience for visitors.<\/p>\n \u201cWe believe every park deserves excellent care, and we\u2019re proud to use the resources and expertise we\u2019ve built through that model to support parks across New York City, including through our Five Borough Program partnership at Flushing Meadows,\u201d the spokesperson continued.<\/p>\n A different story in Flushing Meadows Bowles said it\u2019s hard to compare Central Park\u2019s private partners to those of Flushing Meadows, such as the USTA and the New York Mets, who operate Citi Field. While both entities have done great things for the park, he continued, it\u2019s not the same as having numerous wealthy donors as there are in Central Park.<\/p>\n \u201cQueens has yet to be able to turn more of the borough\u2019s affluent people into supporters of the park,\u201d he said. \u201cI think the Alliance is trying to do that, but it\u2019s not happening to a large extent right now.\u201d<\/p>\n According to Bowles, both the USTA and Citi Field could do more to help support the park. He pointed to efforts by organizers of the Governor\u2019s Ball, which is hosted at Flushing Meadows each year and donates $1 per ticket sold for the three-day festival to the park. At roughly 40,000 tickets sold per night, that equals nearly $120,000 for the park in just one weekend.<\/p>\n The Flushing Meadows Alliance also requested $1 per ticket be donated from ticket sales for other upcoming concerts hosted by \u201cThe Bowery Presents,\u201d owned in part by AEG.<\/p>\n Bowles said he sees the main obstacle to securing funding at the park to be city law. Money that is generated inside the park, such as lease payments or catered events at Terrace on the Park, goes into a general fund managed by the city \u2014 not directly to the park. It\u2019s not guaranteed that the same amount of money that goes into the general fund will be reinvested in Flushing Meadows.<\/p>\n \u201cYou could renegotiate that,\u201d Bowles pointed out. \u201cIt\u2019d be kind of a convoluted, long process, but it\u2019s totally possible to change that.\u201d\n<\/p>\n The long-term solution According to Moyano, the solution lies in collective listening across agencies and governing bodies that oversee the park. Through consistent advocacy and funds, she said short-term improvements can lead to long-term solutions.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen people see those changes, they\u2019ll be more invested in dreaming about what can be for its future,\u201d she said. \u201cWe need to reinstate a sense of respect and dignity about the park and show that we can reverse those years of neglect and underfunding.\u201d<\/p>\n The park could even bring in new private investment, she added, simply by taking inventory of what events are already hosted at the park.\n<\/p>\n Sama pointed out that what works for Central Park might not work for Flushing Meadows. \u201cIt\u2019s like comparing apples to oranges,\u201d he said.\n<\/p>\n Instead, Sama said it\u2019s important to establish and maintain connections with the elected leaders of the four council districts and five community boards that surround the park. He also said the park should explore more arrangements with private entities that use the park as a venue, similar to the agreement the park has with the Governor\u2019s Ball.<\/p>\n \u201cI think our flexibility and nimbleness here in Flushing Meadows, which allows us to host a multi-day event, creates an opportunity for us to build a strong connection with an entity and establish a revenue stream that we could rely on year after year,\u201d Sama said. \u201cIt\u2019s about thinking of ways to create these foundational building blocks for us in a different way.\u201d<\/p>\n He said he hopes the recent support the park has received the past few months \u2014 Queens Borough President Donovan Richards\u2019 new inter-agency task force<\/a>, rallies around the park<\/a> advocating for more funding, capital improvement projects that have received millions of dollars in funding \u2014 will continue to gain momentum and lead to long-term change.<\/p>\n At the end of the day, Bowles called on city leaders to invest public dollars \u2014 not just rely on private dollars \u2014 to fund the parks.\n<\/p>\n \u201cWe think there needs to be some kind of generational commitment to Flushing Meadows from City Hall,\u201d he said. \u201cThis park really has significant infrastructure challenges that require investment. We think the city should be putting in a whole new level of support for Flushing Meadows.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nonetheless, altruistic volunteers and stewards across the Queens community have eagerly poured their heart and soul into revitalizing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":331814,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[31679,71584,302,2044,310,124849,2100,9,24,63,22458,124850,111276,124851,124852,124853,122,2938,124,123,111280,60696],"class_list":["post-331813","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-central-park-conservancy","tag-chronic-underfunding","tag-city-hall","tag-community-advocacy","tag-daily-newsletter","tag-flushing-meadows-alliance","tag-flushing-meadows-corona-park","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-parks","tag-park-equity","tag-park-funding","tag-park-infrastructure","tag-private-funding","tag-public-investment","tag-queens","tag-queens-community-house","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news","tag-queens-parks","tag-unisphere"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/331813","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=331813"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/331813\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/331814"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=331813"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=331813"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=331813"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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Pink flowers and benches line a courtyard in the park. Photo by Renee DeLorenzo<\/p>\n
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The Greyshot Arch in Central Park. Photo by Renee DeLorenzo<\/p>\n
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The New York State Pavilion Observation Towers and the Tent of Tomorrow, which can be viewed from around the park. Photo by Renee DeLorenzo<\/p>\n
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A fire hydrant turned into a sprinkler during the hot summer months near the Unisphere, whose fountains remain deactivated. Photo by Renee DeLorenzo<\/p>\n