Outrage as billionaire Mets owner’s $8BILLION casino re-development of a barren carpark tipped to bring 25,000 new jobs to an under-privileged area is blocked by a single Liberal state senator

Democrat Senator Jessica Ramos has blocked billionaire New York Mets owner Steve Cohen’s $8 billion casino development in her impoverished Big Apple district.

The Entertainment complex ‘Metropolitan Park’ The Major League Baseball tycoon’s proposal would bring 25,000 jobs to Corona in Queens, but Ramos said it would also lead to the “extraction of wealth” from the area.

‘My neighbors work their butts off every day. We deserve the best. And we are constantly failing at every level of government,” says Ramos (38). New York Magazine.

“We’ve been desperate for economic development here. And our greatest hope is a casino?!”

Hedge fund heavyweight Cohen, 67, said his proposed 50-acre casino, hotel and music complex spread across the deserted space between the Mets’ Citi Field and Flushing Bay would generate an economic impact of $130 billion over thirty years.

Democrat Senator Jessica Ramos (pictured) has blocked billionaire New York Mets owner Steve Cohen’s $8 billion casino development in her impoverished Big Apple district

But Ramos worries this would come at the expense of Corona’s largely Spanish-speaking residents, where the median income of $66,000 is about 14 percent lower than that of Corona residents. NYC an average of $78,000, according to Furman Center facts.

The single mother of two, the daughter of Colombian immigrants, said she has been “playing chess with a billionaire” in recent months as Cohen tried to boost his development through the city law.

“I’m outraged that he’s holding our entire community hostage by saying it’s a casino or nothing,” Ramos told New York Magazine.

‘Why would anyone just get their way when it’s a decision that will affect millions of people? This is actually public land. Our country.’

“We are not in a position to host a casino,” Ramos added, noting that casino customers generally do not benefit from the business, especially if they are short on cash.

Hedge fund heavyweight Cohen, 67, said his proposed 50-acre casino, hotel and music complex, spanning the abandoned space between the Mets’ Citi Field and Flushing Bay, would generate $130 billion in economic impact over 30 years .

Ramos (pictured) worries that the development would come at the expense of Corona’s largely Hispanic residents, where the median income of $66,000 is about 14 percent lower than the NYC average of $78,000, according to data from the Furman Center

“The people who are here are hoping to build generational wealth. And I just don’t see how a casino helps us achieve that goal. I mean, it’s literally the opposite. It is the extraction of what little wealth we have.”

Queens native Ramos confirmed her refusal to file licensing legislation in an official statement shared via X on Tuesday.

“We want investment and opportunity, we are desperate for green space and recreation for the whole family,” her statement reads.

‘We disagree that we should accept a casino in our backyard as a compromise. I hate the circumstances and the generations of neglect that have made many of us so desperate that we would be willing to settle for it.”

Ramos said she has “drafted an alternative alienation law that provides a balance,” allowing Cohen to build a “convention center and hotel and more than double the proposed open green space.”

The ‘Metropolitan Park’ entertainment complex proposed by the Major League Baseball tycoon would bring 25,000 jobs to Corona, Queens – but Ramos said it would also lead to the ‘extraction of wealth’ from the area

Landscape architect Field Operations would design the park, Cohen said. The group previously designed Manhattan’s High Line, as well as Pier 17 at the South Street Seaport

“Mr. Cohen and Hard Rock would still make a profit, albeit less,” her statement read.

But not everyone agrees with Ramos. Queens Borough President Donovan Richards Jr. said residents are “very deserving” of the 25,000 good-paying union jobs the casino complex would bring.

He made a veiled criticism of Ramos, saying that “no elected official should be the sole arbiter of this $8 billion investment in our district” – while urging New York Governor Kathy Hochul and the Senate “ to explore other paths’ to ‘explore other paths’. the proposal of life’.

“There is very little generational wealth in Northwest Queens, where survival work dominates, public services are lacking and hard-working immigrant street vendors are displaced and demonized,” Richards said.

“That’s why the families of this community are so deserving of the 25,000 good-paying union jobs, the $163 million community investment fund, the Taste of Queens food hall designed for downtown vendors, critical support for community organizations, rising property values ​​and more that it proposal of the Metropolitan Park.

“We are in a state of emergency in Northwest Queens, which was hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic and continues to struggle as the cost of living rises.

“The Metropolitan Park proposal will create countless opportunities for building generational wealth here in Corona, Jackson Heights, Elmhurst and other communities surrounding the proposed site, which is currently a parking lot that sits vacant more than 200 days a year.

“Under no circumstances should Acre’s asphalt block the ascent of financial and social ladders to the middle class by families who deserve upward mobility.”

General view of Citi Field as the sun sets behind the stadium during the third inning between the New York Mets and the San Francisco Giants on May 24

Cohen, the real-life inspiration for the TV series Billions about a powerful investor, called the casino complex something people “can really be proud of” when he presented his plans in November.

“It’s time the world’s greatest city gets the sports and entertainment park it deserves,” he said.

“When I bought this team, fans and the community kept saying we had to do better.

“Metropolitan Park delivers on the promise of a shared space that people not only want to come and enjoy, but that they can actually be proud of.”

Landscape architect Field Operations would design the park, Cohen said. The group previously designed Manhattan’s High Line, as well as Pier 17 at the South Street Seaport.