Stadium, protests belong in Queens
BY BRIAN LEHRER
Brian Lehrer is host of "The Brian Lehrer Show" on WNYC/93.9 FM and AM 820. A version of this essay aired locally on National Public Radio's "Weekend Edition."
May 26, 2005
Ask any of the opponents of the West Side Stadium what the alternative is and they usually have the same ready answer: Flushing. West Side Stadium opponents know all the charms of Flushing, whether or not they've ever been there. It's right next to Shea, there's plenty of space, the land is cheaper and the community actually wants the stadium there.
Besides, why does everything have to be in Manhattan? It's good for the city to have jobs and business districts spread throughout the boroughs. And Flushing's not Podunk, you know. Three major highways converge there, in addition to Northern Boulevard, the No. 7 train and the Long Island Rail Road Port Washington line. Plus there's plenty of parking and the wide open space of Flushing Meadows-Corona Park for pregame tailgating.
But no, says Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Those conventions and their money want to be in Manhattan, within walking distance from Times Square. Otherwise, they might just go somewhere like Boston.
Last week, for once, the local political class was not obsessed with the West Side Stadium. It was distracted by the Great Lawn of Central Park. The mayor wants to limit events there to a maximum of 50,000 people and limit the number of large events to six a year. No more Simon and Garfunkels, no more world-class political demonstrations. The New York Civil Liberties Union is taking the mayor to court for denying potential protesters the right to show their strength.
But the mayor has a ready answer: Flushing. Bloomberg knows all the charms of Flushing, whether or not he ever goes there. That's where he told the protesters to gather when he denied them a Great Lawn permit during the Republican Convention. And that's where he's saying to go now.
And what's wrong with Flushing? It's got those wide open spaces where concert-goers can spread out their blankets, and protesters can chant slogans to their hearts' content. Besides, why does everything have to be in Manhattan? Flushing's not Podunk, you know. And you know the rest. But protesters want to be on television 10 blocks from the symbolic center of the universe, not 10 miles from it.
Funny thing is, some of the loudest proponents of a stadium for Flushing also feel the most marginalized by having big protests relegated to there. The mayor thinks Flushing is the middle of somewhere for their favorite causes, but it's the middle of nowhere for his.
Maybe both sides should take a second look. Arguably the most interesting large protest in the city's recent history was a massive immigrants' rights rally in October 2003, in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park. The Immigrant Workers Freedom Ride brought people from all over the country and drew heavily on the borough's diversity to create a fresh local-global protest voice. In the era of the World Trade Organization and the Global War on Terror, there's a promising future in that. And the traditional Manhattan protest communities of Greenwich Village and the Upper West Side are becoming bedroom communities for the rich. They won't produce the political dissidents of the future.
As for the stadium, the mayor is using the Olympics to sell it to the public. But ironically, the Olympics may have been the best reason to propose it for Queens in the first place. Queens is the most international county in the history of the world. Placing the spotlight on Queens rather than West 34th Street might have helped our bid by focusing more attention on New York as global city, instead of New York as political rat's nest.
A stadium in Queens could also help the city reap more benefits from the Olympics if we get them. The Olympics would showcase our global population with its workers and entrepreneurs from everywhere, ready and able for international trade with anywhere.
So how about a deal: Let's put the stadium and the next big protests in Flushing, and have everyone declare victory. And let's declare Queens the center of the universe instead of Times Square. Take a look at the people there and you'll realize it actually is.
