Lawmakers continue to roll out funding initiatives to preserve Flushing-Meadows Corona Park and its storied New York State Pavilion. File Photo
Borough advocates have been pushing for preservation at Flushing Meadows-Corona Park since the city secured funding to restore the New York State Pavilion, which stands within it.
In the latest chapter of ongoing efforts to beautify the northeast Queens park, state Assemblyman Andrew Hevesi (D-Forest Hills) announced he helped secure $250,000 along with the city Parks Department to renovate two baseball fields there, officials said. Hevesi and Parks acquired the money through a Community Capital Assistance grant and said it will help install new backstops and fencing, re-grade the infield and add grass turf in the center to prevent flooding.
“It was essential for this park, which is a corner stone of Queens, to get a modern upgrade to ensure a safe and enjoyable atmosphere,” Hevesi said. “This upgrade will benefit our community’s youth for years to come.”
Hevesi’s announcement came just days after New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo rolled out more than $5 million in awards to 14 different historic spots that suffered damage from Superstorm Sandy in 2012 – one of them being the New York State Pavilion.
“Some of New York’s most treasured historic properties that have withstood the tests of time were battered by Superstorm Sandy and are now more vulnerable to extreme weather,” Cuomo said. “This funding will enable not-for-profit organizations and municipalities to better protect these important places so that they can continue to serve as educational and tourism assets for New York’s communities.”
Cuomo allotted $127,000 of that money to the city Parks Department to help pay for a conditions assessment of damages to the pavilion’s cable roof structure.
“As the rebuilding efforts continue for the families and businesses affected by Hurricane Sandy, I’m pleased that those sites which are an integral part of our city’s history are also being given the relief they deserve,” U.S. Rep. Joseph Crowley (D-Jackson Heights) said in a statement.
This month, the New York Mets baseball club also announced it would be donating part of Friday’s home game ticket sales towards the People for the Pavilion advocacy group to help preserve the pavilion in celebration of the 50th and 75th anniversaries of the World’s Fair. In a statement, the team reflected on the historic site and how extra funding was needed to help keep it standing.
Earlier this month, elected officials from across the borough celebrated more than $4.8 million in funding towards restoring the New York State Pavilion to help renovate the site in wake of the April 22, 1964 anniversary. Borough President Melinda Katz said the money was long overdue to help bring the spot back to the status it once held at its inception.
“Along with the nearby Unisphere, the New York State Pavilion has become a symbol of the borough of Queens that reminds us of the excitement and hopefulness the world felt at the beginning of the Space Age,” Katz said in a statement. “The Pavilion keeps us connected to that history while it also serves as an icon of Queens that is recognized around the world. Its preservation will aid our efforts to rebrand the Queens as a top-level tourist destination that we call ‘The World’s Borough.’”
By Phil Corso
