http://www.rpa.org/2012/01/remaking-...west-side.html
By Bob Yaro, President, RPA
Jan 12, 2012
Quote:
The Aqueduct site, at close to 200 acres, is one of only a handful of sites in the city that could accommodate a very large, single-story convention facility. Another is Willets Point in Queens, which New York City has proposed as an alternate site for a convention center. Whichever of these projects moves forward, improved transit and roadway access to the convention center site will be critical to its success.
With the Aqueduct site, the state and Genting have reached a preliminary agreement through which the developer would self-finance, build and operate a 2.6 million square foot convention center as well as 1.2 million square feet in an expanded gambling facility, hotels and related entertainment venues. While some have questioned the size of the facility and the mix of activities at the site, Cuomo has made it clear that the developer will be investing its own, and not state funds on the site. Further, Genting's business model calls for the creation of an entertainment, hotel and gambling destination, and not just a free-standing convention facility.
While the convention industry has had longstanding concerns about Javits's inadequacies, they have also questioned whether a new facility in Queens could draw conferences, trade and consumer shows that are currently held in Manhattan. Some of these events would remain at the proposed in-town convention facility, while the largest, such as the Car Show and Boat Show, would move to the Queens facility. But these large shows, and the hundreds of trucks required to set them up and take them down, are increasingly incompatible with the Midtown West area, which is rapidly becoming the city's newest business and residential district. These events need to go somewhere outside Manhattan.
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http://www.qchron.com/news/south/cou...3ac2bc3ef.html
Could Cuomo plan derail greenway?
Convention ctr. might bolster bid by Goldfeder for rebuilt rail line
Some residents want to create an elevated linear park along train tracks abandoned in 1962. But a convention center proposed near Aqueduct Racetrack could be the impetus for rebuilding tracks between Ozone Park and Rego Park.
Jan 12, 2012
by Michael Gannon
Quote:
Assemblyman Phillip Goldfeder figured he’d be swimming against the tide last week when he proposed rebuilding a railroad between Ozone Park and Rego Park, where many are proposing a high-line park. Then a day later Gov. Cuomo, in his State of the State address on Jan. 4, proposed building the country’s largest convention center near the new casino at the Aqueduct racetrack. “The governor’s people briefed me just before the speech because it’s in my district,” he said. “I had no idea.”
Cuomo came out in support of a $4 billion proposal by Genting America to spend $4 billion on a convention center and 3,000 hotel rooms. And he also may have given Goldfeder some serious justification for putting trains back on what was the Long Island Rail Road’s Rockaway line until 1962. “While I’m a strong advocate of increased park space for Queens, I believe southern Queens and Rockaway would be better served with a railroad,” Goldfeder said.
The city now owns the land and the right of way along the 3.5-mile stretch. The rails, ties, platforms, switches and some towers remain in place, though the tracks and the ground beneath them have deteriorated. Some portions, such as the trestle across Metropolitan Avenue, are impassable even on foot due to the tangle of trees and brush that has sprung up over the last 40 years.
“I’m sure people in Rego Park and Forest Hills do want parks there,” Goldfeder said. “But then they already only have a 40-minute trip into Manhattan. For some of my constituents it takes an hour and 40 minutes.”
Goldfeder said he has not yet thought through details such as whether to return LIRR service or extend the MTA’s A Train service. He also would like to see proposals for extended AirTrain service, and believes that a convention center would draw investment in rail service.
“I’m opposed to Queensway if it would interfere with a new rail link,” he said.
A feasibility study for the greenway is being underwritten by the Trust for Public Lands. State Sen. Joe Addabbo Jr. (D-Howard Beach) has his own.
“Rockaway has to come into the conversation, and I would talk about service south of where the convention center would be located,” Addabbo said. “But I have constituents north of where the convention center would be who are strongly against a rail line or even a greenway. They like the way it is with the growing vegetation, and don’t want that disturbed by people with bikes or strollers.”
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Interesting look...
http://davidkrulewitch.com/Rockaway_Beach_Paper.pdf
http://www.lirrhistory.com/rockaway.html
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Last edited by NYguy; Jan 13, 2012 at 3:17 AM.
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