10:42 am  •  21  December 2012

(Photo: NY Daily News)

Queens Borough President candidate Jose Peralta tells you why a Major League Soccer Stadium should be coming to Flushing Meadows-Corona Park.

“Let’s recognize a good deal for what it is. And bringing a big-league soccer franchise to Queens and rejuvenating Flushing Meadows-Corona Park is certainly a good deal,” Peralta wrote in the Queens Courier.

“It’s an even better deal when you factor in the economic impact, in the form of desperately needed jobs, including 2,000 union construction positions. If you happen to subscribe to the idea that many of the permanent and game-day jobs this project would generate are not worthy of anyone’s time or effort, there is no shortage of people out of work, or whose unemployment benefits have run out, who will tell you otherwise.”

Local political support of the stadium is led by Peralta, a state senator, with close ties to the county organization. Proponents like Peralta argue that the stadium would mostly be occupying decrepit parkland and would help revitalize a park that Robert Moses once dreamed of being Queens’ answer to Central Park. For detractors, the loss of parkland with no clear replacement (MLS or the City has not specified where 9 to 12 acres of parkland will be found in Queens) is very difficult to stomach.

State Sen. Tony Avella and Councilwoman Julissa Ferreras attended a Dec. 9 rally against development at the park, though the Queens Chronicle noted Ferreras stopped short of actually saying that stadiums or developments shouldn’t be built there.

It will be very interesting to see the next round of disclosure statements in January. The MLS has some money to burn.