The Tale of Two Parks
The State of the Park 2007: Report by theparkwatchdog.org
In conjunction with the current New York three museum exhibition on the career of Robert Moses, theparkwatchdog.org presents a review of where the park has been, where it is now, and where it is going in the future.
Rapid Response Team
Parks Commissioner Attacks Our Association But Does Not Respond to Our 40 Page Report
It was 76 days since we delivered our 40 page "State of the Park Report 2007" on the conditions in Flushing Meadows - Corona Park to Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe, Queens Borough President Helen Marshall, and the Park Administrator. (Report can be found on this site above). We have yet to receive a response or even an acknowledgement of its delivery from the Borough President, or the Park Administrator.

However, Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe did react to our report in a published New York Daily News article stating that our organization "has done nothing for the park."

Our rapid response to his statement is contained here, including a time line of our Association's 40 year record of fighting for this park.

His second response which was received on March 9th said, "We appreciate your time in preparing this detailed report, and we share many of your goals."

However, he had no comments about our concerns or proposals and he said he forwarded it to Estelle Cooper, his Administrator of the Park, and Dorothy Lewandowski, his Queens Borough Commissioner for their assessment and recommendation.

The problem is, he is delegating it to the very people our report holds responsible for the deplorable decay of this park.

Mr. Parks Commissioner, what exactly do you do? We addressed this to you because there is a problem here, and you are now handing this over to the very people that we suggest are the problem!

We suggest you get back and sit at your desk and go to work and to answer this report and not pass it off to your incompetent underlings.

We are still awaiting substantive responses to our report. Our clock is counting the days, Mr. Mayor and Mr. Parks Commissioner!
Heads of State Decapitated
Parks Department Destroys Historic Monument
It had been 98 days since theparkwatchdog.org discovered (September 20th, 2006) that the Heads of State Monument was toppled by a speeding vehicle. The Heads of State Monument was only put back at the end of December 2006. However, theparkwatchdog.org discovered that in the process, the incompetence of the Parks department destroyed the monument.

THE LIGHT WAS OFF... AGAIN!!! And we were counting down... again!

On Friday, December 1st, theparkwatchdog.org discovered that the red aviation warning light on top of the New York State Pavilion was OUT again! -- this, during a weather and wind emergency.

It was 5 days that the warning light was out for the second time.

Previously, it had been 13 days since theparkwatchdog.org notified (October 13th, 2006) NYC Parks, the F.A.A., and the media that the red aviation warning light on top of the New York State Pavilion was OUT!

Federal law requires that the F.A.A be notified within 30 minutes of this safety critical warning light outage. Previously, the light was off for over three months. Only when theparkwatchdog.org reported this problem was action finally taken 13 days after theparkwatchdog.org notified the public.

To put the light back on the last time, the parks department had to hire mountain climbers to put the light back on -- how much more costly to the taxpayers will the failure of the parks department to maintain The New York State Pavilion be?
From the Front Page of The New York Times...
Call to the New Governor: Take That Building Back
On November 11th, 2006 our campaign to save the New York State Pavilion made the front page of The New York Times as well as the front page of its Metro Section. To read the New York Times article and read our proposal submitted to Governor-elect Elliot Spitzer to take back this historic structure from the failed City Parks Department, click to read the details.
theparkwatchdog.org Demands Immediate Action on Failure to Turn On Tower Light
CITY PARK UNSAFE BY AIR AND LAND
In the wake of the recent New York City aircraft disaster in Manhattan, the fact that the parks department has not replaced the aviation red light on the top of the New York State Pavilion is another example of the outrage of the neglect of this historic structure and the park surrounding it.
theparkwatchdog.org proposal
Plan to Restore Fallen Heads of State Monument
The recently toppled Heads of State Monument in Flushing Meadows must be restored and our Association has a proposal that will bring its history to life.

Our proposal has been submitted to the Parks Department and the Queens Museum of Art - and to the public for serious consideration.
Park Monument Toppled by Parking Nightmare
Flushing Meadows is a Park NOT a Parking Lot
The City's contempt for Flushing Meadows - Corona Park could not be more evident than in the desecration of its parkland by turning this precious space into nothing more than a gigantic parking lot.

Our park Association demands that this outrage stop.

When Robert Moses handed over Flushing Meadows park in 1967 to the City of New York the three decades dream of creating a great city park on the site of what once was a notorious ash and garbage dump, he foresaw that a Manhattan-oriented bureaucracy would neglect the beautiful park that was bequeathed as a result of two World's Fairs. His fears were proven by the fact that the Mayor of the City of New York did not even see fit to show up for the opening ceremonies of the park.

Those fears were compounded as the years went on and the park saw structures such as the former United States Pavilion and the historic 1939 World's Fair Aquacade slowly deteriorate and fall to the wrecker's ball; the New York State Pavilion has been ignored and allowed to deteriorate to this day; the fountains were left to dry and roadways and grasslands have been turned into virtual parking lots for automobiles.

A combination of incompetence, indifference, and a lack of respect for this park that would never be tolerated in Manhattan's Central Park had at times made many believe Flushing Meadow's fate was headed back to the dreaded Corona Dumps.

It has not been all bleak, however. The framework left by Moses and by subsequent enlightened citizens over the years have graced the park with such gems as the New York Hall of Science, the Queens Museum of Art, the Queens Botanical Gardens, the Queens Wildlife Center, Queens Theatre in the Park, and importantly the arrival of the US Open.

This mixed bag has left the park as both a haven to those who use it and a horror for people who see the neglect that still permeates so much of this great spread of green. That's why this website is for you - the user and observer of this park. Whether you are a neighbor of the park or an observer from afar, we want to hear from you. If you've bicycled, jogged, played soccer, cricket, softball, tennis, or just walked through the park or have sat on a bench, let this be your voice to what you see and feel about this park and its conditions -- both good and bad.

On a regular basis, this website's managers, David Oats and Greg Godfrey, will comment regularly on the conditions in the park. We invite you to do the same by e-mailing this site:

pitbull@theparkwatchdog.org

We will make sure that the views will be delivered to the powers entrusted with the keeping of this park, as Moses said "for the natives."

And we, the natives, are getting restless.
(theparkwatchdog.org is a feature of the website worldinapark.org, sponsored by the Flushing Meadows- Corona Park World's Fair Association.)
Willow Lake Watchdog
The Willow Lake section of Flushing Meadows is one of the treasures of this park and also one of its most forgotten and neglected. Our Association has long fought to preserve and protect this wildlife and natural gem. The Queens Tribune has now exposed the shameful conditions of this park resource. We present here their recent investigative report and editorial.

New York State Pavilion Disgrace
The New York State Pavilion in Flushing Meadows, designed by famed architect Philip Johnson as a $12 million dollar structure at the 1964-65 World's Fair (today's cost would be estimated at $78.6 million) was considered one of the jewels of the fair. Retained for the post fair park, the structure has been neglected, abused, and allowed to deteriorate by the Park's Department over the years. Bill Young, whose magnificent website nywf64.com has detailed through theparkwatchdog.org the scandalous story of how this structure has come to the disgraceful condition it is in today. We present here his detailed report on the history of this pavilion's scandal.