State Sen. John Liu defended his role in advancing Metropolitan Park at a Nov. 2 meeting of Queens Community Board 11, insisting that his position on casinos had not changed. The exchange came after board member Sharon Chin asked why he had shifted his stance on the proposed casino and entertainment development beside Citi Field.
“I never changed my mind,” Liu said, according to QNS. He said he had previously been among the few Queens elected officials to vote against a casino because of its potential effect on nearby Asian communities, and added that he would prefer there to be no casinos.
Liu said his calculation changed after New York created three downstate casino licences. Resorts World New York City in South Ozone Park, Metropolitan Park and Bally’s proposed Bronx casino had received those licences, according to the report. He argued that two other casinos would be “literally six miles away” and said he sought community benefits in return, including modernization of the elevated No. 7 train station at Mets-Willets Point.
The senator introduced parkland-alienation legislation in March 2025 for about 50 acres of Citi Field parking lots. The land required state action because it is mapped parkland within Flushing Meadows Corona Park. The City Planning Commission has described the wider, city-owned site as about 78 acres, leased and operated by Queens Ballpark Company, and containing more than 7,400 surface parking spaces.
The Senate approved the alienation measure by 54 votes to five and the Assembly approved its companion bill by 134 to 11. The legislation reclassified the parking-lot land for commercial use, a step needed to facilitate the project. Sen. Jessica Ramos, whose district contains most of the parking lots, had declined to support it.
Construction was under way on the $8 billion Metropolitan Park project, led by Mets owner Steve Cohen and Hard Rock International. It is slated to include a casino, hotel, concert venue, food hall and roughly 25 acres of park space on both sides of Roosevelt Avenue. Queens residents were pursuing a state-court challenge seeking to halt the development.
Opposition has persisted despite the approvals. About 200 people attended an anti-casino town hall in Flushing in October 2025, criticizing Liu’s role in the parkland legislation. The Urban Institute previously noted that 13 community groups opposed the proposal, citing concerns about gambling, poverty, rents and displacement in Corona and Flushing.
