On line casino protesters on Dec. 14 rallied one final time in Corona forward of Monday’s NYS Gaming Fee Board vote, which is able to decide whether or not they are going to grant licenses to 3 on line casino operators, together with Metropolitan Park proposed subsequent to Citi Area in Flushing and spearheaded by billionaire Steve Cohen.
Over 100 protesters gathered at Corona Plaza yesterday at 2 p.m. to demand the gaming fee deny the licenses over considerations of financial harm and exploitation of working class residents with playing addictions. Earlier reporting by QNS has detailed the obstructive penalties of playing dependancy not solely on people within the Asian American group — which is extra susceptible to playing dependancy — however the group as an entire.
“We don’t want this,” stated Pastor Jim Swanson of of Religion Baptist Church in Corona, who spoke on the protest. “No way. Not here. Not in our neighborhood.”
The Dec. 14 protest kicked off with a sequence of chants — reminiscent of “No, no, no casino,” “Queens is not for sale,” and “Parks, not profits” — as organizers Graciela Quispe and Jack Hu led a procession from the plaza to the Park of the Americas. As soon as everybody was gathered, a handful of protesters delivered speeches, together with State Sen. Jessica Ramos, and positioned blame for the on line casino’s proposal on elected officers State Sen. John Liu and Gov. Kathy Hochul.
“Kathleen — you have a decision to make tomorrow,” Quispe stated. “You can decide to stand with people, New Yorkers who you are supposed to represent. Or you can decide to stand with a billionaire robber baron. Choose wisely.”
Graciela Quispe, a Corona resident who helped lead Sunday’s protest, criticized Gov. Kathy Hochul’s participation in making the Metropolitan Park on line casino challenge doable and vowed to battle in opposition to her re-election marketing campaign subsequent 12 months.Renee DeLorenzo
Protesters additionally drew consideration to Cohen, whose hedge fund SAC Capital Advisors pleaded responsible to insider buying and selling and securities fraud in 2013, arguing he’s unfit to guide the challenge on the idea of his ethical character.
Supporters of the on line casino challenge identified that Cohen himself was not charged with any wrongdoing and advocated for his character, claiming he has been a loyal companion to the group each step of the best way.
“Cohen and his team have gone above and beyond in making sure this is an opportunity for all of Queens,” stated Shimi Pelman, Queens District chief 27-B in a November 2023 press launch.
“Now with Steve Cohen, we are finally seeing investment, creativity, and energy not just with the team but with the entire fan experience,” added Darren Meenan, of The 7 Line Military, in the identical press launch.
The Metropolitan Park crew has pointed to a number of polls and key votes by group boards, the Metropolis Council, state legislature and your complete Group Advisory Committee appointed to supervise the challenge’s approval that counsel widespread help for the on line casino itself. One ballot by Schoen Cooperman Analysis in March 2024 exhibits 76 % of the borough and 62 % of Senate District 13 — encompassing Corona, Jackson Heights and East Elmhurst — instantly supporting the “casino gaming” facet of the challenge. The report says surveys had been performed in English and Spanish, however didn’t specify another languages reminiscent of Chinese language or Korean.
Protesters marched from Corona Plaza to the Park of the Americas holding indicators and chanting “No, no, no casino,” “Queens is not for sale,” and “Parks, not profits.”Renee DeLorenzo
Protesters stated they don’t belief any polling that comes from the on line casino crew, expressing they felt it “wasn’t transparent” and hid the true nature of the leisure venue as a on line casino based mostly on suggestions from group members.
Swanson, a resident of East Elmhurst, claimed that a few months in the past, somebody with a clipboard knocked on the door to his dwelling asking to talk with him a couple of “family-friendly” leisure middle subsequent to Citi Area.
“They were in the neighborhood trying to get people to sign something in favor of [the casino],” Swanson recalled. “I said, ‘Tell me about it.’ They’re explaining it to me, but it was all a bait-and-switch, because nothing was said about a casino at all.”
As soon as the person with the clipboard completed, Swanson stated he requested if the middle in query was a on line casino. “He was stuttering and stammering,” he stated, finally telling him he didn’t need the on line casino within the neighborhood.
“There’s nothing good a casino will add to our community,” Swanson asserted. “Steve Cohen and John Liu — if you want it, then put it in your house. Not in our backyard.”
Pastor Jim Swanson criticized the Metropolitan Park on line casino crew’s polling course of, claiming their ways had been deceptive they usually weren’t absolutely clear as to the character of the leisure venue they requested native residents to help.Renee DeLorenzo
The on line casino crew, alternatively, claimed the method has been fully clear, noting the 16 group workshops, over 20 public hearings, six group board votes and two CAC conferences held previous to the gaming fee’s vote right this moment. Queens Borough President Donovan Richards, who helps the challenge, additionally advocated for the crew’s intensive course of participating with the group.
“They literally went to every corner of this earth to make sure that they spoke to everybody,” Richards stated after the unanimous CAC vote in September. “I think what made this plan much different than a lot of larger economic development projects is they listened first. They didn’t come into Queens and just shove a plan down our throat.”
Fulton Hou, a lifelong Flushing resident who has been concerned within the anti-casino motion since March, argued help was as an alternative manufactured. He stated he attended a number of group board and group advisory committee conferences main as much as their vote in help of the challenge.
“I think, more or less, every step of the way is not designed for the regular person or a working family to participate,” Hou stated. “It’s difficult for the average person to know what the actual truth is and the details behind these projects.”
He famous that many conferences had been at inconvenient instances for a lot of youthful residents who’re in faculty or working class residents who can’t afford to take off work. One assembly, he recalled, started at 10 a.m. and one other at 4 p.m., each throughout common work hours.
Hou stated initially of 1 Group Board 7 assembly he attended, audio system had been already lined as much as converse in favor of the challenge. Some supporters, he continued, recognized themselves as residents of communities exterior of the district the on line casino is proposed in.
Nevertheless, Hou stated as soon as residents of Flushing lined as much as converse, none of them had been in favor. “They manufacture this idea that the community supports this,” Hou stated.
Practically 100 protesters holding numerous anti-casino indicators criticized State Sen. John Liu, Gov. Kathy Hochul and the on line casino foyer for promoting out the group for the revenue pursuits of billionaire Steve Cohen.Renee DeLorenzo
Final 12 months, Ramos stated she performed three city halls, a web based survey and a standard ballot instantly asking over 400 residents throughout all demographics, gender identities and financial brackets whether or not they supported a on line casino in the neighborhood. Her ballot discovered that over 70 % of residents in her district — Corona, East Elmhurst, and Jackson Heights — stated no.
Ramos claimed the Schoen Cooperman Analysis ballot sanctioned by the Metropolitan Park on line casino crew was extra about proving there was help for the on line casino, leaving point out of the on line casino within the “fine print.” Whereas she acknowledged some help for the on line casino did exist in the neighborhood — significantly in Meeting District 35 — she claimed it didn’t characterize a majority of Queens or her personal senate district.
The Metropolitan Park crew claimed the on line casino is important for all different elements of the challenge as a result of it serves because the financial engine. With out the on line casino, supporters of the challenge say, there can be no approach of producing revenue to help the promised union jobs, infrastructure enhancements, park area, meals corridor, live performance venue or family-friendly facilities included within the proposal.
“This is generational wealth building, as far as jobs go,” stated Thomas Grech, president of the Queens Chamber of Commerce, including that there’s a lot of help for the challenge from the small enterprise group.
Nevertheless, Ramos argued the area doesn’t need to be utilized for one thing that generates revenue in any respect. “We could just accept its natural state and make it wholesome entertainment for the entire family,” she stated, suggesting canoeing, kayaking and different nature-inspired actions.
She added that she was shocked to see so many elected officers who current themselves as “progressives” and “social democrats” supporting a billionaire’s plan to show public area into non-public leisure, which protesters view as exploiting the group.
Konce Quispe, who recited a poem through the Sunday protest, stated she refused to thank the on line casino crew for investing in Queens when all it’s doing is squeezing cash from working class residents to fund initiatives that would simply be paid for utilizing a progressive tax on the rich — a sentiment echoed by the remainder of the protesters.
“To take money from the most vulnerable people in our society, to then fund public projects that are purportedly supposed to help those very same people — it’s a contradiction in tax policy,” Jack Hu defined.
The one teams actually benefiting from the on line casino, he stated, are the on line casino foyer and politicians that help it.
State Sen. Jessica Ramos stated her personal polling, which she performed in her district representing Corona, East Elmhurst and Jackson Heights, revealed residents overwhelmingly disapproved of the on line casino itself.Renee DeLorenzo
The Metropolitan Park crew has additionally repeatedly claimed it doesn’t need playing addicts to go to its on line casino, claiming it might present help companies for these impacted by dependancy. Vicki L. Been, chair of the NYS Gaming Facility Location Board, stated earlier this month that the board pressed the on line casino groups about how it might help playing addicts earlier than recommending licenses be granted by the gaming fee on Dec. 1.
Nevertheless, protesters stated the truth that they’re offering these companies simply proves that these on line casino operators know precisely what they’re doing — taking cash from working class folks affected by psychological sickness. An October 2024 research by the College of Massachusetts Amherst exhibits that whereas proximity to casinos doesn’t trigger or worsen drawback playing behaviors in communities, 90 % of income at casinos come from at-risk or drawback gamblers.
Helina Lo, a 16-year-old Flushing resident who had already been concerned in nonprofit work that led her to attach with anti-casino organizers final 12 months, stated she’s personally witnessed this damaging phenomenon.
“Growing up, I’ve always known casinos and gambling are not good for immigrants,” she stated. “I hear stories about other immigrants that my parents know who gamble their lives away.”
Lo stated she has seen buses come to select up elders in her group, which has many Asian American immigrants, and transport them to casinos for lengthy durations of time. “They hold them there the entire day,” she stated.
The longer they’re saved on the on line casino, she defined, the extra money it could actually extract out of them — one thing that she stated has left a long-lasting impression on her views of casinos.
Residents of all ages attended the rally, demanding the on line casino be rejected and changing the challenge with family-friendly facilities.Renee DeLorenzo
The Flushing teen stated she spoke at a CAC assembly in November 2024 opposing the Metropolitan Park on line casino challenge, recalling what she felt had been misleading methods the on line casino crew had been promoting the challenge.
“As they presented it, I realized it was all a facade,” she stated. “I was hearing how they were packaging it and basically tying a ribbon around it.”
At one other CAC assembly in September, Lo stated she wasn’t planning on talking however finally walked as much as the committee in tears. “I said, ‘I’m sorry I’m crying, but you let us all down,’” Lo recalled saying. “[They] refuse to talk about displacement or harm. The fact that they were in this room but didn’t engage on a deeper level was just frustrating to me.”
Throughout Thanksgiving break, Lo stated, she spent her break day from college strolling round her neighborhood knocking on doorways in house buildings — one which was 15 tales excessive, she remembered — telling them it was their final likelihood to inform their elected officers they didn’t need the on line casino. The overwhelming response from residents she spoke with, Lo stated, was that they didn’t need it.
She recalled explaining the on line casino challenge to an older resident, a grandmother who was not proficient in English whom Lo spoke with in Chinese language. After giving the resident a quantity to name her elected leaders and specific her opposition, the resident promptly requested Lo to assist her make the decision, uncertain of how one can do it herself.
“I just don’t think this is accessible to these people,” Lo stated. “It’s all these elderly residents and people who actually live here who are impacted who don’t have a way of reaching out.”
The gaming fee will probably be asserting its resolution right this moment throughout its assembly at Robert F. Smith Heart for the Performing Arts, in Manhattan, from 1 to three p.m. A small group of protesters who rallied on Sunday plan on attending.
After marching to the Park of the Americas, protesters took turns talking out in opposition to native elected officers and the on line casino foyer for promoting out the working-class group.Renee DeLorenzo
