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Amid a deep-pocketed bid to drum up local support for a new casino at Citi Field, a key state elected official polled constituents — and found a majority of those asked don’t want it.
State Senator Jessica Ramos, a Democrat who represents the parts of western Queens that surround the stadium, said she wanted more clarity on how her constituents felt about the $8 billion Metropolitan Park project. 
Of those she had polled, 61% said they would not want to see a full casino anywhere in Queens, and 75% said they would not want one in their neighborhood. 
The Metropolitan Park proposal would develop the parking lots around the ball field to create a 25-acre park, a live-music venue, hotels, and a food hall featuring Queens vendors — all surrounding a casino developed with Hard Rock International. 
The project’s backers, led by Mets team boss Steve Cohen, have also promised $1 billion in “community benefits,” including $480 million to improve the Mets-Willets Point 7 subway and LIRR stations and tens of millions of dollars to support community groups and organizations.  
Ramos’ support is needed because any development on the parkland around Citi Field would require a waiver from the state legislature. But if the Mets don’t get the casino license, which happens under a separate process, nothing at all will get built, team representatives have said. 
Ramos said she’s waiting until May to decide if she’ll co-sponsor a parkland alienation bill introduced last year in the assembly, while gauging support in her district. That’s been difficult, she told THE CITY. 
Although she’s hosted three town halls, Ramos said it’s been hard to find people who are actually supportive of the casino plan but who haven’t “received or been promised a check” by the billionaire Cohen in exchange for support.  
She noted that the Metropolitan Park website didn’t initially mention the casino and her recent town halls were often packed with paid canvassers or union members asked to show up to support the casino.
“I was always dubious about how they buried the word ‘casino’ in their scripts, in their written propaganda — I really was desperate to be transparent and hear from my neighbors directly,” Ramos said.
Which brought her to the poll, conducted by the consulting firm Slingshot Strategies. It cost $27,500 and was paid for by a donor that Ramos, despite her calls for transparency, declined to name. 
The pollsters asked 432 registered voters who live within her State Senate District 13 — which includes Jackson Heights, Corona, Elmhurst, East Elmhurst, Woodside, and Astoria — between March 5 and March 10, starting with favorability of local, state, and national politicians and their feelings on the city.  
Of those polled, 35% identified as Hispanic, 24% identified as Asian, 22% identified as white, and 12% identified as Black or African-American.
The voters were surveyed on development plans for the Citi Field parking lots, starting first with Phoenix Meadows, an alternative proposal from local activists developed in response to the Cohen casino project. That plan would create an elevated park by covering the existing asphalt lots, but is a longshot given they don’t have any sort of lease agreement on the land or major financial backing for it. 
Still, after it was described, those polled favored Phoenix Meadows over the Metropolitan Park plan, with 84% of people supporting the plan, and half “strongly” supporting it. 
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Those polled had far less favorability for any casino plan, even though Metropolitan Park also includes parkland. 
Asked directly about the Metropolitan Park casino plan in comparison to Phoenix Meadows, 67% of respondents were totally opposed.
“Senator Ramos’ poll confirms what we’ve known all along: most people do not want a casino in their neighborhood because of its exploitative and harmful effects on the community,” Nabil Ahmed Khatri of the Muslim Center of NY said in a statement.
His organization is one of a few local groups who have spoken out against the casino plan, and helped create Phoenix Meadows in response.
A spokesperson for the Metropolitan Park project pointed to more than 15 community workshops and extensive outreach, including knocking on 20,000 doors around the stadium. Their own outreach found 89% of people were supportive of the project – and a poll they conducted last year found 78% supported the casino when they learned about the other amenities around it, he said. 
“For the past three years, Metropolitan Park has conducted an unprecedented level of community outreach,” spokesperson Karl Rickett told THE CITY.
“It’s clear the community is overwhelmingly supportive of the vision and the 15,000 good-paying union jobs, 20 acres of new park space, and $1 billion in community benefits that come with it.”
Residents were also asked about whether they wanted two casinos in Queens, with pollsters noting the existing Resorts World Casino at the Aqueduct Racetrack in South Ozone Park, which also has a bid to become a full casino. 
Most — 63% — were opposed to multiple gambling halls. Crime, immigration, and inflation topped the list of biggest concerns they wanted state and local governments to focus on; 59% said they were concerned about flooding. 
The poll also asked environment in the context of the Phoenix Meadows plan, which 80% found a convincing argument to support it, according to the poll.
“It’s very clear my neighbors want greenspace, it’s very clear we’re worried about flooding,” Ramos said. 
“Do we really want to be known as the borough of casinos? It’s off brand.”
The Metropolitan Park plan is one of nine casino proposals across New York City hoping to get one of three newly created downstate casino licenses, according to the Department of City Planning — at least two of which are being boosted by hometown celebrities.
Those other proposals include: a Times Square casino that has the backing of rapper  Jay-Z; a casino on top of Saks Fifth Avenue; and a Coney Island Casino. The Resorts World project also has the support of rapper Nas. 
A citywide zoning amendment was introduced late last year that would authorize gaming facilities in some commercial and manufacturing districts, contingent on applicants receiving a license from the State Gaming Commission.
Last week, the commission announced they would not be awarding licenses until late 2025 — while denying that it is a “delay.”
Cohen first began his push for the casino in early 2022, when his stacked team of lobbyists began pressing officials, including Mayor Eric Adams, about his development wishes around Citi Field. 
Unlike most of the other bids around the city, the Mets’ proposal has the extra hurdle of the parkland alienation rule —- and Cohen has spent big on lobbying to clear that hurdle. City and state  records showed he’s retained nearly a dozen lobbying firms through two organizations, New Green Willets and Queens Future.
Last year, New Green Willets spent nearly $950,000 on these firms, the second most by any client in the city for anything, lobbying records show. Queens Future doled out $349,000 on lobbying last year. 
They’ve spent $289,595 so far in the first quarter of 2024, city lobbying records show. 
Their efforts to pick up support have also included town halls at Citi Field featuring Cohen, meetings with organizations and canvassing throughout Queens.
Last week, City Councilmember Francisco Moya, a Democrat who represents the area, endorsed the project after being lobbied by Cohen’s team for more than a year to speak in its favor.
“I wholeheartedly believe that Metropolitan Park is in Queens’ and New York City’s best interest,” Moya said in a statement Thursday, adding he would introduce a “home rule” message, a resolution in the Council that supports state laws that affect New York City. That message, however, is only issued once the state legislature introduces the parkland alienation bill with support in both the senate and the assembly.  
That necessary home rule vote is one reason Cohen had been holding up an agreement that would allow the soccer club NYCFC to use Citi Field’s lots for fans to park during their games, THE CITY reported last year. 
At Mets Opening Day on Friday, fans were split on what they wanted around the stadium.
Nolan McFadyen, 23, takes public transportation to games from his home in Sayreville, NJ and said he was excited for more retail and ideally better train service to Citi Field.
“I think it’s a great plan, being that, one –  there’s not much around the stadium and two, it would actually build the place up a lot,” he told THE CITY. 
But Joe DiDomenico, a 43-year-old teacher from Massapequa on Long Island, said if a casino opened at the park, he’d go to fewer games. While he’d love to see more amenities around the park like at other stadiums, he felt Cohen was greedy to say he could only do it with a casino – where “the house always wins” and the community could be taken advantage of. 
“It’s a stupid idea, in order to do that you’re taking away more of the fan engagement experience,” he said. “I think it’s just a money grab.”
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