I don't regret spending all that time and energy, but I do kind of miss it.
I had been to so many meetings in person and then continued on Zoom once COVID started that although I wasn't actually participating in those meetings by speaking or anything, I began to feel connected to the group there and interested in all the other items they had going on.
I am incredibly excited for this stadium at Willets Point and think the location is incredible and for some reasons, better than the GAL site. But, I also feel really sad for the Bronx community that is going to continue to have these underutilized parking garages for a long time. I don't see any developer coming in and spending all the money to remediate the parking lease / bond situation that continues to bleed money as well as buy out GAL unless there was something massive coming in that would make it worth it (i.e., a stadium, maybe a casino). This development would have been massive for this community and they spent so much time, money, and effort on kicking the tires on it, planning, and organizing thoughts on how a stadium can be utilized for community purposes (they fully funded the ULI TAP report themselves) that to have the rug pulled out from under them just sucks.
And another side note, when it looked like HRY was in play and WP was also an option, I was attending board meetings for Bronx CB1, Bronx CB4 (just to make sure if anything was happening), and Queens CB7.
And back to not regretting spending all this time, I think throughout this whole process, I've become quite interested in local community planning and local government that I'm looking to maybe get involved in my own local community in the future to whatever extent I can (even if it's just as a resident attending meetings and speaking up). I don't think I'd ever feel this way about it had I not gone down this rabbit hole.
