Flushing Meadow Corona Park with District Overlay.
Council Member’s lawsuit over non-profit park alliance’s structure and funding continues after the City attempted to squash the claim. On February 16, 2017, the New York Supreme Court denied the City’s motion to dismiss a suit against the Mayor regarding the Flushing Meadows Corona Park Alliance.
In July 2016, Council Member Rory Lancman brought a suit against both the Mayor and the Alliance in New York State Supreme Court. In the complaint, Lancman alleged that the composition of the Alliance’s Board of Directors violated the City’s Administrative Code. Specifically, Lancman argued that Administrative Code Section 18-137(b) requires every licensed non-profit conservancy entity for a park to have local representation appointed to the board of directors by the council member of each district that the park is located within. Lancman also alleged that the Alliance’s funding structure violated the City Charter. Section 109 of the City Charter reads, “All revenues of the city . . . not required by law to be paid into any other fund or account shall be paid into a fund to be termed the ‘general fund.’” Lancman alleged that the USTA’s initial and annual payments violated this section of the Charter because the payments went directly to the City Parks Foundation and then the Alliance instead of the City’s general fund, which would then be subject to the Charter’s budget process. (more…)
