Daily News: Lawmakers seek $70M to make Queens’ dumpy 110th Precinct presentable, add extension site

This is the article The Daily News ran regarding efforts to renovate the 110th Police Precinct building. 

Daily News: A dilapidated Queens precinct that covers Flushing Meadows Corona Park is in dire need of a face-lift and satellite site, local lawmakers said Thursday.

The 110th Precinct, built over 70 years ago, has had problems with its boiler and facade for years, officials said.

“Fiorello LaGuardia was the mayor of New York when the current 110th Police Precinct location was inaugurated,” said state Senator Jose Peralta, who held a press conference outside the Corona precinct with Congressman Joe Crowley and state Assemblyman Francisco Moya.

They said it would cost $70 million for a complete renovation of the building.

“As the population continues to increase in Corona and its surrounding neighborhoods, we need additional resources to ensure we address all public safety concerns, in all areas of the 110th Precinct's jurisdiction,” Peralta said.

That jurisdiction includes the nearly 900-acre park, home to Citi Field, the Queens Museum and other facilities. Along with hosting the U.S. Open every year, the busy park is a backyard for thousands of residents.

It has also logged the highest number of crimes after Central Park in recent years.

In a letter to Gov. Cuomo and Mayor de Blasio, the lawmakers pointed it out takes at least 10 minutes to travel from the precinct to the park. They asked the Mayor and Governor to fund both the renovation and creation of a sub station inside the park ground.

In 2008, then-NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly said the department was considering building a new 110th Precinct inside the park if a suitable site was found.