BY COLE SINANIAN
cole@queensledger.com
FLUSHING— Get off the 7 train at Flushing Main Street and you’re in what Chuck Park likes to call the “beating heart of immigrant America,” where a Korean street preacher ambushes passersby with Jesus flyers, spit roasted ducks reach golden perfection in storefront windows and street signs in Mandarin, Spanish or Korean are just as common as English.
“This electricity, this hustle, the energy on these streets — it’s an immigrant energy, and we are the guardians of that American dream,” said the 40-year-old former diplomat and congressional candidate at a packed and sweltering town hall in the event room of Flushing’s Glow Cultural Center on Saturday, April 18.
The insurgent progressive has mounted a fierce campaign against incumbent Democrat Grace Meng from the left, leaning on a team of devoted volunteers, a Mamdani-esque social media strategy and a full calendar of town halls like these to boost his local recognition. His uncompromising critique of Meng and other “establishment democrats’” willingness to take money from corporate lobbyists, as well as their failure to stop Trump’s interventionism abroad and attacks on immigrant communities at home, has proven popular in his immigrant-heavy district, which includes the neighborhoods of Flushing, Elmhurst, Forest Hills, Maspeth, Middle Village, Kew Gardens, Bayside, and parts of Woodside
On Saturday, the sidewalk outside the Glow Cultural Center was decorated in colorful chalk with the words “CHUCK PARK, ABOLISH ICE,” and “CHILDCARE FOR ALL.” Inside, some 200 locals of all ages fanned themselves with one of the various flyers handed out in the lobby on what was one of the first truly warm days of 2026.
In an onstage interview, Emmy-nominated news anchor Aditi Lamba led Park through a series of topics that ranged from his experience as an Korean American growing up in Queens (Park spent his childhood in Woodside) to affordability and Trump’s war in Iran. Park doubled down on his plans to abolish ICE, called for a pathway to citizenship for what he described as the “underclass” of America’s 12 million undocumented immigrants, vowed to end military aid to Israel and condemned Israeli aggression in Palestine as a genocide.
But perhaps most importantly, at least to his future Flushing constituents in the room on Saturday, Park is staunchly against the Metropolitan Park Casino— the project of billionaire Mets owner Steve Cohen that would, among other things, see the development of a 50-acre, $8 billion casino and resort complex next to Citi Field. It’s this point that has set Park apart from other local electeds like State Assemblymember Jessica Gonzalez-Rojas and Governor Kathy Hochul — who have both supported the project. Meng, meanwhile, has expressed optimism towards it.
The casino discourse fits into Park’s broader critique of the Democratic establishment’s apparent moral vacancy and tendency to govern on the behalf of whoever gives them the most money instead of their working-class constituents, which he says is evidenced by Meng’s unwillingness to show up for debates or host regular town halls with the community.
“The person I’m running against and who she hangs out with, they won’t even tell you what they’re fighting for, because, guess what? They’re not fighting for anything,” Park said. “They’re fighting for themselves. They’re fighting for re-election. They’re fighting for another check. They’re fighting to climb that political ladder. That’s not what I’m fighting for.”
He characterized the fight against the casino as a fight between the people of Flushing and Big Money. Any kind of economic benefit, he argued, would be negated by the damage a casino of this size would do to Flushing’s largely Asian American community— a community marked by high rates of gambling addiction.
“This isn’t a project about jobs,” Park said. “A casino will draw its revenue from local communities, not from some hypothetical rich tourists flying in, dumping their money on Queens. It’s going to be people who look like me. People who look like my mom and dad, my grandma, your neighbor— that’s who’s gonna go take that free shuttle with a free lunch ticket to that casino and spend their last crumpled up $20 bill on the slot machine.”
During the town hall’s Q&A portion, Park left the stool next to him onstage empty, sans a placard that read “Reserved for Rep. Grace Meng,” referencing her refusal to take Park up on his frequent debate invitations.
At one point, an older Chinese woman came to the microphone with an interpreter and asked Park how the casino plans came to be and what can be done to resist them.
“There’s a lot of talk about oligarchs and billionaires— we have an oligarch who bought our democracy right here,” Park said.
“Steve Cohen— do you know what else he invests in?” Park continued. “Defense contractors, ICE detention center operators, companies like CoreCivic, that’s how he makes his money, and so it is no surprise that this is his next project. I think we have to organize to stop it. It’s late, it’s the 11th Hour, but it’s not over yet.”
Park then brought Flushing anti-casino organizer Jack Hu to the stage, who urged attendees to come to a May 2 informational town hall at P.S. 149 to learn how to organize against the casino.
In an interview outside the venue, the 35-year-old Hu explained that electing anti-casino representatives like Park is essential to challenging the will of the billionaire class, and described the fight against the casino as a “proxy war” with Cohen himself and his plans to buy off Queens politics.
“All of these elected officials in their seats that have been complicit in this casino, they’re all gonna have to go,” Hu said. When asked if he trusted Park to stick to his word, Hu was cautiously optimistic:
“You can’t be cynical,” he said. “You’ve gotta trust people. And Chuck is a human, right? It’s up to us, the people, to make sure that we hold our elected officials accountable, but he’s been obviously fantastic so far.”
