Letter: Unhappy with arena plans at Belmont

In “Power play at Belmont” [News, July 14], Newsday addressed the taxpayers, the developer, the neighbors and the hockey fans. The glaring omission was the opinion of fans of horse racing.

I am a lifelong fan of the thoroughbred racehorse and love Belmont and the beautiful Belmont backyard, the green area on the backside of the grandstand. I believe that the hockey arena, which will encroach on part of the backyard, will ruin this historic racetrack. And upscale retail stores? Really?

It would be better to build the arena on the south side of Hempstead Turnpike.

The Islanders should just go back to Uniondale instead of being shoved up against the historic Belmont grandstand.

Cathy McElroy, Long Beach

I agree with the Elmont residents you interviewed for your July 14 article that Elmont does need a train station, retail stores and restaurants. The proposed train station would not even be entirely in Elmont, but in Bellerose Terrace, an area already served well by the Bellerose and Queens Village train stations.

And while the area definitely needs more retail space, a luxury mall is not what we need. Rather, supermarkets, mid-priced clothing stores and big-box retail are the types of stores residents of this area must travel to Queens or farther out on Long Island to visit.

I would love to see more development in this area, but the proposed arena complex is not needed, and I believe that neither most Islanders fans nor local residents want it.

Alyson Muldoon, Bellerose Terrace