The following Viewpoint is by Eleni Stefania Kalapoda

Walk out of the Mets–Willets Point station today and you step into a landscape of asphalt. Within a few years, the same walk will lead to a casino resort, a 25,000-seat soccer stadium and a ballpark, all within a few minutes of one another. Few places in America will change so completely, so quickly. On Dec. 15, 2025, New York State licensed three casino resorts for New York City, each carrying a $500-million up-front fee. In Queens, Metropolitan Park will rise on 50 acres of parking lots across from Citi Field, a short walk from New York City FC’s stadium under construction at Willets Point. Resorts World is expanding at Aqueduct, and Bally’s is building on the waterfront at Ferry Point in the Bronx.

The public debate has fixed on revenue, traffic and gambling itself.…