It's High-Towered Curtains For Coney Island...I Need A Drink!

Image compiled from photo on reBar's website

Image note: The above image is a replacement. The previous image composition was removed due to one of the elements that was taken from another photo was mistakenly used here without permission. My apologies to the original photographer.

While the city wins this round, making the future of Coney Island look bleak, the Coney Island saviors feel the need to regroup at the nearest watering hole to recharge their batteries and find refuge, once again, away from Coney Island in the 'hipper' parts of town; North Brooklyn!

Last week New York's City Council voted to approve Mayor Bloomberg's plan to revitalize Coney Island, which will bring in a six-story entertainment mall within four high-rise hotels, while shrinking the open-air amusements and threaten important historic buildings like Nathan's Famous. This will turn Coney Island into a clone of other gentrificated urban centers around the country. A fate that will no longer represent the the uniqueness that has always been Coney Island.

Feeling powerless against the city that has shown no remorse or respect towards Coney's character, our fight has driven us to the nearest watering hole to recoup, re-plan, and recharge for the charge. Though, unfortunately not in Coney Island, the Save Coney Island team is gearing us to all to stay together in keeping up the fort:

In their latest press release:

This much is clear. Save Coney Island will continue to ressure the City to buy as much land as possible for outdoor amusements. It will push for the landmarking of the historic buildings that this plan puts at risk. It will fight the construction of those high-rise towers within the amusement area. And it will resist the privatization of parkland, insisting that it remain devoted for public use.

Here are the details of our pit-stop watering hole just a few stones throw from Coney.
Happy Hour (next steps!) at the Rebar (the backroom).
Located at 147 Front Street in DUMBO.
Directions are: take the A, C, or F
Be there this Wednesday, August 5th
at 6:30 PM
You could leave your Coney rally garg at home but don't forget your torch and your will to keep on fighting!

Coney Island On CNN: Kitsch Vs. Cash

CNN's Wolf Blitzer in the 'Situation Room' ran a short segment on the new Mayor's plan for a Coney Island redevelopment.

The Mayor's plan which promises to revitalize the decayed, yet still thriving, Coney Island in Brooklyn, New York - by creating thousands of new permanent jobs and and improved infrastructure to the area - carries a major flaw in it that would change what Coney Island has been for over a century. A place of uniqueness, oddities, and merriment. The plan calls for four high-rise hotels that would create a cut off to the beach while shrinking out-door amusements.

The Mayor's plan, which passed affirmatively by the NY City Council this past Wednesday, July 29th, still faces many obstacles; with a big developer, the bad economy, and the hotel and amusement corporations which will not find their investment feasible.

Large hotels don't make sense for a small amusement area that could be covered in one afternoon. Neither would an indoor water park that may suffer during the summer seasons.

Unless the city's plan is once again revised, their wishes will never materialize and Mayor Bloomberg will not be able to pin a medal to his legacy with Coney Island.

(NOTE: Appoligies for not catching the first two sentences reported by Wolf Blitzer)

Coney Island's Future...Prognosis Negative

Today marks another fatal day in Coney Island's timeline. The city, once again, gives Coney another devastating blow to its existence.

As they have done in the past, the city has either aided developers and politicians into severly debilitating Coney's thriving uniqueness and allowing it to die every time a bit more. From killing off sections of it to fill with low-income housing with eye-sore architecture, to having no respect for iconic structures, to changing it only to emulate every-where-else America with corporate retail-style entertainment and mall-like amusements.


Today, the New York City Council will either kill or not kill Coney Island by voting in favor of Mayor Michael Bloomberg's plan, which originally, seemed like the best plan for protecting Coney Island's amusements and its future, but has later been added with a major flaw. Prosed high-rises south of Surf Avenue which would shrink the open-air amusements in Coney to a mere strip of 9 to 12 acres along the boardwalk is not right for Coney Island.


The plan's flaw, which has been argued and rallied against by Coney activists, has gone ignored by city officials without remorse.

The plan calls for four large hotels that simply don't make sense. The hotels in the plan look like a ploy for something else. As city councilman and Mayoral candidate Tony Avella recently pointed out in an interview with Brian Lehrer, calling this part of the plan a, "house of cards." And it just as well may be that. Who in their right mind will expect large hotels to be needed for a small amusement area. How feasible is it that a hotel corporation is going to build a high-rise hotel here? Before any analysis is done they simply will not commit. The city is not in going to build it themselves are they?


It's true that the new Coney Island should be year-round and not only be consisted of open-air amusements. And it does make sense for Surf Avenue to be a main thoroughfare with buildings on both sides. But those buildings should not be high-rises. They should be no more than four to five stories high. A couple of boutique hotels and bed-and-breakfast suites with plenty of themed flavor sounds like a much better fit. And of course, bustling with everything else Coney has always offered in the past and more.


City officials throw around the words 'indoor amusements' and then only give us bowling alleys, movie theaters, and an indoor water park. There are plenty of rides and attractions that could be uniquely created for Coney Island that would suit the place much better than things you get around town anywhere else.


The city needs to keep in mind Coney Island's criteria. One that has been lost along the way many years ago. Coney Island is not just carnival attractions brought in from elsewhere. When Coney really thrived it was unique. You didn't find these things anywhere else. Coney requires dreamers. The city needs to protect the space and have others with creative thinking caps come in and devise the plan. The city is not equipped for doing this. This is like asking lawyers to get on stage and do Shakespeare. Sure in Coney's glory business men created those parks but they came to Coney with their dreams and imagination in front of their business mentality.


The plan is voted on this afternoon. But let's not worry about it. The city's flaw in their plan will not be executed. There are too many obstacles in front of them and the flaw itself will create the stumbling block in the plan having it buckle under itself, the way it stands. With our economy still in a hole, the city will find themselves yet again modifying their plan. The city still faces a challenge with Thor Equities who owns at least half of what the city needs to accomplish their plan.


The city has also to be clearer on what their interim plan is while their master plan or changes in this master plan take place, in the next few years. They also need to deal with Thor Equities and put a stop to his bad amusement decision making. Inflatables, active empty lots like his flea market, and late season starters, are not right for Coney. He has already admitted to leaving for the right price which proves that he still is the speculator and cut-and-run-with-a-profit, leaving-your-smoke-and-mirrors-behind kind of man.


With a plan that will not work, how is it going to help the residents of Coney Island? The local residents and the labor movements need to also see through this flaw.


And last but not least, the city needs to start doing what is right for the people and not what is right for Bloomberg's third term and legacy. The house of cards needs to be kicked down and rebuilt with what's right for Coney.

The City’s Bully Fist Punches Through For Bloomberg’s Third Term And Future Legacy

Not heeding to what we 'freaks' want with our cute open-air ries and the cheap twinkle in our starry eyes…the city has downright made a mockery of us!

Yesterday, the city voted for the Mayor’s plan, which for the most part is right for Coney, but carelessly voted against the amendment to expand their amusement acreage and move their high-rise hotels out of the south side of Surf Avenue. The amendment was introduced by Councilman Tony Avella, taking into account the obvious points in the Mayor’s plan that would diminish the unique character of Coney Island’s amusements by shrinking it and putting it in danger of being eradicated if large buildings were to shroud it with shades of uncertainty. Hence, since hotels will not do justice to a small amusement park, the vulnerability for condo conversion exists, which will ultimately lead to the removal of any new amusement park followed by beach privatization. This of course, will come after the parkland is re-swapped by the forces of the high-rise residents.

Whirl of contradictions:
At the subcommittee voting yesterday, various diatribes drooled from the mouths of certain city officials, stating that they will take a gander and 'address' our concerns as indicated in the amendment before the whole council votes on the plan July 29, 2009. However, as usual, disrespectful contradictory fumes permeated the air in City Hall. Council Member Domenic Recchia’s contradiction is revealed in his statement yesterday quoted on his website:

I would like to have been able to expand the area available for open amusements, and I have been actively discussing this with the administration. Those discussions have been fruitful and are ongoing. I hope that by the time the entire City Council votes on this plan, on July 29th, I will have great news for everyone. But I am confident that this project, as it currently stands, is good for the city, good for Brooklyn and great for Coney Island.

Similarly, I know that there are those who would like to see lower buildings on the south side of Surf Avenue. We just couldn't make this work and will be moving forward with project that you see today.

In his second paragraph comes the obvious contradiction. You cannot actively discuss the expansion of the open-air amusements and expect to have good news here if you are not able to make the space for it in the first place. This shows that Recchia is placating us.

In addition, while the Land Use Committee ignored our pleas, The Save Coney Island coalition had this to say in their press release yesterday:

Save Coney Island is heartened, however, by suggestions made by Council members that the issues we have raised will be addressed by the City before they council renders a final vote on the plan.

Should the City succeed in its negotiations to purchase Thor Equities’ land in Coney Island, it will gain greater control over how that land is eventually used. The City must expand the size of its proposed amusement park, work to keep high-rises out of the core amusement area and protect the historic buildings that line the south side of Surf Avenue.

The Robert Moses Syndrome:
The Mayor’s plan also calls for 4,500 more housing units in Coney Island and a need for the expansion of the Coney Island Hospital to accommodate the masses of new residents. Since this sounds like a new facet of the plan, coming from a recent awareness that Coney Island will be overloaded with residents, it seems the city has not really put that much intricate thought into what will really work or not work for Coney Island.

Coney doesn’t not need more low income housing 'per say,' though it could use more desirable residential mixed-income -bracket units. Though this may sound contradictory in itself, the amount of ‘housing’ referred to in their plan seems more like a ticket for more of Bloomberg’s voting power for his internally, self-administered third term.

The City doesn't give a Tillie's hoot about it:
Simply put, the city doesn’t give a damned about having a small space for open-air amusements. They simply don’t feel that this is important enough for the future of their Coney. They simply don’t respect this idea and they don’t care. They have their own vision of Coney Island. On that comes with a 'representation' of Coney’s flavor, as an 'amenity' of their grand gentrified urban redevelopment plan for a crippling neighborhood at the grave expense of one of the city and the world’s most fabled treasures. A place where wonderment and oddity raised out of the ashes in a time where strict social order was the way of the game. It goes down to this; Some people know how to appreciate something very special...and others cannot. They only know how to think; ‘to-from-and-subject’ with black in on the books. Unfortunately, for Coney Island the power is not with the ones who dream it.

Shame On You If You Don't Fix Your Coney Plan

THIS IS YOUR LAST CHANCE TO LISTEN TO YOUR PEOPLE. THEY DON'T WANT CONEY ISLAND TO DISAPPEAR UNDER ANOTHER GREEDY ATTEMPT TO DO WHAT'S GOOD FOR BIG BIZ. DO NOT ALLOW THE MAYOR'S CURRENT PLAN TO GO THROUGH WITHOUT EXPANDING THE OPEN-AIR AMUSEMENT AREA AND MOVING THE HIGH RISES OUT OF THEIR!

With the state of this economy and the plan to kill the character and uniqueness of Coney Island will forever be a thorn in the memory of this administration to join the negativity that still lingers with the ghost of Robert Moses.

STOP THIS PLAN AND DEMAND THE MAYOR AND HIS PLANNERS ALONG WITH HIS AGENCY FOR CONEY ISLAND TO GO BACK AND REDESIGN THIS PLAN BY LISTENING TO THE PEOPLE.

Coney Island is a city-wide issue for all the people of New York City, as well as by the people and for the people!

Like Tricia Vita of her wonderful blog, Amusing the Zillion, was able to ponder at while waiting inside City Hall to speak about saving the unique character of Coney Island, the city hasn't been following the old motto in Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address; “A Government Of the People, By the People, For the People!" Even a council member stated that he wishes the city was doing more of which has not been.

ATZ writes:

The City Council hearing on the Coney Island rezoning plan was my first time inside City Hall. During the eight hour long proceeding— my two-minute slot didn’t come up until seven hours had gone by— I had plenty of time to contemplate a ceiling medallion that says: “A Government Of the People, By the People, For the People—Lincoln.” Apparently I wasn’t the only visitor impressed by this tribute to Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. Someone mentioned it in his testimony. Councilman Tony Avella, Chair of the Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises replied, “I hate to tell you how many times we don’t do that, but hopefully we can do it in this situation.” We hope so too.

And we not only hope so too but along with the rest of those who have a big place in their hearts for the real Coney Island, we demand the city listen to all of us!