Left: Tropical hardwood on Coney Island Boardwalk. Right: Faux wood or plastic lumber on Steeplechase Pier. Photo © Tricia Vita/me-myself-i via flickr
Last month, news that the City was planning to turn the boardwalk into a concretewalk stirred up a storm at a community board meeting. Ruby Schulz spoke for many when she said: “This is an absolute disgrace. Having the boardwalk is a plus for this community—it’s historic. And you’re going to turn it into a sidewalk?”
Over the weekend on the Coney Island Boardwalk, JK Kanepa from Rainforest Relief and New York Climate Action Group was handing out fliers in English and Russian for a presentation and discussion on alternate solutions to the use of tropical hardwood and concrete for the boardwalk: “We want to hear your thoughts about recent development on the Coney Island boardwalk.” Here’s the press release and agenda for Tuesday night’s event at the Aquarium:
Rainforest Relief and NY Climate Action Group present Materials for a New City: 2. Alternatives to Tropical Hardwoods for Boardwalks
Tuesday, November 16, 2010: 7 PM – 9:00 PM
THE NEW YORK AQUARIUM, W. 8TH STREET & SURF AVENUE
(ENTER THROUGH REGULAR ADMISSIONS GATE)According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization,an area of rainforest the size of a football field is destroyed every second—that’s an area the size of Manhattan every three hours.
Join us for an evening of informative presentations by some of the nation’s leading experts on the use of recycled plastic lumber and domestic woods in boardwalk construction and decking. We have solutions that respect the look and feel of a traditional boardwalk and can make New York City’s Boardwalk a model for an exciting, sustainable future.
7:00 – 7:05: Poetry Reading: “Under the Boardwalk” by Michael Schwartz7:15 – 7:20: Assemblyman Brian Kavanagh (Invited), State Legislation on Tropical Hardwoods — A-10503: Tropical Hardwood Alternatives for MTA Railroad Ties
7:20 – 7:35: Tim Keating, Executive Director, Rainforest Relief: Tropical Hardwoods, Deforestation and Sustainable Designs for Boardwalk Construction
7:50 – 8:05: Douglas Murray, President, Kebony™ US: Kebony™ Modified Wood for Boardwalk Decking
7:35 – 7:50: A Short Film by Evelyn Carrigan: “Steeplechase Pier Boardwalk Renovation: Public Reaction to Recycled Plastic Lumber”
7:35 – 7:50: Dr. Richard Lehman, Chair, Department of Materials Science and Engineering; Director, Advance Polymers Center, Rutgers University: The Development and Capabilities of Recycled Plastic Lumber and Recycled Structural Composites
8:20 – 9:00: Open Forum/Questions
For more info on Rainforest Relief and NY Climate Action Group, visit www.rfny.net.
(Update: The website http://savetheboardwalk.wordpress.com went live on March 5, 2012 while an online petition continues to gather signatures. The public hearing at the Design Commission is set for Monday, March 12.)
Related posts on ATZ…
September 8, 2012: October 4: Coney Island’s Endangered Boardwalk to Get its Day in Court
February 29, 2012: Exclusive: Coney Boardwalk Group’s Letter to PDC Rebuts Parks
January 24, 2012: Parks Postpones Do-Or-Die Hearing on Coney Concretewalk
January 5, 2012: New Year, New Push to “Keep the Boards in the Coney Island Boardwalk”
Amusing the Zillion 
Surely no one could blame us for our skepticism. All one has to do is look around at what the Corporations have done to other neighborhoods. Little Italy has shruck to a mere couple of blocks. The East and West Village has been over run by cookie cutter chain stores that could care less about the neighborhoods of this city. This is the way it works with Corporations. They open up a shop whether it is aproprate to the area or not, if it doesn’t do well they use it as a tax right off and launder their money. I call them Ghost shops! And who sez once they bulldoze they won’t leave a vacant lot! People say it’s not personal. I live here this is my home. I am not against progress.
Where are the subsidy’s for the people that live and work here.
The Residents of this area!
What the hell is wrong with people these days….? First – some idiot wants to destroy treasured landmarks in Coney Island (Ruby’s and all the other Mom & Pop businesses along the boardwalk – and now this. It’s a BOARDWALK you morons. If we have to sacrifice every rainforest under the sun to preserve Coney Island – tough. Gentlemen – start your chainsaws…
Chuck, you’re the moron in this equation.
Instead of stating your cause in an adult manner you choose to speak like an idiot. Take it down a notch. We are all in favor of doing what is good for Coney island but please be an adult and choose your words more carefully.
One way to recycle a hardwood deck is to remove the boards and flip them over.
Plastic on a deck, after about three years the screws used to hold them down the plastic boards start to strip the plastic boards and they start to pop. Concrete cracks in cold weather, has to pitched 1/4 inch every foot for drainage. With a good rain or snow storm who knows how long it will take to clear up.
Wood gives, the space each board allows drainage, to evenly distribute the melting snow and rain, between the boards.
Use a little Brooklyn common sence Coney Island needs Coney Island people to make decisions for Coney Island .
Save all the Mom and Pops. The land marks of Coney Island.
The Boardwalk is one,the Cyclone, the Parashute, the old rides.
By the way Mister mayor wher is our Merry Go Round
tell it to the people who have fallen through the rotting wood of the boardwalk.
Look, there’s got to be some sort of middle ground here. OK, so maybe we don’t want to use tropical hardwood for the Boardwalk’s decking, but we don’t want a concrete sidewalk either. Is there not a manufactured engineered wood product that can be made into boards used as a substitute? I think so, and probably at a cost that is less than, or at least competitive with the traditional tropical hardwood solution.