Coney Island Boardwalk | Amusing the Zillion

Posts Tagged ‘Coney Island Boardwalk’

City Councilman’s Proposal to Landmark the Boardwalk Could Halt Concretewalk

Posted in Redevelopment, tagged Boardwalk, Brighton Beach, concrete, Coney Island, Coney Island Boardwalk, landmark designation, Landmarks Preservation Commission, Mark Treyger on December 8, 2014| 2 Comments »

For friends of the Boardwalk, “Landmark the Boardwalk!” is a new rallying cry to go along with “Boardwalk Not Sidewalk!” thanks to City Councilman Mark Treyger. The council member for Coney Island and Bensonhurt told the New York Daily News that he sent a letter to the City’s Landmarks Preservation Commission to propose the boardwalk be designated a scenic landmark. “Historically, it’s been a boardwalk, not a sidewalk,” said Treyger, a former high school history teacher who has proven to be a champion of the community in the Council. Getting the boardwalk on the LPC’s calender could stop the Parks Department from redoing portions of it with concrete and plastic wood, a process already underway in Sea Gate and Brighton Beach.

In March of 2012, a ten-foot-wide Concrete Lane for so-called “emergency vehicles” and an adjoining Plasticwalk were unanimously approved by the Public Design Commission for a pilot project in Brighton Beach. At the charade of a public hearing, public testimony was cut to 2 minutes per person and six commissioners appointed by Mayor Bloomberg got to decide the future of the Boardwalk for the people of New York. One of the public comments at the hearing was that the Boardwalk should be renamed the Public Design Commission Concretewalk because it will no longer be the Riegelmann Boardwalk. As Borough President of Brooklyn, Edward Riegelmann took charge of building the Boardwalk, which opened in 1923, making it just a few years younger than the landmark Wonder Wheel.

Coney Island Concretewalk at West 36th Street near Sea Gate. June 22, 2012. Photo © Tricia Vita

We’ve been very disappointed with Mayor de Blasio’s decision to carry on with Mayor Bloomberg’s Coney Island Concretewalk despite letters from newly elected local councilmen Mark Treyger and Chaim Deutsch asking for a moratorium until further environmental studies could be done. Last June, Daniel Zarrilli, head of the Office of Recovery and Resiliency, a holdover from the Bloomberg administration, told the City Council: “The use of concrete in boardwalks is not going to change at this point, is a sound decision and that stands,” according to the Daily News. Ironically, the news was released on the eve of the Mermaid Parade, where the mayor and his wife marched on the Boardwalk not Sidewalk with their son and daughter, who were King and Queen of the Mermaid Parade.

Send a message to Bill de Blasio urging him to support the landmarking of the Coney Island Boardwalk. Here is a link to an online form to contact the Mayor.

UPDATE December 19, 2014:

City Council members Mark Treyger and Chaim Deutsch, whose districts include the Coney Island-Brighton Beach Boardwalk, have just launched a public petition calling for the Landmarks Preservation Commission to designate the boardwalk a “Scenic Landmark.” Please help their efforts by signing this petition at Change.org and sharing it with your friends. It could be our last chance to stop the Boardwalk from becoming the Concretewalk.

If you do not wish your name to appear publicly simply uncheck the box beneath the red “Sign” tab before you click it.

Link to petition: https://www.change.org/p/nyc-landmarks-preservation-commission-designate-historic-riegelmann-boardwalk-as-scenic-landmark

Photos from Friends of the Boardwalk's website show the results of prior projects where the NYC Parks Department used concrete. Photos © Mary Ann De Luca via FOBConeyIsland.com

Your Chance to Own a Souvenir Chair from Ruby’s Bar

Posted in Food & Drink, history, Photo of the Day, tagged Coney Island, Coney Island Boardwalk, Ruby's Bar, Ruby's Bar & Grill, souvenir on November 5, 2014| 1 Comment »

Whether you’re a regular at Ruby’s Bar & Grill or a fan who drops by on Mermaid Day, here’s your chance to own an original chair from the legendary watering hole on the Coney Island Boardwalk. Ruby’s co-owner Michael Sarrel told ATZ the chairs are up for sale because they are getting new seating. The price is right — only ten bucks–marked down from $18. On a snowy day at home, you can tip back on your souvenir chair and imagine you’re back at Ruby’s in Coney Island and it’s summer.

Last week, Ruby’s November and December schedule was posted on the bar’s website: “From now until Jan. 1, we will be closed, BUT our bar will be open on weekends (weather permitting). For updates, please check our Facebook page. As is our tradition, we WILL be open for the Polar Bear Club’s annual plunge on New Year’s Day. Ruby’s is looking forward to seeing you again in 2015!”

Photo of the Day: Dragonflies Swarm Coney Island

Posted in Photo of the Day, tagged Brooklyn, Brooklyn Beach Shop, Coney Island Boardwalk, dragonflies, dragonfly, Maya Haddad Miller, swarm of dragonflies on July 17, 2013| 5 Comments »

Dragonfly Visits Brooklyn Beach Shop, Coney Island Boardwalk. July 16, 2013. Photo © Maya Haddad Miller/Brooklyn Beach Shop

“We don’t know anything about what the dragonflies do when they get in the vicinity of the city,” says Michael L. May, a professor of entomology at Rutgers University in an article in the New Yorker. Now we do, they like to shop for beach gear in Coney Island.

On Tuesday, we received an email from Maya Haddad Miller of Brooklyn Beach Shop on the Coney Island Boardwalk: “Is this an annual thing? Hundreds of dragonflies show up around the same time each year? When I arrived this morning, it looked like over a hundred of them were swarming the boardwalk. I had a few in the shop from the night before. They fly in and out all day. I had a about five in the shop at the same time. I’m thinking its cause of the heat.”

Is Coney Island on the dragonflies’ migratory path or are they simply coming out to the beach to beat the heat like everyone else? A web search turned up a tweet from last year around this time that said, “Omg Coney Island is swamped with dragonflies – Williamsburg Night at the Cyclones game…” And also led us to Backyard and Beyond’s lovely photos of “Weekend Dragonflies” in Brooklyn Bridge Park two days ago. It’s definitely dragonfly time in Brooklyn