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Photo of the Day: Flyering for the Boardwalk, Not Sidewalk!

Posted in Redevelopment, tagged Boardwalk, Coney Island, Coney-Brighton Boardwalk Alliance, Friends of the Boardwalk, hearing, Parks Department on October 23, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Flyering for the Boardwalk, Not Sidewalk! October 14, 2012. Photo © me-myself-i/Tricia Vita via flickr

In advance of the Coney Island Boardwalk’s day in court on Thursday, a costumed character named Smart and Intrepid Egg Head passed out flyers on the Boardwalk about the October 25th hearing: “COME AND SHOW YOUR SUPPORT FOR A WOOD BOARDWALK!!!”” Printed in English, Russian and Spanish, the flyer says:

It is vitally important for us to have a large turnout present in the courtroom when our case is heard. It will indicate to the judge the widespread level of concern that exists with regard to the Park Department’s plan for the Boardwalk. BOARDWALK NOT SIDEWALK!

Our lawsuit: We claim that the Parks Department did not subject its plans for concreting over the Coney Island Boardwalk to the necessary state environmental review…

Thursday, October 25th, 9:45 AM Kings County Supreme Court, 360 Adams St. Downtown Brooklyn, Hearing Part number: 38. Judge: Martin Solomon. Closest subway stops: Court St, Jay St/Borough Hall.

We will meet outside the hearing room at 9:30AM sharp and then enter and sit together. RSVP 718-449-7017 or robburstein@hotmail.com.

Go to www.savetheboardwalk.wordpress.com for more info, to check for last minute date changes and to sign the petition!

In July, the advocacy groups Friends of the Boardwalk and Coney-Brighton Boardwalk Alliance along with neighborhood residents filed a lawsuit against the New York City Parks Department to stop the agency from replacing additional sections of the Coney Island Boardwalk with concrete and plastic wood. The Mayor’s Public Design Commission unanimously approved a ten-foot-wide Concrete Lane for so-called “emergency vehicles” and an adjoining Plasticwalk for a pilot project in Brighton Beach. Sections of the Boardwalk in Brighton Beach and Coney’s west end near Sea Gate are already a Concretewalk. You can see what it looks like here and here.

MillionTreesNYC Plants 200 Trees on Coney Island’s Surf Avenue

Posted in News, tagged Coney Island, greening, Hetzi Juniper, MillionTreesNYC, New York City Parks, Parks Department, street tree, Surf Avenue on October 19, 2012| 5 Comments »

Hetzi Juniper Trees on Surf Avenue in front of Luna Park, Coney Island. October 18, 2012. Photo © me-myself-i/Tricia Vita via flickr

Coney Island now has more trees than rides! The greening of Coney Island’s Surf Avenue from Sea Gate to West 5th Street is under way with 200 trees being planted by New York City Parks and Recreation. The trees in the amusement area are Hetzi Junipers and other species west of MCU Park. The tree planting crew started two weeks ago in the west end of Coney Island and worked their way east to the amusement area. This week curbside trees were planted on the south side of Surf Avenue in front of Nathan’s, the Eldorado Bumper Cars, Coney Island USA and Luna Park. Yesterday at a bus stop on the north side of Surf Avenue, the trees were planted adjacent to an empty lot instead of curbside, as seen in the photo below. Just for the record, the ride count in Coney Island is now at 64, according to ATZ’s latest ride census.

Coney Island is one of several New York City neighborhoods slated for block tree planting this fall. The Parks Department selects blocks with few or no trees, planting on both sides of the street. The street tree program is part of MillionTreesNYC, a public-private initiative with the goal of planting and caring for one million new trees across the City’s five boroughs over the next decade. According to the program’s website, they’ve reached 612,625 trees and are counting.

Hetzi Juniper Trees Being Planted on the north side of Surf Avenue. October 18, 2012. Photo © me-myself-i/Tricia Vita via flickr

UPDATE November 15, 2012:

Sadly, just a few weeks after the trees were planted, most were uprooted by Hurricane Sandy…

After Hurricane Sandy: Street Tree on Surf Avenue in front of Luna Park. November 5, 2012. Photo © Tricia Vita

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50-Year-Old Coney Island Kiddie Park Begins Dismantling Rides

Posted in amusement park, Amusement ride, News, tagged Carol McCullough, Coney Island, Jimmy McCullough, McCullough's Kiddie Park, Thor Equities on October 17, 2012| 1 Comment »

Kiddie Wheel Being Taken Down, McCullough’s Kiddie Park, Coney Island. October 15, 2012. Photo © me-myself-i/Tricia Vita via flickr

On Monday, workers at McCullough’s Kiddie Park at the corner of West 12th Street and the Bowery in Coney Island began dismantling the little yellow wheel and the Herschell carousel under the gaze of the Bumblebees. As ATZ reported last month, the park’s lease with property owner Thor Equities ended this year (Exclusive: McCullough’s Kiddie Park Closing After 50 Years in Coney Island, ATZ, September 4, 2012). Since the parties could not agree to terms of a lease renewal, Jimmy McCullough, who is Coney’s oldest ride operator, is closing his family’s last remaining business here.

“Jimmy McCullough and the McCullough family would like to thank our customers for generations and decades, and all of our business associates in Coney Island,” said his daughter Carol McCullough in an interview with ATZ in September. The McCullough family has operated amusements here for four generations and is related to the Tilyous of Steeplechase Park. In the 1950s, they had Kiddielands at Surf Avenue and 15th Street as well as Surf Avenue and 8th Street next to the Cyclone. The Kiddie Park at 12th Street has been in operation since the 1960s and had ten kiddie rides after a sublease expired on an adjacent property also owned by Thor Equities.

The McCullough family’s lasting legacy is the three historic wooden carousels that they once operated in Coney Island. The rides remain in New York City’s parks: the Prospect Park Carousel, the Flushing Meadows Carousel, and the B&B Carousell, which will reopen in Coney Island’s new Steeplechase Plaza in 2013.