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An Historic First As Elected Officials Join Community’s Fight to Save Coney Island Boardwalk

Posted in Coney Island Redevelopment, tagged Boardwalk, Borough President Eric Adams, Brighton Beach, Chaim Deutsch, Coney Island Boardwalk, Coney Island Boardwalk Rally, Eric Adams, Ida Sanoff, Letitia James, Mark Treyger, Parks Department on January 19, 2015| 2 Comments »

Sign at rally to save boardwalk from becoming concrete: This is SUPPOSED to be the DE BLASIO ADMINISTRATION not BLOOMBERG. January 18, 2015. Photo © Tricia Vita

Despite icy conditions that made travel hazardous and a steady rain, about 100 people came out to Brighton Beach on Sunday for a rally to save the 92-year-old Boardwalk from becoming a concrete roadway flanked by a plasticwalk. There were many familiar faces in the crowd. Some of us had attended the charade of a public hearing where the pilot project was controversially approved by six Bloomberg appointees in 2012.

But the most remarkable thing about yesterday’s rally is that it was the first time elected officials stood with the community saying “Boardwalk Not Sidewalk!” City Councilman Mark Treyger, who has represented Coney Island for one year and whose leadership has brought about this political support, gave a fiery speech that ended with “Are you with me? The fight rages on!”

The politicians joining the rally included Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, NYC Controller Scott Stringer, NYC Public Advocate Letitia James, and Councilman Mark Levine, who is Chair of the Council’s Parks Committee, among others. During the Bloomberg administration, when this concrete boondoggle was born, elected officials automatically fell in line with Bloomberg’s policies. The local Community Board 13 voted against this proposal 21 to 7, but their vote was ignored because it’s “advisory.” Now we have a newly elected crop of officials questioning Mayor de Blasio and Parks Commissioner Mitchell Silver for not listening to the community and going ahead with Bloomberg’s calamitous plan for the Boardwalk.

When Public Advocate Letitia James said “We are urging the de Blasio administration to do what they promised and listen,” cheers went up from the crowd. “We are not going to stand by while the city rips out a piece of our history. I stand with Coney Island and Brighton Beach in this fight. The Boardwalk is worth fighting for.”

Together with Councilman Chaim Deutsch, who represents Brighton Beach, Treyger has been trying all last year to get the Mayor and the Parks Department to meet and discuss safety issues. As community activist Ida Sanoff said at the rally: “We saw a tremendous difference in storm surge impact where there were concrete sections as opposed to wooden sections. This so-called concrete plan is going forward without any environmental studies, without any engineering studies, without any thought to the safety of this community and the damage we suffered during Sandy.”

Frustrated residents held up signs that said “This is SUPPOSED to be the DE BLASIO ADMINISTRATION not BLOOMBERG,” “This is NOT Planning, Commissioner Silver,” and “Mayor de Blasio & Commissioner Silver, We LIVE HERE.” Unfortunately the de Blasio administration has not changed the pro-concrete position announced last June by Daniel Zarrilli, who heads the Mayor’s Office of Recovery and Resiliency and is a holdover from the Bloomberg administration.

“The song is ‘Under the Boardwalk,’ it is not ‘Under the Concrete,'” said Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, who gave an empowering speech about government for the people. “I’m so proud of this community that you understand government has to adhere to your wishes,” said Adams. “They thought they could ignore you. They thought you would allow your community to go through a transformation without raising your voices. Well, they were wrong.”

“We want to work with everyone to make sure the Landmarks Preservation Commission does the right thing,” said NYC Controller Scott Stringer, who promised to issue the economic data and “work side by side to make intelligent responses to the questions that come up.”

The State Assemblymen for the area, Steven Cymbrowitz and Alec Brook-Krasny were absent from the rally. It is $10 million in state money they provided which is funding the concrete section of boardwalk currently underway in Brighton Beach. One protest sign said “Steven Cymbrowitz you should be ashamed of yourself.”

State Assemblyman Bill Colton, who represents Gravesend and Bensonhurst, and Adele Cohen, who represented the neighborhood in the Assembly from 1996-2006, were in attendance and gave rousing speeches. “It’s about money,” said Cohen, who recalled that even during her tenure the Parks Department had no budget for repairs because they depended on discretionary funds. The solution: “No money, no concrete. Take the money out of the budget.”

Update: Missed rally to save the Boardwalk? See @Capt_Nemo’s two-part video of the speeches in their entirety:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HWi7vk4Ch4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5b5vIe_sTKQ

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Borough President Eric Adams, Public Advocate Letitia James to Join Jan 18 Rally to Save the Boardwalk

Posted in Coney Island Redevelopment, Events, News, tagged Boardwalk, Borough President Eric Adams, Brighton Beach, Chaim Deutsch, Chuck Schumer, Coney Island, Letitia James, Mark Treyger, Save the Boardwalk on January 16, 2015| 2 Comments »

Borough President Eric Adams and Councilman Mark Treyger and officials at Dec 18 Announcement for New Year’s Eve Celebration in Coney Island. Photo via Coney Island Facebook

Today’s 1pm rally moved to Boardwalk pavilion at Brighton 4th St, few blocks west of Coney Island Ave, if still raining. Please spread the word!

Borough President Eric Adams, New York City Public Advocate Letitia James and possibly Senator Chuck Schumer are scheduled to join the January 18th community rally to save the historic Riegelmann Boardwalk. Councilman Mark Treyger and Councilman Chaim Deutsch, whose districts include the Coney Island-Brighton Beach Boardwalk, organized the rally, which is at 1pm on the Boardwalk at Coney Island Avenue in Brighton. Take the Q train to the Brighton Beach stop and then walk one block to the Boardwalk.

“I share their views on the Boardwalk,” Borough President Eric Adams said in a sitdown with the Brooklyn Daily last week. “We do need to protect Coney Island and what makes it so special — its history and traditions — and I think a wooden Boardwalk is a part of that.”

We hope YOU will join the rally, too. It’s not an exaggeration to say this may be our last chance to save the Boardwalk. Last month, New York City’s Landmarks Preservation Commission used a form letter from 2012 and incorrect info to reject the Council Members’ petition, according to “Coney’s Boardwalk Should Be a Landmark,” an essay by historian Charles Denson of the Coney Island History Project. Meanwhile, the City’s Parks Department and its commissioner Mitchell Silver are going ahead with a project to make a concrete roadway for so-called “emergency vehicles” (garbage trucks, Parks Dept vans etc.) on the Boardwalk in Brighton Beach, a pilot project approved in 2012 by six appointees of Mayor Bloomberg.

Boardwalk Not Sidewalk/No Concrete. Sign on Building Facing Boardwalk East of Ocean Parkway in Brighton Beach. Photo © Bruce Handy

The Borough President co-sponsored Coney Island’s first New Year’s Eve celebration including an LED light show and fireworks at the Parachute Jump, fulfilling a promise he made during the campaign. “The Riegelmann Boardwalk is imprinted with over 90 years of history, helping to establish Coney Island as America’s playground,” Adams said in December, in support of CM Treyger and Deutsch’s petition to make the boardwalk a Scenic Landmark.

“Millions of visitors have made the pilgrimage to southern Brooklyn, and we want to see millions more enjoy its unique, iconic character in the decades to come,” said the Borough President. “I support a scenic landmark designation for the Riegelmann Boardwalk because I believe it is in the best interest of Brooklyn’s cultural and economic well-being. I look forward to working with my elected colleagues and local stakeholders to advance this proposal.”

The Boardwalk opened in 1923 and was already undergoing renovation in 1934: Group of men ripping up old planking on Coney Island boardwalk near Half Moon Hotel. Brooklyn Public Library, Brooklyn Collection

Mayor Bill de Blasio has not only continued the Bloomberg-approved Concretewalk but failed to listen to local council members and the community. All year, letters and requests for an environmental study and a meeting to discuss the Coney Island-Brighton Beach Boardwalk with Parks Commissioner Mitchell Silver were rebuffed. A stakeholders’ meeting was belatedly arranged on the day before New Year’s Eve, according to a report by the NY Daily News titled “City won’t budge on plan to change Coney Island Boardwalk’s wooden planks to used plastic and concrete.”

“The fate of the Boardwalk is in your hands,” Coney-Brighton Boardwalk Alliance president Rob Burstein wrote today in a letter calling for a huge turnout. “It’s not an exaggeration to say that this is our make or break moment! Please contribute to our common effort in the one way that you can make a difference- Show up and stand with us! I know that you believe that the Boardwalk is worth saving – for ourselves and for future generations – and should not be destroyed by uncaring bureaucrats. You must show up and say so!”