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Jan 30: NYC Design Commission to Meet (Again) on Coney Island Concretewalk

Posted in News, tagged Boardwalk, Brighton Beach, concrete, Coney Island, Coney-Brighton Boardwalk Alliance, design, environment, Friends of the Boardwalk, Parks Department, rainforest wood on January 20, 2012| 1 Comment »

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

UPDATE…February 17...The Parks Department has once again postponed the date– February 21 — that they requested to present the Concretewalk plan to the Public Design Commission! We have no idea why–Perhaps they’re not ready? Perhaps they’re busy lining up support from the PDC commissioners? Perhaps they’re trying to throw off the grassroots opposition? The online petition to “Keep the Boards in the Coney Island Boardwalk – -No Concrete! and Save the Rainforests” continues to collect signatures.

UPDATE…January 23...The Parks Department has postponed the Concretewalk hearing date to February 21, says Coney-Brighton Boardwalk Alliance’s Rob Burstein: “I just received an e-mail from the Parks Department’s liaison to the Design Commission informing me that they have postponed the date that they intend to present their proposal to the Design Commission. They will not present on January 30th, as we were originally told, but have tentatively rescheduled for February 21st.” Since the Parks Department initiates the date when they are ready to make their presentation, it appears that they are not yet ready to prove the case for concrete

On ~~January 30~~ February 21, New York City’s Parks Department is expected to go back to the Public Design Commission to try again to win approval for its controversial plan to pave all but four blocks of the 2.7 mile Coney Island Boardwalk with concrete and plastic wood. At the last meeting in October, proponents of keeping the boards in the Boardwalk won a temporary victory when the PDC refused to approve the plan. The PDC commissioners, a distinguished group of architects, artists and representatives of the City’s cultural institutions, were skeptical of the need to use concrete. They also said that more environmental and engineering studies were needed to address the questions that they had.

Three months later, the PDC will likely be asked to reconsider the Parks Department’s plan at the ~~January 30th~~ February 21st meeting, according to Coney Brighton Boardwalk Alliance’s Rob Burstein. He is asking “others that care, to join us and speak against the plan at the Design Commission. I know that many people are with us in spirit, but we need them with us in body, as well as in soul. It’s only by showing up, that we have any chance of stopping this plan!”

On Saturday, January 21st and January 28th at 3pm, Burstein’s group and Friends of the Boardwalk are having informational meetings at Brighton Beach Library. An online petition to “Keep the Boards in the Coney Island Boardwalk” launched this month has several hundred signatures and comments like this one from Linda Distasi: “I grew up in Brooklyn. I think we should keep the Boardwalk as it was intended. There are other alternatives to concrete. Use them!!!!” (Only 700-and-something signatures? If you didn’t sign yet, don’t complain when it’s concrete.)

The photo mosaic at the top of this post is from a slide show on FOB’s website showing the results of prior Parks Department projects using concrete on the Boardwalk: the concrete substructure under recycled plastic lumber on Steeplechase Pier, concrete under wood in the amusement area and the concrete slabs replacing sections of the Boardwalk in Brighton Beach and in the West End of Coney Island, from West 33rd to West 37th Streets. The other two photographs by silversalty show the same spot on the Boardwalk in Brighton Beach. In 2009’s “A Walk in the Mist,” the Boardwalk is wood; in 2011 it is slabs of concrete.

Todd Dobrin, founder of Friends of the Boardwalk, who along with fellow members of Community Board 13 voted 21-7 last May against the Concretewalk, said in a statement:

The Parks Department has wasted millions of dollars on projects that were built through trial and error at the expense of NYC taxpayers. Instead of admitting to the public, the NYC Design Commission and the NYC Parks Commissioner the fact that the use of concrete has proven to be the root cause of these design flaws, they will attempt to pull the wool over the eyes of the NYC Design Commission with questionable facts and a smoke and mirrors art show. I believe the Design Commission saw through the Parks Department’s blatant misinformation at the past meeting and will come to the same conclusion on January 30.

Public testimony at the NYC Public Design Commission meeting is limited to three minutes per person. The PDC office is in Manhattan at 253 Broadway, Fifth Floor, near the City Hall subway station. For information on the time of the ~~January 30th~~ February 21st meeting, which is set one week in advance, email Rob Burstein at robburstein[AT]Hotmail[dot]com or check the Boardwalk Alliance’s Facebook Page for updates.

New Year, New Push to “Keep the Boards in the Coney Island Boardwalk”

Posted in News, tagged Boardwalk, Brighton Beach, concrete, Coney Island, Coney-Brighton Boardwalk Alliance, local, Parks Department, rainforest wood on January 5, 2012| 8 Comments »

The New Year brings a new petition from concretewalk opponent and founder of the Coney-Brighton Boardwalk Alliance Rob Burstein. “Keep the Boards in the Coney Island Boardwalk–No Concrete! and Save the Rainforests” is circulating among our Coney friends on Facebook and has already gathered more than 365 signatures out of goal of 5,000. Addressed to 23 elected and appointed officials, the petition’s goal is to put a stop once and for all to the Parks Department’s plan to pave all but four blocks of the 2.7 mile Boardwalk with concrete and plastic wood. Some parts of the Boardwalk, like the spot in the above photo, have already been paved as part of a pilot project. The petition says in part:

If the Parks Department has its way, the Boardwalk will be turned into a concrete sidewalk! Their explanation for this choice is the citywide dictate to limit the use of rainforest wood, but there are in fact many other options available. Send a message to New York’s Parks Department to tell them that the choice is not between saving the rainforest and saving the Boardwalk — the correct choice is to do both! Stop the use of rainforest wood, and replace it with one of the available sustainable domestic hardwoods such as Black Locust or White Oak for the surface decking (the part that we all see and on which we walk). The support structure underneath should be made from recycled plastic lumber, which the U.S. Army has used to build bridges that support tanks and locomotives. This design would be both cost-effective and desirable, and, most importantly, would preserve the basic elements of what makes the wondrous Coney Island Boardwalk a boardwalk.

The last time ATZ wrote about the proposed concretewalk was in October, when the City’s Public Design Commission refused to approve the Parks Department’s plan. The PDC, a distinguished group of architects, artists and representatives of the City’s cultural institutions, told Parks that more environmental and engineering studies were needed to address the questions that they had.

According to a report on the blog A Walk in the Park, no one on the commission supported the use of concrete. “Why do we need the concrete at all,” one commissioner said. It was a victory for concretewalk opponents, winning time to organize more support for keeping the boards in the Coney Island Boardwalk.

UPDATE, March 13, 2012…

For an update read “The 10 People Who Will Decide the Fate of Coney Island Boardwalk” (ATZ, March 9, 2012)

The Coney-Brighton Boardwalk Alliance’s website http://savetheboardwalk.wordpress.com went live on March 5, 2012 while an online petition continues to gather signatures.