City Coney Island

City Council holds Coney Island Boardwalk hearing on May 4

April 22, 2016 By Paula Katinas Brooklyn Daily Eagle
Councilmember Mark Treyger, pictured on the Riegelmann Boardwalk earlier this year, says 48 of his colleagues have signed onto his effort to landmark the iconic structure. Eagle file photo by Paula Katinas
Councilmember Mark Treyger, pictured on the Riegelmann Boardwalk earlier this year, says 48 of his colleagues have signed onto his effort to landmark the iconic structure. Eagle file photo by Paula Katinas
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Councilmember Mark Treyger is fighting to have the Coney Island Boardwalk declared an official city landmark, and he is looking for the public’s help to get it done.

Treyger (D-Coney Island-Gravesend-Bensonhurst) is inviting residents of Southwest Brooklyn to come to City Hall on May 4 to show their support for a resolution he introduced calling on the Landmarks Preservation Commission to designate the boardwalk, whose official name is the Riegelmann Boardwalk, as an official landmark. 

The Land Use Committee will be hearing testimony on Treyger’s resolution on May 4 starting at 11 a.m. Treyger is encouraging residents to attend the public hearing and offer testimony to the committee.

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The resolution, which Treyger introduced in February, has received support from 48 of his council colleagues to date. Public Advocate Letitia James is also onboard.

Treyger is also encouraging residents to go on social networking sites to support landmarking the boardwalk and suggested that people post their favorite boardwalk photographs using the hashtag #LandmarkTheBoardwalk.

“Not only is the boardwalk one of Southern Brooklyn’s most significant destinations; it is a New York icon, too,” Treyger said in statement. “New Yorkers and visitors from across the globe have been making memories along the boardwalk’s 2.7 miles of wooden planks for nearly a century, and we must ensure that people can continue to create more memories on those same wooden planks going forward.”

A landmark designation for the boardwalk would bestow upon it official recognition as a Brooklyn historic site, according to Treyger, who said it would also add a layer of protection to the structure. The city needs no approval to make significant changes to the boardwalk.

With the help of Coney Island historian Charles Denson, Treyger originally filed an application with the Landmarks Preservation Commission to landmark the boardwalk in 2014. Treyger, Denson and Councilmember Chaim Deutsch (D-Brighton Beach-Sheepshead Bay), whose district also includes sections of the boardwalk, met with Landmarks Preservation Commission officials last year to urge them to consider the historical context under which the boardwalk was built in the 1920s.

“The landmarking process in this city needs to be an equitable process, because the history and tradition of all of our city’s neighborhoods must be preserved. Too much has been lost already,” Treyger said. “The boardwalk is a quintessential part of Southern Brooklyn’s history, and I am encouraging all residents of Southern Brooklyn, as well as any New Yorker that remembers walking down the boardwalk, feeling the cool ocean breeze embracing them, to join me on May 4 at City Hall. Let your voice be heard!”

 


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