State Sen. Carl Kruger effectively shut down the city’s presentation of its Coney Island rezoning plan, busing in some 500 people wearing matching hats to the second public presentation of the plan, held at Coney Island Hospital Monday night. Most of the party crashers were wearing yellow hats emblazoned with the slogan, “Bloomberg’s Plan: How much? How long? Who pays?” Kruger said he paid for the hats and buses out of his own funds. Kruger also vowed to defeat the city’s plan, which he admitted he’s not that familiar with.
Kruger could become the Coney Island Development Corporation’s (CIDC) worst enemy. After promising, in an interview with the Eagle Monday to defeat Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s radical proposal to transfer city parkland to the amusement district, which would require state approval, Kruger effectively shut down the agency’s presentation last night. Kruger said the meeting violated the state’s Open Meetings Law because attendance was by invitation and required an RSVP, though he said he wasn’t aware of that requirement prior to being shut out. And he took the trouble to bus in some 500 people from churches and civic organizations (though he declined to tell the Eagle which ones).
Dianna Carlin — the owner of boardwalk boutique Lola Staar who led the opposition against Thor Equities’ plan to build condos in the amusement district — said the yellow-hatted crew seemed confused, resigned to being shuffled around by a woman carry a clipboard. “It seemed like they were paid to be there.”
Kruger said they were angry citizens from Coney Island, Brighton Beach and Sheepshead Bay. “This plan is D-O-A — Dead On Arrival,” he said, noting support from City Councilman Domenic Recchia, Assemblyman Alec Brook-Krasny and Senator Diane Savino. For the next meeting, he said he’d organize a boycott.
CIDC President Lynn Kelly sent out a letter Tuesday apologizing for the cancellation, explaining that the police and hospital security said the auditorium couldn’t handle the additional capacity. “Had we been notified by the organizers of this effort in advance that such large numbers were interested and would be bused in, we could have tried to find alternate space,” she said.
As far as “the plan,” Kruger admitted he’s unfamiliar with both the city’s plan, presented by Bloomberg earlier this month and posted on City Planning’s Web site, and Thor Equities’ plan, which was unveiled in New York Magazine Sept. 2005 and has gone through several well-publicized changes since. It seems like he’s not the only person unfamiliar with both plans, as several people, and a Brooklyn Paper editorial, have suggested they’re not much different (aside from the cost and complexities that come with the city’s plan).
Although it’s true that Thor and the city have similar elements in their visions for the area between the New York Aquarium and KeySpan Park — hotels, rides, an indoor water park, entertainment retail — there are still major differences. Most notable is the amount of land that would actually contain rides.
Thor — which owns roughly 11 acres in the amusement district, including the land beneath Astroland, a portion of Deno’s Wonder Wheel Park and the two full blocks alongside Stillwell Avenue — proposed to build an amusement park, though multi-leveled, with a footprint smaller than the current Astroland. Assuming that Deno’s Wonder Wheel stayed around, roughly four acres would be occupied by rides according to Thor’s renderings. The rest would be high-rise time-shares and hotels, one with an attached indoor waterpark, and entertainment retail, along the boardwalk on both sides of Stillwell Avenue. The developer has stated on multiple occasions that the hotels and condos, before the condos were dropped from the plan, were necessary to subsidize the cost of operating the park.
The city’s plan, which involves a controversial legislative process, possible court proceedings and more public funds, would create a contiguous 15-acre amusement park along the boardwalk, stretching from the Cyclone to KeySpan Park, where rides such as the B&B Carrousel would surround the Parachute Jump. It also makes use of currently vacant land owned by the city and Horace Bullard (who told the Eagle he supports the plan) east of KeySpan Park. Only north of the Bowery would the city allow high-rise hotels with attached water parks, restaurants and entertainment retail.
Of course, to create the 15-acre amusement park, the city would have to transfer parkland west of KeySpan, used as parking lots, to the amusement district, then lease the whole plot to a single operator. And the current property owners — which also includes Wonder Wheel owner Dennis Vourderis — would either be bought out using public funds or could take the demapped parkland west of KeySpan in exchange. And the success of this process is far from certain, meaning the move could result in no development at all. But the fact is, if the city were successful, its waterfront amusement park would be four times bigger.
— Compiled by Sarah Ryley
© Brooklyn Daily Eagle 2007
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Just a reminder, though -- It’s not considered polite to paste the entire story on your blog. Most blogs post a summary or the first paragraph,( 40 words) then post a link to the rest of the story. That helps increase click-throughs for everyone, and minimizes copyright issues.
So please keep posting, but not the entire article. arturc at att.net
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