Source: bitchcakes via flickr
The walkway connecting the West 8th Street train station to the Coney Island Boardwalk will soon be no more. Brooklyn Daily reports that the city is tearing down the rusted shark-painted bridge for safety reasons.
The bridge, which spans over Surf Avenue, will be replaced by broadened sidewalks and a new crossing light. A new entrance to the boardwalk will be created at West 10th Street.
The walkway was originally built more than 50 years ago to compel people coming off the Culver and Brighton lines to head to the then newly built aquarium.
Chuck Reichenthal, the Community Board 13 district manager, welcomed the end of the walkway.
“It started looking like hell 15 years ago. It has to go,” Reichenthal said.
Todd Dobrin, who is running to replace term-limited Domenic Recchia on the City Council, was angry at the news of the bridge’s impending dismantling.
“It’s a safe gateway into Coney Island and directly onto the Boardwalk,” Dobrin told Brooklyn Daily. “What about all those kids who come here on field trips, and the old people?”
The Boardwalk Flyer Ride will surround the proposed plaza space. Source: Facebook
Earlier in the week, we updated you on the somewhat controversial Department of Transportation plan to install a pedestrian plaza space on the southern end of Stillwell Avenue in Coney Island, but those plans have been halted for the time being, according to a report by the New York Post.
Apparently, Councilman Domenic Recchia convinced the DOT to take the project off the table before it reached Community Board 13, deciding that there were more important places to direct city funds in Coney Island these days.
“Right now, spending [city funds] to fix Coney Island’s beaches, parks, playgrounds and school yards [following Hurricane Sandy] is much more important,” said Recchia, who contacted the DOT after The Post first reported of the agency’s plan two weeks ago.
To add to the list of things on which money would be better spent, there’s the post office, library and police station.
Although the plaza isn’t going to happen anytime soon, the DOT promised that they would consider it at a more prudent future date when Coney Island gets back on its feet.
The Boardwalk Flyer Ride will surround the proposed plaza space Source: Facebook
The Department of Transportation (DOT) wants to install a plaza on the southern end of Stillwell Avenue in Coney Island, according to a report by the New York Post.
The plaza would replace 15 metered parking spaces with tables, chairs and decorative potted plants and will cover a block from the boardwalk to Bowery Street. The Post goes on to describe what would surround the plaza:
The dead-end street is currently flanked by the Scream Zone amusement park, go-kart tracks, a beach bar and a 110-foot-high Boardwalk Flyer thrill ride.
Valerio Ferrari, president of Zamperla USA, which runs the adjacent amusements, said he supports the plaza “100 percent” because “losing a few parking spaces” isn’t as important as “beautifying” the boardwalk’s main gateway and “making it more family-friendly.”
The DOT’s plan, to be presented to Community Board 13 tomorrow, isn’t being welcomed by everybody.
Steven “Butch” Moran, the CB13 vice chairman, worries that the plaza will just create more traffic on Surf Avenue and make it more difficult for emergency vehicles to reach the boardwalk. Moran also expressed a fear that the elimination of affordable parking will hurt local businesses due to the already limited parking options in the area.
Local business owners expressed mixed feelings regarding the possibility of a pedestrian plaza.
Jimmy Kokotas, owner of the nearby boardwalk eatery Tom’s Coney Island, said he fears that eliminating the spaces could hurt business but likes that the plaza would offer boardwalk patrons direct access to amusements abutting both sides of Stillwell Avenue without making them cross the street.
“We also don’t want it to become a hangout,” he said. “You want people eating and sitting there 15 to 20 minutes and then giving others a chance.”
We were wondering what our readers think. Does a pedestrian plaza located at the end of Stillwell Avenue seem like a good idea, or will it be a colossal waste of perfectly good parking space? Let us know.
Source: FEMA via the New York Times
Earlier in the month, we reported that FEMA was planning to redraw and expand the flood zone lines for New York City for the first time since 1983. The redrawn flood zones, which carry heavy financial consequences for homeowners living in those regions, are officially here, according to a report in the New York Times.
FEMA was redrawing the maps right before Superstorm Sandy struck. The new lines place more 35,000 homes in flood zones, creating an unavoidable rise in insurance rates while also forcing the city to adapt the building code to account for potential floods. The Times explained in greater detail what the redrawn flood zone lines means for the city:
The maps will not formally go into effect for about two years, but the mayor’s office was already preparing an executive order to help owners of damaged homes rebuild to higher standards. That means that a badly damaged home that was not in the old flood zone, but is in the new one, would be allowed to rebuild to prepare for dangers predicted in the new maps. For instance, a home could be hoisted onto posts or pilings, which might have previously been disallowed because of zoning. “We’re working on an order that will enable people to rebuild, but rebuild in a way that’s safer,” said Caswell F. Holloway, the city’s deputy mayor for operations.
The expenses will undoubtedly be high for people forced to meet the new building regulations. According to the New York Times, a $250,000 home with a ground floor four feet below sea level, will have to pay a staggering $9,500 a year in flood insurance. By comparison, a home hoisted three feet above the flood line will only have to pay $427 a year.
FEMA is looking to help offset costs by providing $30,000 to homeowners to meet the new regulations when rebuilding. Whether that will be enough to raise a house on stilts is another question entirely.
“This is going to be very rough on people,” Chuck Reichenthal, district manager for Brooklyn’s Community Board 13, told the Times. “Insurance is going to zoom through the roof.”
Source: NYC DOT
Alternate side parking regulations have been reinstated today, Monday, December 17, for Brooklyn Community Board 13, an area that includes Coney Island, Brighton Beach, and parts of Gravesend.
The Department of Transportation released the following message:
The New York City Department of Transportation, in conjunction with the Department of Sanitation, today announced that Alternate Side Parking (ASP) regulations are reinstated, effective Monday, Dec. 17, in Brooklyn Community Board 13 and Queens Community Board 14 (see maps). The reinstatement of ASP regulations will allow for necessary street maintenance as storm recovery efforts in these areas continue.
Brooklyn Community Board 13 includes the neighborhoods of Coney Island, Brighton Beach, Gravesend, Homecrest and Seagate, and is delimited by Gravesend Bay on the west, 26th Avenue, 86th Street and Avenue Y on the north, Coney Island Avenue and Corbin Place on the east, and Lower New York Bay on the south.
Queens Community Board 14 includes the neighborhoods of Broad Channel, Breezy Point, Belle Harbor, Neponsit, Bayswater, Edgemere, Rockaway Park, Rockaway and Far Rockaway, and is delimited by Jamaica Bay to the north, the Nassau County line to the east and the Atlantic Ocean to the south.
ASP regulations in most areas of the city were reinstated as of Wednesday, Nov. 14 in order to allow for necessary street maintenance. With the reinstatement of regulations in Brooklyn Community Board 13 and Queens Community Board 14, all ASP regulations are in effect citywide.
Community Board 15 – which includes Sheepshead Bay, Manhattan Beach and Gerritsen Beach – was reinstated last week.
The green areas mark where ASP remains suspended.
Alternate Side Parking regulations will be reinstated on Monday, December 10, for all Brooklyn communities impacted by Superstorm Sandy, except Community Board 13, which encompasses Brighton Beach, Coney Island and parts of Gravesend.
The Department of Transportation sent out the following message earlier today:
Alternate side parking regulations are reinstated effective Monday, December 10 in Brooklyn Community Boards 15 and 18 (see maps). The reinstatement of alternate side parking will allow for necessary street maintenance as storm recovery efforts in these areas continue.
Brooklyn Community Board 15 includes the neighborhoods of Sheepshead Bay, Manhattan Beach, Kings Bay, Gerritsen Beach, Kings Highway, East Gravesend, Madison, Homecrest and Plum Beach, and is delimited by Corbin Place, Coney Island Avenue, Avenue Y, 86th street, Avenue U and MacDonald Avenue, Avenue P and Kings Highway on the north, Nostrand Avenue and Marine Park on the east, as well as by the Atlantic Ocean on the south.
Brooklyn Community Board 18 includes the neighborhoods of Canarsie, Bergen Beach, Mill Basin, Flatlands, Marine Park, Georgetown and Mill Island and is delimited by Nostrand Avenue on the west, the Long Island Rail Road viaduct on the north, Van Sinderen Avenue and Louisiana Avenue on the east and Short Parkways on the south.
Previously announced suspensions remain in effect in Brooklyn Community Board 13 and Queens Community Board 14 until further notice to facilitate ongoing storm recovery efforts in areas with some of the most extensive damage. Alternate side parking regulations in other areas of the city were reinstated as of Wednesday, November 14, to allow for necessary street maintenance.
And now we know why this was happening.
The updated map showing where in Brooklyn and Queens Alternate Side Parking is suspended indefinitely.
Yesterday we reported that, though the city was reinstating Alternate Side Parking rules, it remains indefinitely suspended in communities hit hard by Hurricane Sandy.
The city limited exempted areas in Brooklyn to just Community Boards 15 and 13, which encompass Sheepshead Bay, Manhattan Beach, Gerritsen Beach, Brighton Beach, Coney Island, and other neighborhoods.
There must have been some uproar in other community boards whose damage may not have been extensive – or, at least, those that did not receive as much media coverage – because the city today expanded those indefinite suspensions to Community Board 6 – which includes Red Hook – and Community Board 18 – which includes Marine Park, Mill Basin and Canarsie, among others.
We know we have a number of readers in Marine Park, Mill Basin and Bergen Beach who will be happy to hear this.
Alternate Side Parking regulations are reinstated in most areas of the city as of this morning, but will remain suspended indefinitely in Brooklyn Community Boards 13 and 15 and Queens Community Board 14 in order to allow ongoing storm recovery efforts in areas with some of the most extensive damage. The reinstatement of these regulations in the remainder of the city will allow for necessary street maintenance and facilitate remaining recovery efforts.
The areas with ongoing suspensions include the neighborhoods of Brighton Beach, Coney Island, Gravesend, Seagate, Sheepshead Bay, Manhattan Beach, Gerritsen Beach, Broad Channel, Breezy Point and the Rockaways, as seen in the map above.
Rod Roddenberry (Source: Google+ Profile)
Clean, dive, and rock out where no one has cleaned, dived, or rocked out before at Kaiser Park on Saturday, October 20.
The “Beneath the Sea Waterfront Celebration and Coastal Clean-Up” event brings together partners from the Avenue P Project, Beneath the Sea, Inc., Brooklyn Community Board 13, City Parks Foundation Coastal Classroom, Cultural Research Divers, John Dewey High School, The New York City Aquarium, Partnerships for Parks Catalyst Program and the Roddenberry Dive Team for a massive day long extravaganza of fun, education, sports, music, and entertainment.
The day’s events listed on the Kaiser Park Facebook event page include the beach cleanup, scuba diving and hard-hat diving, marine education exhibits and demonstrations, art exhibits, arts and craft activities like pumpkin painting, robots that go underwater, waterfront walking tour, football clinic, and music.
Best of all, you get to meet WABC Weatherman Bill Evans and the son of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, Rod! We’re not sure how many Star Trek questions Rod Roddenberry can answer, but he is the leader of the famed Roddenberry Dive Team, which figures to be a key focus of the events activities.
M & I International, the “mecca of Eastern European food” at 249 Brighton Beach Avenue, shuttered its doors in September with plans to renovate and enlarge the building, but neighbors are threatening to oppose the construction if the landlord fails to add required parking spaces.
A rendering of what M&I International’s digs will look like when complete. (Click to enlarge)
The plans were revealed during Community Board 13′s meeting last Thursday, where the landlord’s attorney, Eric Palatnik, requested the community’s green light to build a larger than permitted structure that lacks 76 required off-street parking spaces.
“[The owner] would love nothing more than to put 100 parking spaces underground below that property. It would improve the value of his business exponentially … but he can’t. There’s water,” Palatnik noted, referring to the neighborhood’s high water table.
Palatnik said the landlord – the owner of M & I International – hopes to enlarge the two-story structure to four stories, and increase square-footage from 22,800 to 45,600 – or 11,400 square feet more than zoning allows. The two new floors will be used as a daycare and medical office, and the rent will be used to offset the renovation of the building, which suffers from a sloped first floor and varied ceiling heights, as the space has assimilated multiple buildings on five tax lots as it has grown over the years.
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