Join our Brooklyn Paper electronic mail e-newsletter to get information, updates, and native insights delivered straight to your inbox!
A southern Brooklyn neighborhood board voted in opposition to altering land use guidelines for the proposed Coney Island on line casino on Wednesday evening within the undertaking’s newest setback.
Group Board 13 voted 24-11 to disclaim builders’ software to shut a part of Bowery Avenue and buy air rights above present buildings within the nabe to make manner for the ability, dubbed “The Coney.” Eight board members abstained from voting, and three recused themselves from the proceedings.
Although the board’s vote is strictly advisory and the land use software shouldn’t be immediately tied to The Coney’s push to get a state gaming license, public approval does play a big half in who will obtain these licenses — and Coney Islanders have robust emotions on all sides.
On the Jan. 22 board assembly, locals packed the room to capability, many waving indicators offered by opposing organizers: “Stop the Phoney” and “No no no casino in Coney Island” for these in opposition to the undertaking; “Yes to Jobs!” and “Build it Now!” for these in favor.
Supporters of the on line casino on the Jan. 22 assembly. Picture courtesy of Eric Koch/The Coney
The Coney, as builders envision it now, can be a 1,431,730-square-foot facility stretching throughout a number of blocks close to Stillwell Avenue and West twelfth Avenue, constructed up above present buildings and linked by enclosed “sky bridges.”
The staff behind the on line casino, headed by Joe Sitt’s Thor Equities, has promised it could deliver jobs and year-round financial alternative to the nabe, and mentioned this month it could create a $200 million public belief fund if the on line casino is constructed.
Some Coney Islanders mentioned Wednesday that the neighborhood might use all the assistance it could actually get.
“My ‘yes’ to The Coney is for the investments in our community,” mentioned resident Joseph Watson. “I’m talking about the kids and the young men and women that live in NYCHA, that are renters, OK, they’re not homeowners. These people, my people, we need an opportunity.”
Even when the roles offered by the on line casino are “small,” he mentioned, they may very well be the possibility locals must get a step up.
“We do know that they’re speaking about union jobs,” Watson mentioned. “Even if they weren’t, the income that they’re making is already above what they’re making in the household already. There’s so many people here that are living below poverty.”
A rendering of The Coney and the boardwalk. Picture courtesy of The Coney
Others mentioned that even when Coney Island is struggling, the on line casino isn’t what it wants.
Patrick Wall, government director of Coney Island USA, mentioned his enterprise has been “trying to survive” for years, and that he would like to see new jobs within the neighborhood.
“This casino is not that,” he mentioned. “We’re asking for a giant fort to come and plop down on top of our entire amusement district across three blocks. That’s crazy! It’s going to keep people locked in, they’ve got food, they’ve got accommodations, they’ve got entertainment. They’re never going to come outside, they’re never going to give us money.”
Coney Island USA scholar Jake Turner agreed.
“Big corporations see Coney Island not as a community, but a commodity,” he mentioned. “A place they can extract wealth from with no regard for the people who live here.”
Group Board member Yelena Makhnin recalled visiting Coney Island together with her household simply days after she moved to the U.S. from the Soviet Union in 1992. The primary pictures she took within the U.S., she mentioned, had been of her youngsters subsequent to the Marvel Wheel.
Opponents of the proposed on line casino at a Group Board 13 assembly on Jan. 9. Picture by Erica Worth
Makhnin mentioned The Coney’s guarantees weren’t sufficient, since Group Advantages Agreements usually are not legally enforceable.
“Until I see a binding document, it’s still a promise,” she mentioned.
Sheila Smalls, a fellow board member, urged her colleagues to suppose in a different way. On the west aspect of Coney Island, the place Smalls lives, virtually all the things residents used to get pleasure from is gone, she mentioned — eating places, pharmacies, film theaters.
“All of these things now are a thing of the past,” she mentioned. “Even this community board has to find a place for us to have meetings, because we don’t have a place.”
Different tasks, like rezonings and a brand new shelter, have gone ahead regardless that the neighborhood voted in opposition to them, Smalls mentioned.
Prime, a rendering of the on line casino if the land use software is permitted. Backside, the on line casino if constructed with present land use laws. Renderings courtesy of FXCollaborative/New York Metropolis Planning
“So please, listen up, everybody has an opinion…if we have an olive branch, reach out and see what it’s about before you say no,” she mentioned. “When you say no, you’re closing the door on everything, and I don’t see any other money coming from anywhere else.”
The applying will subsequent go earlier than the Brooklyn Borough President, then the Metropolis Planning Fee, then the Metropolis Council, which can make the ultimate resolution to approve or deny.
In a press release, The Coney thanked its supporters, and emphasised that the neighborhood board vote is not going to immediately impression whether or not or not the on line casino will get constructed — simply what it’ll appear to be if it does. If the land use software is denied, however The Coney will get a state gaming license, the on line casino buildings can be shorter and constructed on separate heaps, with out the sky bridges.
“It is disappointing that some prominent members of the community have [misled] others into thinking this ULURP process is a de facto vote on whether or not this project can move forward,” a on line casino rep mentioned. “As the outright owners of the fully developable lots, The Coney remains the bid most poised to put shovels in the ground on day one to kickstart what will be an economic revival for Coney Island and Southern Brooklyn.”
