Attending A Public Meeting
Read more articles on Real Estate and General Business.June 27, 2008
Posted by neillevine
June 27, 2008
Posted by neillevine
56 Views
On Tuesday, I attended a public hearing on the proposed redevelopment of Coney Island.
It was held at nearby Lincoln High School, a building that has a larger auditorium than the one in Coney Island Hospital, also nearby.
I have been in the building multiple times over the past many years for various purposes: a community meeting held by the then Congressman, Stephen Solarz, as a city employee monitoring civil service tests on Saturdays and just recently to get educational materials from the math department.
This time I used a side entrance on the far side of the building near the parking lot avoiding the annoying metal detectors inside the main entrance used to screen students for weapons. I never pass those things because I wear suspenders with metal clasps and have a metal closure on my pants so I avoided an inconvenient hand scan and emptying my pockets, raising my hands in surrender and so on.
When I arrived there already was a crowd rallying outside making clear their view of developments. Some of them were vociferous during the meeting that they were ANTI, specifically anti-retail, and apparently anti a lot of other things that make sense in a global economy.
The meeting started with two presentations by Mayoral aides, which were followed by speeches by many locals. During the time the Mayoral aides held the podium, it became clear many in the audience were against-development. Their mantra was no retail, but they were also against big business, big boxes, big money, brand names and that sort of thing. One of them was so loud and disruptive, he was threatened with expulsion unless he lowered his volume. Since the presentation was over and several of the speakers said nothing that was significant in my opinion, I left early.
My early exit was also motivated by my having previously looked at the drawings of the neighborhood provided by the City, my experience that there are numerous local residents who are encouraged to believe that the City is here for their ease and convenience, and my having talked to several people about what was going on. In fact, I had started the evening by talking to a lady who owned and lived in a five story building on Fifteenth Street, near Garguilio’s, a well known local restaurant, a street that appears to be included in the City’s plans. While the audience was assured that eminent domain would not be used, the plan for redevelopment included three large plots of land that would all have to be bought, razed and built upon.
I was impressed by the drawings provided, although artist’s renderings and clearly not real and varied greatly with each new version just as edited copy changes with each new draft. The renderings showed a vast glass building with no structural supports with a second, entirely different version emphasizing some sort of long, tall, twisting rail ride like a roller coaster that appeared to have no beginning nor an end just like a cute little Shari Lewis song. I can say the drawings show a lot of imagination, if nothing else.
The New York Post on Thursday had a magazine like insert that emphasized that a lot of new development is coming to many parts of Brooklyn, from downtown to Midwood to, as I have been emphasizing, Coney Island. The New York Times had an article about community involvement in the Bronx and the politicians are talking about minority hiring.
I have just made several inquiries about future developments so we shall keep abreast of future developments. While economic development was raised in the last gubernatorial campaign, thus far nothing has been done so I would expect jobs and the like to be an issue in the next governor’s race.
Copyright © 2006
Terms & Conditions
