What is the role of the amusement business in a recession-era urban economy? Does Coney Island have the potential to become a true economic engine for New York?

Please join us at MAS for a panel discussion of these issues tonight at 6:30 p.m. Panelists will include: former Disney executive and Managing Director at real estate advisory firm RCLCo David Malmuth; former Six Flags executive and Senior Vice-President of PARC Management Dan Aylward; President of the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) Seth Pinsky; and owner of Astroland Amusement Park Carol Albert.

Wednesday, February 11, 6:30 – 8:00 p.m.
A Serious Business: The Future of Amusements in an Urban Economy
A panel of experts discuss the future of urban amusement parks in New York’s recession-era economy. $15, $12 MAS members.To purchase tickets, click here or call 212-935-2075.

Visit the MAS exhibit ImagineConey: Bold Ideas for the Future of Coney Island, now on display through Wednesday, March 11. Gallery hours>>.

City of Water, the MAS and MWA documentary about the future of the New York City waterfront, screens tonight at 6:00 p.m. at the Brooklyn Center for the Urban Environment. You can find out more about the screening, watch the trailer for the film at MAS.org/cityofwater, and read an interview with one of the filmmakers on Gowanus Lounge here.

A diverse group of members of the public came together at the Coney Island Gospel Assembly on Monday evening to Imagine Coney and weigh in with their ideas for Coney Island’s future: for events and activities, for new amusement rides, for the design of new structures and even for interim activities that could happen in the summer of 2009. Watch the slideshow above to learn more about the process and some of the ideas they put forward.

Also sponsored by MAS, the second Imagine Coney workshop is being held this evening at 6:30 p.m., at Brooklyn Public Library Central Branch, 10 Grand Army Plaza, Brooklyn MAP. It is free and open to the public, but reservations are encouraged. RSVP online or call 212-935-2075. Continue Reading>>

On Monday, October 27, 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 noon at Brooklyn Borough Hall, MAS will launch Imagine Coney, an initiative bringing together a world-class team of designers, engineers, producers and economists to develop new ideas for Coney Island – for amusement rides, structures, events and interim activities.

Coney Island was once one of the most astonishing places on earth – from the minarets and lights of Luna Park to the water chute rides and freakish sideshows of Dreamland. However, over the last several decades, it has declined and the area needs revitalization.

The City has taken several critical steps towards that goal. Last November, it announced a rezoning initiative, which you can view here, but it will take more than the efforts of the City alone to restore Coney Island to its greatness. It will require the focus, creativity and entrepreneurship of New Yorkers and Coney Island fans like you. Continue Reading>>

The MAS and MWA film City of Water screens this Saturday, October 11, at 4:00 p.m., as part of the Red Hook Film Festival. For more information on the screening and the film festival, click here.

Two years in the making, City of Water explores the aspirations of public officials, environmentalists, academics, community activists, recreational boaters and everyday New Yorkers for a diverse, vibrant waterfront at a time when the shoreline is changing faster than at any other time in New York’s history. The documentary features interviews with Deputy Mayor Daniel Doctoroff, US Representative Nydia Velazquez, MacArthur Fellow Majora Carter, author Phillip Lopate, Sandy Hook Pilots’ Captain Andrew McGovern and others, and includes footage from Jamaica Bay, the Brooklyn Navy Yard, and many other places on the waterfront. To learn more about the film and watch a short trailer, visit www.mas.org/cityofwater.

The MAS and MWA film City of Water screens this Saturday night in Far Rockaway as part of the Rockaway Waterfront Alliance’s annual benefit. The screening and Q & A discussion is sponsored by HSBC and is free to the public. For details of the screening and to RSVP, visit the Rockaway Waterfront Alliance website. The executive director of Rockaway Waterfront Alliance, Jeanne Dupont, was this year’s winner of the 2008 Yolanda Garcia Community Planner Award. Read more about her and her organization’s work, here.

Two years in the making, City of Water explores the aspirations of public officials, environmentalists, academics, community activists, recreational boaters and everyday New Yorkers for a diverse, vibrant waterfront at a time when the shoreline is changing faster than at any other time in New York’s history. The documentary features interviews with Deputy Mayor Daniel Doctoroff, US Representative Nydia Velazquez, MacArthur Fellow Majora Carter, author Phillip Lopate, Sandy Hook Pilots’ Captain Andrew McGovern and others, and includes footage from Jamaica Bay, the Brooklyn Navy Yard, and many other places on the waterfront.

Last November, the City released its new plan to revitalize Coney Island, and the MAS testified at a subsequent public hearing that it strongly supporting the concept of restoring “America’s Playground” to its rightful place as New York’s premier waterfront amusement and entertainment area.

In April, the City announced a new iteration of the plan (that can be viewed here) that reduced the area set aside for open-air amusements from 16 acres to 9 acres, within the context of an overall “Amusement Area” that would include entertainment-oriented retail, enclosed amusements and hotels. At a public meeting held in June, the MAS expressed concern that the area set aside for open-air amusements might be too small to meet the needs of New Yorkers and create a truly great amusement district. The MAS is continuing to study the City’s proposal.

To read the MAS comments on original draft scope of analysis for the Coney Island Rezoning Project, click here, and to read MAS comments on the revised draft scope, click here.

A coalition of Brooklyn elected officials and civic groups, including MAS, gathered today on the steps of City Hall in Manhattan today to launch the “Campaign to Reform Atlantic Yards,” an initiative to pass new legislation that would reform the governance of the Atlantic Yards project.

The Campaign was launched in response to the continued lack of accountability, transparency and public involvement in the governance of the Atlantic Yards project.

“I’ve been involved in Riverside South, on the Upper West Side on Manhattan. That project was begun 17 years ago and it’s only half-finished. We’ve been through four governors and three mayors, and the only glue of the project of the project has been the involvement of citizens – through a structure. We need this at Atlantic Yards.” said Kent Barwick, President of the Municipal Art Society. Continue reading>>.

City of Water, the documentary film from the Municipal Art Society and the Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance was aired on Channel Thirteen/WNET on Saturday, April 19 at 1.30 p.m.

Two years in the making, City of Water explores the aspirations of public officials, environmentalists, academics, community activists, recreational boaters and everyday New Yorkers for a diverse, vibrant waterfront at a time when the shoreline is changing faster than at any other time in New York’s history. The documentary features interviews with Deputy Mayor Daniel Doctoroff, US Representative Nydia Velazquez, MacArthur Fellow Majora Carter, author Phillip Lopate, Sandy Hook Pilots’ Captain Andrew McGovern and others, and includes footage from Jamaica Bay, the Brooklyn Navy Yard, and many other places on the waterfront. Continue Reading>>

MAS is pleased to announce that New York City Council Land Use Committee voted this morning to approve a proposed plan for the former Con Ed Site on the East River between 38th and 41st streets on the East River. The plan provides an easement that would enable the realignment of the FDR Drive and the construction of a deck over the highway which will facilitate the creation of a waterfront park on the East Side of Midtown Manhattan that MAS has been advocating for. Continue Reading>>