The Municipal Art Society of New York

As the City Council prepares to vote on the Coney Island rezoning, The New York Times ran an editorial today urging its passage and at the same time supporting MAS’ recommendations to improve the plan.

“We like the Municipal Art Society’s idea of doubling the size of the amusement area and removing hotels from the south side of Surf Avenue. This way, when visitors get off the subway, they will meet sunlight and open air, not a high-rise barricade.”

MAS strongly support the City’s goals of revitalizing Coney Island, but believes the plan can be improved to make Coney Island the absolute best destination and benefit to the city it can be. Read The New York Times editorial in its entirety after the “continue reading” jump. Click here to read MAS’ statement to the City Council and see our massing study. Continue Reading>>

The City Council Land-Use Committee could be voting as soon as next week on the Coney Island rezoning.  MAS strongly supports the city’s goal of revitalizing Coney Island. We also strongly support the city’s efforts to acquire land to create a publicly-owned open-air amusement park,  which we believe is the best way to ensure amusements in perpetuity. We do, however, have recommendations to improve the plan, which are detailed in our full written testimony, which have submitted to the City Council along with a massing study (see slideshow below, or click here to download a PDF) prepared by our Planning Committee.

Vin Cipolla, the President of the Municipal Art Society of New York, today testified before the City Council, strongly supporting the city’s goals for Coney Island and suggesting improvements to the rezoning plan in the areas of urban design and preservation.

“I am here today to urge the Council to adopt the city’s plan for Coney Island — the city’s plan is the greatest hope for revitalizing Coney Island, which can not be lost to private development interests,” said Mr. Cipolla. “Coney Island is the last great oceanfront park land opportunity in the region — and Coney’s continued demise would be a tragic loss to the citizens of New York, to the country and to the world. MAS strongly believes that the city — that the public — must own enough land at Coney Island to ensure a vital amusements district.” Continue Reading>>

The ULURP clock for the Coney Island rezoning proposal is ticking. The City certified the zoning proposal in January, and from May until later this month, the City Planning Commission is conducting its review of the proposal. The Commission is likely to vote on the project very soon, after which the proposal will go to the City Council who must vote on the plan by mid-August.

MAS testified last month at the City Planning Commission’s public hearing, and shortly after we submitted detailed recommendations for the future of Coney Island. MAS strongly supports the city’s goal of revitalizing Coney Island. We also strongly support the city’s efforts to acquire land to create a publicly-owned open-air amusement park, based on an extensive economic study by real estate advisory firm RCLCo commissioned by MAS that concluded that this was the best way to ensure amusements in perpetuity. Continue Reading>>

There has been news coverage today on a reported compromise between the Navy Yard and the National Guard regarding the Admiral’s Row buildings in Brooklyn. Purportedly, only two of the eleven buildings will be retained.

Lisa Kersavage, MAS Director of Advocacy and Policy said in a public release, “If the reported compromise on the future of the Admiral’s Row buildings is true we are deeply disappointed because the majority of these buildings could and should be saved. We will continue fighting to save these important structures.”

It is not necessary to demolish the buildings in order to build on the site. MAS developed 11 alternative plans that that meet the Navy Yard’s program for a grocery store and retail (see rendering above left) and industrial space while allowing for the restoration and reuse of the historic buildings. Kersavage added, “If there is to be a compromise, it should be with the size of the 356-car parking lot, and not come at the expense of preserving these significant American treasures.” 

The buildings are in the midst of a federally-mandated Section 106 process, which provides the public with the opportunity to comment on the buildings’ demolition and to suggest alternatives that could prevent or mitigate the demolition of the historic structures. 

In light of the City’s plan to rezone 25 blocks of the Gowanus Canal corridor, MAS is conducting an investigation of the area’s historic resources, including the canal itself. Although the Gowanus Canal is sometimes better known for the pollutants from decades of heavy manufacturing and industrial use which earned it the nickname “Lavender Lake,” the canal should also be considered a historic industrial landscape. In fact, the waterway has been officially recognized as eligible for inclusion on the State and National Registers of Historic Places.  MAS recently completed a historic resources survey of the Gowanus Canal rezoning area, and will expand the study to include the other blocks along the canal and adjacent to the rezoning area that may be affected by the rezoning. The survey has already identified several unprotected potential historic buildings and structures, many of which are featured in this slide show.  Continue Reading>>

The Municipal Art Society yesterday testified before the City Planning Commission expressing our concern about an 18-story building adjacent to the Brooklyn Bridge in DUMBO.

While 18 story buildings are not un-common in DUMBO, this site on Dock Street between Water and Front Streets, across the street from the Empire Stores at left (MAP), is exceptional because it abuts the Brooklyn Bridge — a local, state, and national landmark. In fact, a portion of the development site even runs underneath the Bridge’s span.

The Brooklyn Bridge is one of New York’s most iconic historic structures, and it is one of only 11 National Historic Landmarks — the highest recognition a building can receive in America — in Brooklyn. As such, it should be protected from large-scale development encroachments. MAS believes that the development proposed for the site will mar iconic views both of the bridge from DUMBO’s streetscapes, and from the bridge of DUMBO, the Manhattan Bridge, and the East River. The development is currently going through the city’s land use review procedure for zoning changes. Continue Reading>>

Over the past several months, over a thousand people have participated in the ImagineConey initiative. The results – on display at MAS through Wednesday, March 11 – have been extraordinary, convincing us that Coney Island’s potential is truly unlimited.

While we support the City’s overall goal of revitalizing Coney Island, we are concerned that their proposed rezoning would threaten that potential, by restricting the size of the amusement area, locating high-rise buildings between Surf Avenue and the ocean, and offering insufficient protection for historic buildings in the amusement area.

Tomorrow, Brooklyn Community Board 13 will hold the first public hearing of the ULURP process on the rezoning. Please consider joining MAS in asking the City to make critical changes to the plan to ensure that we create a great Coney Island.

WHAT: Community Board Hearing on Coney Island Rezoning
WHEN: Tuesday, March 3, 6:30 p.m.
WHERE: Lincoln High School (by the Ocean Parkway stop on the Q train)
ADDRESS: 2800 Ocean Parkway, Brooklyn, NY 11235 MAP

If you plan to testify, please consider mentioning the following points: Continue Reading>>

Please join us for the final ImagineConey program this Tuesday, February 17, at 6.30 p.m. at MAS to see presentations of submissions to the ImagineConey initiative by members of the public and design professionals. Presenters will include Frederick Schwartz, Philip Tusa, Henry Jones and others. MAS staff will also present the results of the design workshop (charrette) held last November in which an international team of designers, economists and creative producers participated. The event is free, but reservations are strongly recommended. Click here to RSVP or call 212-935-2075.

Imagining Coney: Bold Ideas, Technicolor Dreams, and Fanciful Concepts
Tuesday, February 17, 6:30 – 8:00 p.m., at the Municipal Art Society
A review of over 350 ideas submitted from around the world by the general public and professional designers.

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>>.

Last night, the Municipal Art Society’s new exhibit ImagineConey: Bold Ideas for Coney Island opened with a party at our Urban Center Galleries, featuring Miss Cyclone as the evening’s MC, with sword-swallower The Great Fredini and Steve the Strongman providing sideshow entertainment that was both fascinating and gruesome at the same time.

Check out the slideshow above for photos of the opening, and visit our Facebook page to watch two short videos of the Great Fredini performing. We also took the opportunity to “live-tweet” this captivating event on Twitter, so please check out our tweets after the jump to learn about some of the more intriguing points of the evening. Continue Reading>>

The New York Times published a editorial on the future of Coney Island today titled Minding Coney Island, comparing the City’s plan for the area and the MAS proposal. Click here to read the article now.

The Times called the City and MAS’ proposals “not drastically far apart”, but stated that the area set aside in the City’s plan for outdoor amusements was “simply too small to attract enough rides and attractions to bring back the big crowds.” The editorial also criticized the city’s proposal to locate four hotels on the south side of Surf Avenue between Stillwell Avenue subway and the amusement area. “The hotels could too easily become a wall,” it states, “blocking public access to the sideshows and the rides, the boardwalk and the ocean.”

The editorial continues, “any rezoning must encourage development without destroying the dreams of a modernized Coney Island”. It concludes that the modern Coney Island “should not be a theme park”, but instead be “an alluring adaptation of Dreamland and Luna Park, and the other exotic places that always made Coney Island spendidly odd.” Continue Reading>>

Tomorrow night, “Fredini” the Sword Swallower, Miss Cyclone, and other Coney Island stars will be making guest appearances at MAS to celebrate the opening of the new MAS exhibit ImagineConey: Bold Ideas for Coney Island’s Future, and you are invited to join them.

More than 350 ideas about how to reinvent Coney Island were submitted from around the world to the MAS initiative ImagineConey over the past four months. And, these ideas, together with results of two public workshops and a charrette – an intense design workshop – are on display at the MAS Urban Center Galleries from Wednesday February 4 through Wednesday, March 11. Join us at the exhibit opening on Tuesday, February 3, 6.30 – 8:00 p.m. Entry is free, but reservations are required as space is at a premium. RSVP online or call 212-935-2075.

If you can’t make it tomorrow night, don’t worry, you can still follow everything that’s going on here and interact with us through Twitter, as we will be “live-tweeting” the event. If you don’t already follow MAS on Twitter, click here to start now.

Learn more about the ImagineConey initiative here.

Over 150 Coney Island residents and fans attended last night’s ImagineConey meeting, held at Our Lady of Solace Church on Mermaid Avenue. MAS planning committee members presented the public’s submissions to ImagineConey as well as the results of a charrette held in November. MAS also outlined the critical next steps we believe must be taken for Coney Island:

New York City Should Buy the Land for an Amusement Area. At current land values, it is unrealistic to expect private developers to construct amusements in Coney Island. Building on it’s successful effort to purchase a parcel last November, New York City should purchase enough land for a Coney Island Amusement Area of sufficient scale that could then be managed by a private, third-party entity overseeing a mix of large, small and mid-scale operators.

Refine Vision for a Viable Coney Island. Building on the strategic plan developed by the city, key stakeholders should develop a specific master plan for Coney Island that incorporates 25 acres of amusements, excluding retail and hotel uses, to support a minimum of 3.4 million visitors annually. The refined vision should include a signature, iconic ride that re-establishes Coney Island as world-class destination and enough rides to support up to 15,000 visitors at any one time. Continue Reading>>

MAS will tonight present the results of the ImagineConey project, offering ideas for a visionary new 21st century amusement district and the steps necessary to achieve it.

At a public meeting at Our Lady of Solace Chuch at 6.30PM (MAP), MAS will present ideas generated by a team of international design, planning and amusement experts, as well as concepts generated through an innovative online “call for ideas” and from public workshops convened in Brooklyn.

Building on the City’s recent actions to revitalize the area, MAS will also set forth the steps it believes are necessary to successfully return Coney Island to its former place as a dynamic and robust entertainment and amusement destination.

Join us tonight!