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To the editor,

It’s hard to understand how a newspaper that’s been so spot on about Atlantic Yards can be so obtuse when it comes to Coney Island redevelopment. Particularly inexplicable is your consistently Thor Equities–friendly editorial line (“Hypocrisy on Coney,” editorial, Nov. 24).

Let’s review Thor’s record in Coney Island thus far: The company decided to buy up a functioning amusement district, then turned around and said there’s no money to be made in amusements, insisting on a zoning change so it could erect lucrative high-rise buildings.

In exchange, Thor was willing to build new amusements on the remaining land to replace the already-operating ones that it planned to evict. (Talk about nerve!) Then, to add insult to injury, Thor bullied Coney’s merchants by inserting gag orders into their leases to prevent them from speaking out about the area’s future.

Certainly, there are legitimate questions to be raised about Mayor Bloomberg’s recently announced plan for Coney Island, and your editorial notes some of them. But it’s important to also recognize that the mayor’s proposal to designate Coney’s amusement district as parkland is a response to a very urgent concern. It’s a way of permanently protecting this storied seaside playground from rapacious developers, such as Thor, who see Coney Island’s amusement district as little more than prime oceanfront real estate waiting to be turned into high rises.

This issue notwithstanding, I love The Brooklyn Paper.

Daniel Treiman, Windsor Terrace

• • •

To the editors,

In the “Hypocrisy in Coney” editorial, The Brooklyn Paper continues to assert that the proposal to designate parkland in Coney Island constitutes eminent domain. However, mapping parkland on private property is not a new idea and has precedent in New York State. Possibly the most famous example of privately mapped parkland is within the six-million-acre Adirondack State Park.

Approximately 3.4 million acres of this park are privately held but regulated by the Adirondack Park Agency; in addition, 130,000 people live and operate businesses year-round in 105 towns within the park.

While property in this situation is encumbered by the parks designation, the owners still own, maintain, and operate their property, and are able to pass it along to their families or sell to new owners.

According to the city, the parks designation would not be any more restrictive than the underlying zoning. Furthermore, changes proposed to the underlying zoning, even with the parks designation, would actually allow more types of uses than are currently permitted, such as sit-down restaurants, which are now prohibited.

Currently, the city’s proposal does not condemn property, or force owners to sell; the proposal also indicates that the existing amusement zoning would be opened up to permit more types of development. More important, the city’s proposal calls for a minimum of 15 acres of open space reserved in perpetuity for amusements and amusement related uses, while permitting new development elsewhere in Coney Island.

David Gratt, Coney Island

The writer is managing director of Coney Island USA, which operates the Mermaid Parade.

Another row on Row

To the editor,

Your recent article on the Admirals Row homes at the Brooklyn Navy Yard (“This ‘Admiral’ is demoted,” Nov. 17) is at best uninformed, and at worst offensive to the community I represent.

For 20 years, the Navy Yard, with the support of Community Board 2 and elected officials at every level, has made it clear that the most appropriate use of this site is for a major supermarket that will serve local residents, particularly the 10,000 residents of Farragut, Walt Whitman, and Ingersoll Houses who have no convenient access to fresh produce.

These are the folks who have the most to benefit from this much-needed community resource. It is disrespectful to claim that the supermarket is planned “so that contemporary Brooklynites can have yet one more place to buy tomatoes.”

Did you talk to any residents of Farragut houses about what it has been like to live across the street from this unsafe eyesore? Did you ask them if they believe a supermarket on that site would be “one more place to buy tomatoes”?

I’ve stood shoulder to shoulder with preservationists on many fights. The reality is that the Admirals Row homes are too far gone.

The Navy Yard has a responsible plan to bring a supermarket, industrial space, and its employment center to the site while creating 500 jobs. Your claim that the Navy Yard seeks to “pave over history and move on” simply lacks credibility. Every day in the Yard, historic structures are being preserved and reused for their original industrial purpose

Letitia James, Fort Greene

The writer is the Democratic Councilwoman from Fort Greene.

Yards not safe

To the editor,

Gore Vidal once called the U.S.A. the “United States of Amnesia,” and the way the governor’s office, the Empire State Development Corporation and Forest City Ratner are treating the terror threat at the proposed Atlantic Yards, it seem like they have forgotten that a lot of Brooklynites lived through 9-11 (“Pols want Atlantic Yards security review,” Nov. 10).

Is Forest City Ratner depending on our forgetting that the World Trade Center had its own world-class security firm certifying its safety? The NYPD also says it is satisfied with the “secret plan” to prevent terrorism at Atlantic Yards. We are also, apparently, supposed to forget that the same NYPD regarded the twin towers as safe.

Are we going to be safe with a stadium built right on Atlantic and Flatbush Avenues? After all, the project would be built as a result of no-bid contracts between major corporations and government.

Oops, I almost forgot; Motorola’s no-bid contract for firemen’s radios resulted in the loss of hundreds of good men.

If Atlantic Yards is built wrong and attacked, we’re all going to have a lot more to forget about.

Steve DeSeve, Brooklyn Heights

Stuffed and happy

To the editor,

As one of the winners of The Brooklyn Paper’s “Big Turkey” contest, I just want to say a big thank you for a memorable Thanksgiving, celebrated with friends and family, courtesy of the generosity of your sponsors [Jive Turkey, Greene Grape and Baked].

I became a minor celebrity with my students, recognized in Prospect Park by fellow dog owners, pointed to by neighbors. Everybody asked how everything was and my answer was always FANTASTIC.

Though I have never patronized any of those businesses before, I will now and so will the people I raved to. The Jive turkey was so juicy, the yam brulee was yummy. We thought we had two of the same pies from Baked, so we only served one, pumpkin. The next day we realized with great joy that we had a sweet potato pie all to ourselves!

And the wine was divine: the Sobon organic Zinfandel was a hit, as was the Ransom Pinot Gris — both wines that I never would have tried. I felt very fortunate to have such a delicious feast and celebration WITH NO PREPARATION! Thanks again.

Sydelle Freed, Park Slope

©2007 The Brooklyn Paper

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