At 10 a.m. on Tuesday, as the first public hearing of the proposed Coney Island casino’s Community Advisory Committee was set to begin, dozens of locals were still lined up on the sidewalk, waiting to enter
Some shouted in protest as they were told not everyone would be able to speak or even enter the packed multipurpose room at the Coney Island YMCA. By the time the meeting began just before 10:30 a.m., nearly 90 people had registered to speak.
About 54 of those speakers, nearly two-thirds of the total, testified against the casino.
The team behind The Coney are angling to build a 1.6-million-square-foot facility with a casino, hotel, retail stores, restaurants and more. They’re bidding for one of three new casino licenses from the state’s Gaming Facility Location Board. To be considered by the Board, The Coney must first win majority approval from the six-member CAC.
The Community Advisory Committee
The CAC consists of six members appointed by various state and city elected officials: Portia Henry, state Sen. Jessica Scarcella-Spanton, Marissa Solomon, Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso, Alex Sommer, and Council Member Justin Brannan, the chair of the committee.
The group must hold a vote on whether or not to approve The Coney’s application by Sept. 30. Four or more members of the committee must vote yes in order for the application to advance to the Board. Tuesday’s meeting was the first of two public hearings the CAC will host as it deliberates.
Developers say the casino would bring year-round economic opportunity and thousands of jobs to Coney Island, which has long struggled outside the summer season.
The Coney has also pledged to create a $200 million Community Trust and advocate to bring more express subway trains, buses, and long-discussed ferry service to the People’s Playground.
‘A once-in-a-generation opportunity’
Many of the 32 people who voiced their support for the casino during Tuesday’s hearing said the community is in desperate need of new jobs.
“The Coney casino is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to return the People’s Playground amusement district to its former glory as a year-round destination while simultaneously rejuvenating nearby disadvantaged communities,” said Ron Greenberg, president of the 60th Precinct Community Council.
Coney Island has suffered from “decades” of neglect and disinvestment, he said, and has long struggled with violence and low employment as a result.
“The Coney casino will bring about sustainable economic, social and cultural improvements from its thousands of job opportunities to its infrastructure improvements, increased transit services, and the possibility of ferry and jitney services,” he said.
Bob Ferazi, founder of local youth development nonprofit Thompson Drive, said the teens he works with see Coney Island as a dead end.
“Do you know what the number one goal is of many of the kids living here today? To graduate high school and get the hell out of Coney Island forever,” he said. “No coming back, not even a lookback.”
He sees the casino — and the local investments it has promised — as a way to provide safety and community to local kids.
Paula Jenkins, tenant association president at nearby Marlboro Houses, said she believes The Coney will make good on their promises.
“The Coney Island project promised jobs. I hope they follow through with the jobs, because I’m backing y’all,” she told developers, who sat beside CAC members at the front of the room. “I want you to be with us. We are with y’all, as long as you’re with us.”
But some said The Coney had overpromised on the number of permanent jobs it could offer to Coney Island residents.
Developers said the project would generate 4,000 temporary construction jobs and 4,500 permanent jobs, 25% of which they say would go to Coney Island residents. On Tuesday, they said the job application portal would be open exclusively to Coney Island residents for 90 days.
Others said they believed only a few hundred permanent jobs would go to Coney Island residents, and doubted many would benefit from temporary construction jobs. Several members of local construction unions testified in favor of the project, though it was unclear how many live in Coney Island.
‘About 30 years too late’
Many longtime Coney Islanders said The Coney’s promises are too little, too late — and specifically targeted local developer Thor Equities, owned by Joe Sitt, which is heading the proposal.
“It seems to be that this project is about 30 years too late. When Thor was buying up property when I was a kid in the late 70s early 80s … that was the time to build something,” said one speaker, Michael. “Now that the area is coming back after, yes, a few years, you want to take those businesses, take those stores that are finally here … and raze them, and ruin their businesses.”
Joseph Bonsignore, whose family operated the bobsled ride in Coney Island for decades — said changing the historic amusement district would be “a disgrace.”
“I’m against the casino,” he said. “I’m against destroying what was the playground of the world and the biggest tourist attraction probably in the United States known all over the world.”
Jenkins, though, said the nabe is too quiet in the summer, when cold weather closes the beach and amusement parks.
“When Coney Island closes, there’s nothing left,” she said. “It’s a ghost town. And I like to do things, so I would like the Coney Island casino to be in place.”
Barbara McFadden, tenant association president Sheepshead Bay/Nostrand Houses, agreed — and said The Coney’s promised community trust could fund long-needed infrastructure projects, like pricey boardwalk improvements.
“If we vote it down, is Luna Park going to fix the boardwalk?” she said. “Is the Mermaid Parade going to donate all of its proceeds to fix the boardwalk?”
Many of Coney Island’s artists and performers said they fear the casino would permanently change the nabe’s famous entertainment landscape and make The People’s Playground inaccessible for those who currently live and work there.
“Traffic, crime, and addiction is what this casino will bring, not family-friendly fun,” said Adam Rinn, artistic director of Coney Island USA. “Lies are what we are being fed, not funnel cakes and cotton candy. Greed is what this is about, not true neighborhood support.”
Coney Islanders divided over casino
The hearing exposed deep rifts in the community that have emerged as the nabe debated the casino.
Attendees repeatedly shouted over each other in disagreement, chanting in favor or against the casino and hackling speakers.
Maxim Ibadov, a member of Brooklyn Community Board 13 — which voted overwhelmingly against a rezoning tied to the casino earlier this year — accused The Coney of performing “incredible shenanigans and marketing tricks to create the illusion of community [support.]”
Some attendees said pro-casino speakers from the Hotel and Gaming Trades Council were using pre-written boilerplate scripts.
Marie Mirville-Shahzada, founder of nonprofit Alfadila Community Services, has long supported The Coney.
“My support has come at a personal cost,” she said. “My children, my businesses, my nonprofit organization and even my faith have been verbally attacked. I have been slandered on social media, boycotted, and blacklisted by those who oppose.”
Another attendee, who asked not to be named, said she had been threatened by a supporter of The Coney during Tuesday’s hearing.
“I was sitting here and someone said ‘I’m going to smack the shit out of you,’” she said. “They said it twice, they called me a re—d, and then they left. This is the kind of violence that this is bringing.”
What’s next?
The CAC will host another meeting with a date yet-to-be announced sometime in the next few weeks.
Brannan, the CAC chair, noted that the next hearing will be held in the evening, “so that working people can actually attend,” as the Aug. 26 hearing was took place in the middle of the day.
After that hearing, the CAC has until Sept. 30 to take a vote. If two-thirds of the CAC vote in favor of The Coney, the application will be moved forward to be considered by the full Gaming Facility Location Board, which will announce the winners of the new casino licenses by the end of the year.
