A slippery funzone in the People’s Playground’s future, Little Odessa’s “Nyet” to Russian President Vladimir Putin, and Albany’s change of heart over a planned swan slaughter were among the stories that made headlines in our print and online editions last month.
Month In Review recaps these and other top stories from March:
Zoom flume: The Italian company that operates Luna Park sought to make an even bigger splash in the People’s Playground, with talk of a new water park near the former site of the original Thunderbolt rollercoaster. The slippery funzone, if all goes well, would stretch from Surf Avenue to the Boardwalk, and honor the vision of late developer Horace Bullard who dreamed of rebuilding Coney Island long before the city stepped in with a redevelopment plan. Zamperla is already working on a new Thunderbolt rollercoaster in the lot next door to where the old one stood from 1925 until 2000, when the Giuliani administration tore it down in a pre-dawn demolition that a federal judge later declared illegal.
Putin-on-the-fits: Brooklyn’s Ukrainian Americans lashed out at Russian President Vladimir Putin for his land grab in Crimea, claiming the leader was a “criminal” for dispatching troops to usurp Ukraine’s sovereignty. “Whatever is going on in a country should be decided in a country, not by any military coming into a country,” claimed one resident, echoing sentiments across Brighton Beach’s ex-Soviet community.
Swan reprieve: Albany backed off its proposal to shoot or gas the state’s entire mute swan population and offer the meat to food pantries, instead deciding to round them up and move them to private nature preserves. But pro-swan conservationists said either way their feathered friends’ goose was cooked because keeping the birds in captivity could land them in game hunters’ sights.
Charter martyrs: Candidate DeBlasio was a strident critic of charter schools, but Mayor DeBlasio allowed charter school bells to ring at Joseph Cavallaro middle school in Bath Beach and Seth Low Intermediate in Gravesend. Both learning institutes will open their doors to grammar schools run by Coney Island Prep and Success Academy, respectively. John Dewey High School in Sheepshead Bay escaped the space-sharing plan approved in the waning days of the Bloomberg administration.
New ‘pie’-brary: Book buffs at the Central Library were in for a treat on Pi Day, when a Gowanus pie shop opened an outpost in the lobby. Pro-pie-etors of the bakery and cafe Four and Twenty Blackbirds thanked the March 14 observance, hailing the endless number which begins “3.14,” for helping them meet their opening-day deadline. The read-and-eat follows a neighborhood tradition — the Brooklyn Museum welcomed top-rated chef Saul Bolton aboard last summer, while Fort Greene’s Theatre for a New Audience opened in November, with a Danny Meyers-run cafe we named “Shakespeare Shack.”
RIP, Ed: Manhattan Beach lost one if its staunchest and most tenacious advocates, when long-time resident and community activist Ed Eisenberg passed away on March 1 at the age of 79. Neighbors and friends remembered Eisenberg for his outspoken defense of the neighborhood, its parks, and public safety, and said he never stopped looking out for the community he loved to call home. Eisenberg was an active member of the Manhattan Beach Neighborhood Association, the 61st Precinct Community Council, and Community Board 15 until his death.
Thorny suit: The city sowed seeds of discontent when it bulldozed Coney Island’s Boardwalk Garden in December to make way for ex-Borough President Marty Markowitz’s $53-million amphitheater project, claimed the New York Community Gardens Coalition in a lawsuit. The planned Seaside Park and Community Arts Center violated municipal requirements for sewer capacity, making the ouster of the People’s Playground planters from their 17-year-old garden illegal and pointless, stated the group’s legal team.
Mahjong, anyone? A time-honored granny shuffle got a new lease on life when the Royal Palms Shuffleboard Club in Gowanus added the Chinese tile game mahjong to its roster of typically old-timey activities — but first, the owners had to figure out how to play the mysterious game that many of us watched our grandmothers play. “It’ll be like, ‘Okay, can somebody read the directions off the box?’” quipped club co-owner Ashley Albert, whose Facebook post announcing the possibility of starting a Monday night mahjong league fielded nearly 90 enthusiastic responses.
Added digs: Call it living low on the hog! A developer’s planned high-rise, waterfront compound in Williamsburg took a humble turn when the city ordered him to tack more cut-rate housing onto the complex or face the chop. Two Trees Management caved to Mayor DeBlasio’s last-minute demand to add affordable units to the five-building Domino Sugar factory development after initially balking at it. Company boss Jed Walentas claimed the rejiggered development was a win-win for unifying the neighborhood and bringing together people of different income levels.
Taking root in Billyburg: The fizz biz is set to sparkle around Williamsburg’s Morgan Avenue L station, claimed an indy ginger-ale producer, who plans to move into a roomier factory to ramp up production of the small-batch pop, whose root ingredient is a big hit with foodies. “Mankind has an affinity for the herb all over the world,” said Bruce Cost, owner of Bruce Cost Ginger Ale, hoping to energize the local economy.
