To The Editor:
Re: “Summer forecast for Coney: Gloomy with a spell of despair” by Shavana Abruzzo, “A Britisher’s View,” 5-29 issue.
I have lived in Brighton beach area for 40 yrs. I am in the minority ,but I can’t wait for them to tear down Coney Island.
Let’s stop being sentimental and be realistic. Since the closing of Steeplechase. Coney has become nothing more than a rip-off for some poor tourists. All it has to offer is some bad carnie games, a few rides, and Astroland.
Let them make a new park in place of Astroland and just rebuild the rest of Coney. If that means building condos, then that’s great. It would certainly improve the area.
If you think Coney is fine as it is, then maybe you should try walking the area at night during the winter season. Also, about the boardwalk, you wrote that it goes from West 37th to Ocean Parkway. Did you forget the part of the boardwalk from Ocean Parkway to the end of Brighton Beach ?
I think allowing so much vehicle traffic, is one of the main reasons the boardwalk is in such disrepair. I have never seen so many police cars and parks department vehicles as I have in recent years.
The boardwalk was meant for pedestrian traffic, not vehicles. Let the police use bicycles to patrol the boardwalk like they do in California.
Stuart Feibusch
Coney Island
Shavana Abruzzo responds:
Dear Mr. Feibusch,
Good day to you.
According to the New York City Parks & Recreation Department, when the Coney Island Boardwalk first opened on May 15, 1923, it only spanned from West 37th Street to Ocean Parkway. It wasn’t extended to Brighton Beach until 1938, when then New York Parks Commissioner Robert Moses placed the beach and boardwalk under his agency’s care and gave it a $3 million makeover.
Thank you for taking the time to write, sir, and please continue to read “A Britisher’s View” for more food for thought.
