Taking a page out of the anti-Dock Street play book (which didn’t work out so well in the end), the organizers of the movement to stop (or modify) the city’s plan for the rezoning and redevelopment of Coney Island have recruited a pedigreed list of historians to sign and go public with a letter of opposition. Here’s the meat of the letter:

The City’s rezoning plan for Coney Island, however, dishonors its past and sacrifices its future. It would shrink the area reserved for amusement parkland to only 12 acres. It would insert soaring high-rises into the very heart of Coney Island’s historic amusement district. It would invite developers to tear down many of Coney Island’s remaining historic buildings, some dating back more than a century. This shrunken amusement district, hemmed in by high-rises, would leave little room for the innovation and creativity that have been Coney Island’s hallmarks for more than a century.

Signatories include Ric Burns, Charles Denson and Francis Morrone. The deadline for modifying the plan originally was this past Monday but may be extended to this coming Monday; the City Council is scheduled to vote on the plan in its current form within the next two weeks.
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HONOR CONEY ISLAND’S PAST, SAFEGUARD ITS FUTURE:
AN OPEN LETTER FROM NEW YORK HISTORIANS ON CONEY ISLAND REZONING

We are writing as historians, scholars and chroniclers of New York City,
Brooklyn and Coney Island in order to express our profound concern about
the City’s rezoning plan for Coney Island.

Coney Island is a place of great national historic significance. It is the
birthplace of the modern American amusement industry.

The City’s rezoning plan for Coney Island, however, dishonors its past and
sacrifices its future. It would shrink the area reserved for amusement
parkland to only 12 acres. It would insert soaring high-rises into the
very heart of Coney Island’s historic amusement district. It would invite
developers to tear down many of Coney Island’s remaining historic
buildings, some dating back more than a century. This shrunken amusement
district, hemmed in by high-rises, would leave little room for the
innovation and creativity that have been Coney Island’s hallmarks for more
than a century.

This plan must not be allowed to pass in its present form. The City
Council must step up and fix this plan. It needs to expand the acreage for
amusements, remove the high-rises from the heart of the amusement district
and preserve Coney Island’s historic buildings.

Please listen to the Municipal Art Society of New York, which has warned:
We are concerned that the proposed area set aside for open-air amusements
is of insufficient size and that as a result this revitalization effort
will not be successful.

Listen to Charles Denson, executive director of the Coney Island History
Project, who warned: This rezoning… reduces what was once known as the
world’s playground to something the size of a children’s playground….
Coney Island’s future as a world-class tourist destination is being
sacrificed.

Listen to Dick Zigun, founder of Coney Island USA, who warned: If the
city gets its way, it won’t be Coney Island anymore. And if we lose Coney
Island now, it will be gone forever.

The City Council has a responsibility to protect this iconic American
place. If it fails to fulfill this responsibility, the judgment of history
will be a harsh one.

Kevin Baker
Former columnist, American Heritage magazine
Chief historical researcher, The American Century
Author, Dreamland

Thomas Bender
University Professor of the Humanities and Professor of History, New York
University

Marshall Berman
Author, One Hundred Years of Spectacle: Metamorphoses of Times Square
Distinguished Professor of Political Science, CUNY Graduate Center

Ric Burns
Emmy Award-Winning Documentary Filmmaker,
Producer and Director, New York: A Documentary Film, Coney Island

Edwin Burrows
Co-author, Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898
(Winner of 1999 Pulitzer Prize in History)
Distinguished Professor of History, Brooklyn College

Charles Denson
Author, Coney Island: Lost and Found

Richard Haw
Author, The Brooklyn Bridge: A Cultural History,
Associate Professor of English, John Jay College

Phillip Lopate
Author, Waterfront: A Walk Around Manhattan
John Cranford Adams Chair, Hofstra University

Deborah Dash Moore
Frederick G.L. Huetwell Professor of History, University of Michigan

Francis Morrone
Author, An Architectural Guidebook to Brooklyn

Barnet Schecter
Author, The Battle for New York

Mike Wallace
Co-author, Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898
(Winner of 1999 Pulitzer Prize in History)
Distinguished Professor of History, CUNY Graduate Center

*Institution names are for identification purposes only.