Say Goodbye to Coney's Boardwalk Empire

Yesterday the New York City Public Design Commission voted to allow the Parks Dept. to install a section of plastic and concrete on a small stretch of the Coney Island Boardwalk. The city is looking to replace the iconic wooden planks on the boardwalk as a cost-saving measure. The Observer reports on the meeting’s colorful proceedings:

More than 50 community members turned out to decry the plan, with all but two of them opposing it for myriad reasons, from the historical to the aesthetic to the kinesthetic. After enduring hours of angry testimony, the commission considered a number of the community’s complaints, challenging the Parks Department to relocate the concrete swath set to run through the middle of the boardwalk, moving it away from the beach and closer to the land, as well as pressuring the department to include wood alternatives in other sections of what was deemed a pilot program for the eventual transformation of the entire 2.5 mile wooden way.

The vote was preliminary and the test section with the new materials is set to be installed on a Brighton Beach section of the boardwalk at an unspecified time.
Coney Island Boardwalk Closer to Concrete [NY Times]
Pave Paradise and Put Up a Sidewalk [NY Observer]
Controversial Coney Is. Concrete Boardwalk Plan Approved [NY Post]
Photo by patrick h. lauke