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Councilman Supports Eviction of Coney Island Eight
By
John Del Signore
Published Jan 10, 2011
Modified Jan 10, 2011
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By
John Del Signore
Published Jan 10, 2011
Modified Jan 10, 2011
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Eight mom-and-pop businesses were expected to appear in housing court today to fight their eviction from the Coney Island Boardwalk, but we're told the court date was postponed for a second time, to February 16th. In the meantime, the "Coney Island Eight" have already lost the crucial support of Democratic Councilman Domenic Recchia Jr., who serves as chairman of the council’s powerful Finance Committee. Recchia tells the Post, "I understand the sentiment that these businesses have been here a long time, but they also made a lot of money paying cheap rent all these years. If they really cared, I know firsthand that they had plenty of chances to buy these properties and fix them up, but they never did."
Never mind, of course, that the businesses were never offered leases lasting longer than a year or two, thus taking away their incentive to pour money into costly renovations. Or that bars like Cha Cha's and Ruby's submitted detailed plans to their landlord, Italian company Zamerpla, outlining improvements they intended to make if their leases were renewed. Recchia says "the stakes are too high to risk losing" the 360 new jobs that Zamperla estimates it will bring next summer after it tears down the old-timers and builds a year-round sports bar and restaurant.
Those theoretical jobs, incidentally, would be managed by Sodexo, a French cafeteria company that's paid $100 million in legal settlements to settle allegations of overcharging New York students and of denying black employees promotions. Linda Gross, spokeswoman for the Coney Island Eight, says her clients never had the opportunity to buy the property they lease, and accused Recchia of doing Mayor Bloomberg’s “bidding” as payback for the mayor “lobbying successfully” last year for Recchia’s Finance Committee appointment.
Here's video showing exactly the kind of festivities Coney Island could lose if the Bloomberg administration, using Zamperla as its puppet, sanitizes the Boardwalk:
[Via Amusing the Zillion]
Tagged
coney island boardwalk
coney island eight
ruby's bar and grill
zamperla
John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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