If you think those back-ups on the Belt Parkway are a nightmare now, wait until there’s a casino in Coney Island on the other end of it.
According to an environmental impact statement included in the licensing application for “The Coney,” a casino proposal that promises to fundamentally transform the People’s Playground, the project would wreak untold havoc on the iconic beachside neighborhood. The report details how The Coney would draw thousands of cars to Surf Avenue, Stillwell Avenue, and West 15th Street, overwhelming the existing infrastructure without a plan in place to absorb the influx or the parking spaces needed to house the overflow of vehicles. The plan currently calls for 1,500 on-site parking spots, but concedes more than 900 additional spots would be needed off-site to support the expected 20,000 visitors per day, or an additional 8,000,000 per year (on top of the roughly 5,000,000 who already visit annually).
But “traffic hell” isn’t the only type the 120,000 residents of the neighborhood can expect if the casino proposal is approved. “It’s not just going to be the summer of hell. It will be traffic hell all year round, and garbage hell, noise hell, crime hell,” says Marissa Solomon, a Coney Island resident and adviser to Assemblyman Alec Brook-Krasny, to the NY Post. “You’re going to replace a piece of American history to build another casino? It makes no sense for the people who live here.”
A rep for The Coney claims the project would “make massive once-in-a-lifetime improvements to Coney Island’s transit accessibility after decades of neglect by adopting and improving the Stillwell Ave subway station, easing traffic flow through rerouting streets, aligning traffic lights, hiring traffic cops, and funding infrastructure investments like a new ferry.”
“We’re also going to offer discounted or complimentary round-trip subway fares for guests and employees and partner with the MTA to provide express subway service directly from Manhattan to Coney Island,” adds Robert Cornegy, the casino rep who happens to be a former borough councilman.
The Coney bid is for one of three licenses the state plans to award in and near the city by the end of this year. But it’s been met with opposition from local residents and business owners, including Luna Park. “Casinos are not engines of sustainable development—they are predatory institutions that exploit financial vulnerability, depress surrounding businesses, and increase social burdens such as crime, addiction, and poverty. Coney Island deserves investment in education, healthcare, and small business support—not a casino that siphons wealth from the community under the guise of economic development,” reads a statement on an anti-casino petition on the amusement park’s site.
The post The “Traffic Hell” a Coney Island Casino Could Bring appeared first on BKMAG.
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