Public Hearing For The Coney Turns Into Another Powder Keg

To use the word “raucous” to describe Wednesday night’s second public hearing for people offering commentary to the Community Advisory Committee (CAC) considering “The Coney” casino proposal to be submitted to the New York State Gaming Commission would be a gross understatement.

There were raw emotions, frayed nerves, flaring tempers, repeated F-bombs, a delay due to a fistfight, and accusations of paid Astroturfing supporters all squeezed into four-plus hours of what felt like non-stop drama at a filled-to-capacity Coney Island YMCA on 29th Street.

A total of 120 people spoke to and sometimes shouted and screamed at CAC members and fellow hearing-goers before they stopped taking comments at 9:20 p.m. That was past the scheduled 9 p.m. end time, and there were still 60-plus people waiting to speak.

Opponents of the $3.4 billion proposed casino and entertainment venue outnumbered supporters roughly 5-to-1 overall, and it was far more lopsided after an early burst of backers sporting “Yes to The Coney” T-shirts and placards spoke in support. Both hearings for The Coney had more opponents than proponents, with Wednesday night skewing more heavily against the Thor Equities-fronted project. The CAC has until Sept. 30 to vote the application forward — requiring a two-thirds majority of the six-person committee.

The Coney is the only Brooklyn-based proposal among the eight submitted to the NYSGC. It is considered a longshot to be awarded one of up to three $500 million licenses the state agency could award.

State senators come out in opposition

Prior to the hearing, The Coney announced a $10 million grant for ferry station construction on Coney Island contingent upon being awarded a license. The money would be used specifically on improvements to the recently renovated Steeplechase Pier on the Coney Island boardwalk. It is in addition to the previously announced $200 million community trust and $75 million public safety fund earmarked for police, fire, and emergency medical services.

The grant to the ferry, however, appeared to hold little sway as state Sens. Stephen Chan and Sam Sutton both spoke in opposition early in the hearing. Chan, whose 17th District includes South Brooklyn, said “nobody ever explained to me and my constituents what this casino here in Coney Island is about.”

Chan said he was not a fan of the casino component of either The Coney or Metropolitan Park, though he eventually voted in favor of re-zoning the land around Citi Field following discussions with New York Mets owner Steve Cohen and Metropolitan Park officials. He added, “from the information that I gathered, [The Coney] is nothing like Metropolitan Park” and that the “350,000 to 500,000 people of my district say they don’t like the moral turpitude that a casino would bring.”

After a few supporters spoke, Sutton — representing the 22nd District — came to the microphone and labeled The Coney a “terrible, terrible idea” that would “permanently distort the character of our neighborhood.” After some jeers, he egged on the T-shirt wearing supporters of the proposal, asking, “Did you all make them together or did somebody give them to you?”

That prompted enough of an outcry to pause proceedings and require a police presence to restore order.

A run of backers, then a seismic shift

Following Sutton there was a run of roughly 15 people who nearly all backed The Coney, citing the potential of sorely needed jobs and a revitalization of the boardwalk. But the pendulum swung in the opposite direction with three younger speakers, two of whom belonged to the Brooklyn-based Muslim American Society (MAS) Youth Center. The first speaker affiliated with MAS, Malik Hassan, was the first to lob the accusation pro-casino supporters were paid $80 to show up to the hearing, something repeated multiple times by opponents.

The simmering vitriol continued and bubbled up occasionally. One opponent repurposed a tag line from The Coney’s website — “The heartbeat of a community reimagined” — and countered, “You cannot reimagine a heartbeat by bulldozing over its life force and play pretending it’s still there. It’s not! All you get is a carcass and rot that will spread in the foundation for years to come.”

Another opponent and former Community Board 13 member responded to jeers by giving supporters the middle finger.

Interspersed within the heated rhetoric were legitimate concerns and gripes. One cited a current overtaxed electrical grid that has not been addressed dating back to Superstorm Sandy in October 2012.

Local artist Danielle Mastrion claimed The Coney had used her work on its promotional material without permission, saying the organization did not respond to cease-and-desist letters sent from her attorney. Another opponent labeled the project a “trauma factory.”

The pile-on continues

As the hearing wore on, it felt like no one would escape the wrath and ire of opponents to The Coney. There were two younger speakers who went on expletive-laden tirades against the project, railing against the lack of resources being directed to the community at the expense of the casino being considered.

Staten Island, the only borough not connected to this casino process, took strays as opponents rhetorically asked why it couldn’t be built there. For the second time in as many hearings, Chair and term-limited New York City Councilman Justin Brannan absorbed occasionally withering criticism.

Some opponents reserved their animosity for Thor Equities and CEO Joe Sitt, with one saying, “I don’t think Thor Equities gives a f*** about us.” Others recalled the empty promises of adding needed housing that came with the approval of the Barclays Center. There were multiple people who expressed concern Coney Island would experience the same blight as Atlantic City with a casino in the community.

It finally came to a head with an 11-year-old who recently began attending the Mark Twain Intermediate School for the Gifted and Talented.

“I don’t want to look out the windows of my future and see this, this massive building just standing there. It’s like a gargoyle,” he said. “The Cyclone was the first roller coaster ever. The Wonder Wheel is iconic. And you want to put a shadow over those? For what? So people can gamble their lives away? This is enraging.”

Even with some late backers as the hearing wound down, the opponents were a decisive majority. The final images of the livestream showed some members of the CAC looking both exhausted and taken aback by the visceral discourse.