If “Year-Round” Isn’t Already A Verb We Should Try Making It One

Kind of an interesting backstory to the weird ice skating rink down at Coney Island, an early attempt to “year-round” the place:

At the opening, the city had purchased 120 tables and chairs for the later upper boardwalk frontage dining room, facing the huge ocean — that has never once been used.

The vast upper level dance floor has never been used. And the last time that I could get in to inspect it, there were 50 folded wooden tables stacked up top near the Boardwalk, most never opened.

We know of just two conventions, the widow of Martin Luther King, Corretta Scott King came some 20 years ago to a Saturday packed house audience and, earlier, the Kings County Democratic Club, held a borough convention meeting there.

The Parks Department’s local office did nothing whatsoever to operate it, other than to let one of the few spokespersons who had testified against its location — he got the concession to sell or lease ice skates — and to bring Nathans in to sell hot dogs. The Boardwalk tables were never set up.

The Abe Stark Arena is a tribute to the neglect of Coney Island.

If It Ain’t Broke, Break It

At some point people will begin to seriously distrust the point and purpose of community boards. First there’s Community Board 1 in Williamsburg and Greenpoint, where they dislike outdoor patios. Then there is Manhattan’s Community Board 2, which apparently has a thing against Montreal Smoked Meat. And now you have Manhattan’s Community Board 10 in Harlem, where board members are looking to snuff out a burgeoning nightlife scene before it really even takes off:

Central Harlem community board is considering a plan to require all new bars and restaurants to stop serving liquor at 2 a.m., two hours earlier than normal.

The proposal has divided Community Board 10 down the middle. Some members believe the requirement would put new businesses at a competitive disadvantage to established businesses that can serve alcohol until 4 a.m. Others want to get a grip on Harlem’s bar boom before things get out of hand as in the East Village and Lower East Side, where a near tripling of DWI arrests was blamed on growing nightlife in the area.

. . .

[The CB 10 chair] said bar owners should be able to know the board’s preference because it will impact where they decide to open.

That last part doesn’t sound all that threatening, until you realize that it’s absolutely supposed to sound threatening.

Always Be Skeptical Of People Who Say Stuff Like “This Is The Sort Of Thing That’s Never Been Tried In NYC”

Because “NYC” is big enough that if someone wanted to try to do something, they probably would have long since tried to do it. I guess it’s sort of like the inverse of “If I can make it there, I’ll make it anywhere”:

It sounds like a scene straight out of Las Vegas or Orlando: streets magically illuminated by an interactive light show, complete with 3-D effects and lights that respond to kinetic pedestrian motion.

But this futuristic vision is being pitched for button-down Lower Manhattan; the city Economic Development Corporation is now accepting bids for a lighting initiative that, according to the request for proposals, “will transform the experience of Lower Manhattan at night.”

“This is the sort of thing that’s never been tried in N.Y.C.,” said Seth W. Pinsky, president of the Economic Development Corporation, which will accept proposals until the end of February. He said the displays would serve locals and visitors alike in promoting a rapidly developing area that too many tourists overlook, especially after business hours.

An Indian Summer Before The Freeze Sets In

What “all hiring [. . .] frozen for the foreseeable future” actually means:

The hiring freeze that Mayor Bloomberg imposed two months ago hasn’t prevented hundreds of new additions to the city’s enormous payroll.

Since the freeze was announced on Oct. 4 — when the city’s budget deficit for fiscal year 2013 was projected at an oppressive $4.6 billion — mayoral agencies have hired 494 new full timers. The City Council added 19.

An Occupation 100 Percent Would Abide

Because on-location shoots are THAT ANNOYING:

More than 100 Occupy Wall Street demonstrators stormed the set for “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” across from the Manhattan State Supreme Courthouse, shutting down production of an OWS-themed episode.

. . .

The protesters arrived around midnight at Foley Square and roamed around the park inspecting tents and signs built by the production company.

. . .

After midnight, a police officer on a bullhorn announced that the film permit had been rescinded by the city, which drew cheers from the crowd.