{"id":2510,"date":"2007-07-16T15:24:03","date_gmt":"2007-07-16T23:24:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com\/wordpress\/archives\/2007\/07\/the_coney_island_monorail.html"},"modified":"2007-07-16T15:24:03","modified_gmt":"2007-07-16T23:24:03","slug":"the_coney_islan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com\/blog\/archives\/2007\/07\/the_coney_islan.html","title":{"rendered":"The Coney Island Monorail!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Now that plans for Coney Island’s rejuvenation seem to be moving forward, the streetcar wing of the Lionel-Industrial Complex is trying to get its filthy paws on Coney Island, too<\/a>:<\/p>\n

The Brooklyn City Streetcar Company imagines trolleys rumbling through the seaside streets once more, hearkening to the heyday of an amusement district now set to undergo an over $1 billion redevelopment.<\/p>\n

The not-for-profit group has been discussing its proposal with city officials, including the Coney Island Development Corporation, a quasi-public agency working on the area’s rezoning plan.<\/p>\n

The group proposes the trolley line to run from Dreier-Offerman Park to the West 8th Street subway station, then to Surf Avenue to Keyspan Park, with an eventual extension to the edge of Sea Gate.<\/p>\n

Another route could run from Dreier-Offerman to Cropsey Avenue, then to Neptune Avenue, then south to Stillwell Avenue.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Then they take a page from Mayor Nasonex (since he<\/a> always<\/a> sounds<\/a> so congested<\/a>) by arguing that it will reduce traffic (and asthma rates?) in the busy corridor between Dreier-Offerman Park and the projects across the street from the baseball field where the Cyclones play:<\/p>\n

Aside from adding to the ambiance of the amusement area, trolleys would help reduce area traffic,<\/em> [Brooklyn City Streetcar Company founder and president Arthur] Melnick said.<\/p>\n

Trolleys, which run on electricity, are also environmentally friendly. “They are the greenest form of motorized transportation,” he said.<\/p>\n

Chuck Reichenthal, a member of the Coney Island Development Corporation (CIDC) and the district manager of Community Board 13, said the plan merits further study, particularly as a way to “get cars off the street.”<\/p>\n

“You could have them park farther away and then trolley people over to Coney Island,” Reichenthal said. “That would be an interesting concept.”<\/p>\n

. . .<\/p>\n

City Councilmember Domenic Recchia, who represents Coney Island, said he has spoken to Melnick and the plan sounds like “a great idea.”<\/p>\n

“I think Coney Island will need some type of trolley service, whether it is his or another proposal,” the city lawmaker said.<\/p>\n

“Everyone likes it. The question is, how can we make it happen?” Recchia said.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

(Remember this: white elephant transportation projects are a sign of a sick city; maybe by the time it’s up and running Coney Island will be ready for its decline again.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Now that plans for Coney Island’s rejuvenation seem to be moving forward, the streetcar wing of the Lionel-Industrial Complex is trying to get its filthy paws on Coney Island, too: The Brooklyn City Streetcar Company imagines trolleys rumbling through the seaside streets once more, hearkening to the heyday of an amusement district now set to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,17,30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2510","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-architecture_infrastructure","category-brooklyn","category-historical"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2510","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2510"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2510\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2510"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2510"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2510"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}