The Coney Island Development Corporation held a community information session this evening. This information session was to announce their plans for rezoning and how they plan to improve the area. Since I live a stone's throw away from Coney Island, I decided to go.
There has been quite a bit of Coney Island hoopla over the last few years. If you are not from New York (or maybe you are) you may not know that there have been plans to refurbish Coney Island, which has had many incarnations over the years. Local residents and business owners have been both eager and skeptical about the changes. Debate on the hotel/beach front condo/amusement ratio has been a very hot topic of late. All this "redevelopment" may be a ruse to build overpriced luxury condos (like we need more of those) and force out long time residents and businesses. Needless to say, there are people who are very sensitive to whats going on out here.
I sat near the front during the power point presentation of all the plans. They showed us exactly where they were going to place the residential areas and hotels, and how the plans were not going to involve high rise buildings close to the shore etc. Everyone was pretty quiet and listening with interest.
Except for one man.
He sat two seats down from me, a heavy set man with leathery skin. He reeked of alcohol and breathed heavily. He was quiet at first but that didn't last. The poor woman conducting the presentation managed to maintain her composure while he belted out protests like: yuppie enclave, minimum wage jobs and dream based on the machine. I think he believed that others would follow suit but he just pissed people off. After a few outbursts some cops came by and stood next to him. They didn't escort him out. He left on his own when the presentation was completed, but the cops arrested him when he got outside.
I'm not sure what they could have charged him with. Public drunkenness I suppose.
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