Off-road rage
Locals irate over parking-fee
increases at Kings Plaza mall
BY KEVIN DUGGAN
They’ve got a lot of anger!
Locals are fuming over
new parking-fee hikes at
Kings Plaza Shopping Center
that mall bigwigs implemented
earlier this month.
The new parking rates effective
Feb. 1 — which cost
$3 for two hours, $4 for three
hours, $5 for four hours, and
$10 for between four and 24
hours — are an attempt to
replace revenue the Avenue
U mall will lose by stopping
its illegal scheme to rent out
hundreds of spaces as storage
for local car dealerships,
claimed a local civic leader.
“Now that we recently
caused the removal of the
storage of more than 400 illegally
parked cars from
neighboring dealerships
from their parking lot, they
raised the parking fees for
the shoppers,” said Dottie
Turano, the district manager
of local Community
Board 18.
Last year, the city ordered
the mall’s current
owners, Brooklyn Kings
Plaza LLC, to remove hundreds
of cars without license
plates illegally stored on the
Kings Plaza lot following a
disastrous September arson
attack that injured 21 and
destroyed hundreds of vehicles.
Offi cials issued the company
a $1,250 fi ne in October
— and a second violation
last Friday , when Department
of Buildings inspectors
returned to discover 500
cars without license plates
still stored in the garage,
some 50 more vehicles than
they found in an inspection
shortly after the fi re.
The new parking rates
— which also include a $10
charge for lost tickets — will
also hurt Kings Plaza’s business,
because they will force
customers to patron other
retailers with cheaper or
free spots, according to another
local leader.
“They’re shooting themselves
in the foot,” said
Sal Calise, the president of
Bergen Beach Civic Association.
“Locals are seeking
out other options, such
as Gateway Center Mall,
Macy’s Backstage on Emmons
Avenue, or Century 21
on 86th Street.”
When the mall fi rst
opened its doors in 1970,
shoppers could park in the
garage for free. But over
the years, its different owners
added a fl at fee to park,
starting at 50 cents and increasing
incrementally to
$3, the price before the new
rates kicked in.
Turano admitted there
is nothing legally stopping
Kings Plaza bigwigs
from jacking up the parking
prices, but said mall operators
should think twice
about nickel-and-diming the
community where she said
it already put many momand
pop shops out of business
since it opened.
“It’s not even the fee,
they’re not being good neighbors,
they’re putting momand
pop stores out of business,”
the civic leader said.
And she agreed that customers
will likely take their
business elsewhere as a result
of the latest hikes, claiming
parking lots at stores
next door to Kings Plaza —
including Lowe’s and Walgreens,
which charge no
fees to patrons arriving in
cars — fi lled up with vehicles
in the days since the
mall raised its prices.
“You can go to Gateway
Center or any other mall
and not pay for parking,”
Turano said. “We drove past
last weekend and Lowe’s
parking was packed.”
UNSURE: Coney Islanders recently cheered the city’s decision to expand ferry service to the neighborhood,
but now some locals are worried about logistical, environmental, and other yet-to-be-addressed issues concerning
offi cials’ proposed dock site within Coney Island Creek. File photo by Steve Solomonson
They’re ferry uneasy!
Locals question proposed site for new Coney dock
COURIER LIFE, F B EB. 15–21, 2019 3
BY JULIANNE MCSHANE
The city must address unanswered
logistical and environmental
questions about its
plan to create a ferry stop in
Coney Island Creek, according
to some locals, who blasted
offi cials for failing to include
solutions to such concerns in
their formal location study before
selecting the site.
“Just because you have water,
it doesn’t mean it’s a good
idea to put a boat on it,” said
Ida Sanoff, who lives in Brighton
Beach. “This is a problematic
location.”
Honchos at the Economic
Development Corporation —
the agency that oversees the
NYC Ferry Service — released
their feasibility study of the
proposed site at Bayview Avenue
and W. 33rd Street last
month, days after Mayor De-
Blasio announced that a boat
would regularly set sail from
the People’s Playground on
less than 40-minute rides to
Manhattan as soon as 2021.
The study notes that creating
a dock in the creek at
Bayview Avenue and W. 33rd
Street poses “operational
risks” and challenges, including
the width of the waterway’s
entry point, shallow
waters, shifting sands, and
the need for regular dredging
at the site — all of which could
hinder reliable service.
A ferry landing at that location
would also be “a challenge
to design, likely requiring
higher maintenance costs
due to the dynamic coastal environment,”
according to the
study, which did not note how
offi cials plan to deal with the
many issues it outlines — an
omission that should worry
Coney Islanders who are
counting down the days until
boats set sail, according to
another local who lives blocks
from the proposed dock site.
“We’re generally excited
about the ferry coming to Coney
Island, but there are too
many questions surrounding
the selection process that
weren’t adequately answered
in the whole study that they
issued,” said Orlando Mendez,
who lives on Surf Avenue
and W. 33rd Street.
The city is prepared to
dredge the creek to ensure the
municipal boats can easily
sail in and out of it, according
to an Economic Development
Corporation spokeswoman,
who said agency leaders
would regularly monitor the
water’s depths to determine
if further dredging is needed,
and work with offi cials at the
state Department of Environmental
Conservation and U.S.
Army Corps of Engineers “to
ensure passenger vessels can
safely navigate through this
environment.”
“Some mitigation measures
may be required depending
on the fi nal landing
location and landing design,”
said Stephanie Báez.
But the city could have better
planned for such logistical
issues — and could have conducted
a more informed site-selection
process — if it included
locals in the conversation from
the get-go, according to Sanoff,
who said residents would have
happily shared concerns about
a creek dock had offi cials not
reneged on their alleged promise
to keep Coney Islanders in
the loop.
“It is absolutely outrageous
after we’ve gotten so much lip
service about how the community
should have a seat at the
table, nobody knew there was
a table to have a seat at,” she
said. “They just said, ‘This is
where it’s going to be.’ ”
Offi cials briefed community
board leaders and pols on
their general plan to expand
ferry service after announcing
the scheme last year , according
to Báez, who said no
locals took part in specifi c
site-selection processes for
new docks or routes.
Residents, however, will
have a chance to share their
thoughts during the yearlong
environmental-review
process required before they
can break ground on a landing
in Coney Island Creek,
which will begin this spring
and include public-comment
periods as well as a publicscoping
hearing.
But environmental and logistical
concerns aren’t the
only unresolved issues with
launching ferry service in
the waterway — some local
pols are still divided over the
best spot on the creek to build
a dock.
Continued on page 12
PRICEY: Kings Plaza Shopping
center rolled out higher parking
fees this month, to many locals’
dismay. Photo by Steve Solomonson