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COURIER L 12 IFE, FEB. 8–14, 2019 B
MERCHANTS
Last December, leaders of the local
Alliance for Coney Island kicked
off the formal process to create the
bid , whose current proposed footprint
includes properties along Mermaid
Avenue, others on parts of Surf,
Stillwell, and Neptune avenues, and
those along the Reigelmann Boardwalk
between W. Fifth and W. 23rd
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nancial burden.”
HATE CRIME
force injuries on Jan. 18 and 24 respectively,
according to prosecutors.
Following his arrest, Martunovich
allegedly told cops that he targeted the
three men because of their race, according
to the district attorney.
Gonzalez’s announcement of the
charges comes a week after pols, activists,
and locals rallied on Jan. 25 outside
the buffet to demand he prosecute
the alleged triple homicide as a hate
crime.
A co-host of the rally claimed Martunovich
watched a fi lm depicting
Asian men abusing women before his
alleged killing spree, which convinced
the suspect that he was a savior.
“He entered the restaurant motivated
by a racial stereotype of gender
relations in my community, with
a goal to massacre, believing himself
to be sort of a savior, the attacker bludgeoned
these restaurant workers while
they were doing their job,” Chinese-
American Councilwoman Margaret
Chin (D–Manhattan) said at the rally.
Peterson, however, could not confi
rm Chin’s claim that the fi lm motivated
the attack.
Continued from cover
streets.
The city-sanctioned district would
fund supplemental services — including
sidewalk and street cleaning, new
signage, holiday lights, and citywide
promotion of local shops — through
annual taxes levied on business and
property owners within it.
The median cost of the taxes,
which the city calls “assessments,”
for Mermaid Avenue business and
property owners would be just more
than $500 per year , according to Alliance
executive director Alexandra
Silversmith.
And owners of the avenue’s larger
storefronts would pay more, because
the tax is partly determined by
square footage, according to Silversmith.
But many Mermaid merchants
don’t want to pay a penny, with several
signing a petition against the bid’s formation
that Cosme and his fellow local
property owner Daniel Ioannou circulated
last year.
The two bid critics now plan to formally
present that opposition in the
coming weeks, by delivering an offi -
cial letter to the Alliance asking it to
remove Mermaid Avenue from the proposed
bid boundaries on behalf of the
avenue’s business and property owners,
they said.
“Mermaid Avenue is saying they’re
not interested, and their autonomy
should be respected,” Ioannou said.
One Mermaid business owner said
that even though he could afford a potential
annual tax of $1,000 more, he
would not be willing to put money
towards the bid’s services, which he
considers frivolous expenses for his
storefront — but not for operations located
in other parts of the proposed
district.
“Christmas lights are pretty, but
they don’t help my business,” said
Steven Feinstein, who owns Wilensky
Hardware on Mermaid Avenue near
W. 22nd Street. “Mermaid and Surf
avenues have totally disparate needs,
I don’t see why we should be bundled
together. If Mermaid Avenue was removed,
I’d be all for it.”
Another entrepreneur, who owns
a drug store on Mermaid Avenue,
agreed, saying he doesn’t want to pay
for supplemental sanitation services
as part of the bid, because he already
sweeps the sidewalk in front of his
shop on a daily basis.
“I’m doing it everyday — there’s not
much garbage outside,” said Roger Li,
the owner of J & R Pharmacy at Mermaid
Avenue and W. 23rd Street.
But business owners who say street
maintenance is unnecessary may soon
be singing a different tune, according
to Silversmith, who said Mermaid Avenue
has largely remained clean for
most of the past two years thanks to
a private sanitation team funded by a
state grant, which drained the last of
its dollars in 2018.
And not all Mermaid property owners
are against the bid — one entrepreneur
who owns three properties on
the stretch, all of which are within the
current proposed boundaries, said the
avenue would benefi t from the regular
upkeep the district would fund.
“Mermaid Avenue has been so depressed
for so many years. That whole
corridor is unmaintained — it needs
help,” said Nino Russo, who also owns
Gargiulo’s restaurant on W. 15th Street
between Mermaid and Surf avenues,
which is within the proposed district
as well.
Silversmith and her fellow bid organizers
do not want to put local smallbusinesses
in the red, she said.
And they will continue to seek
feedback from neighborhood business
owners before holding the fi nal
vote on whether or not to form the district
— which will require majority
approval from all merchants within it
in order to pass, according to the local
leader.
“We’re trying to get the correct
information out and then let people
make the right decision based on
facts,” she said. “Our goal here is not
to put anyone out of business.”
Continued from cover
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