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FEB. 17, 2019, BROOKLYN WEEKLY
Off-road rage
Drivers 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-anddiming
the community where
she said it already put many
mom-and-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
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 communityboard
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 year-long 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 public-scoping 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.
Coney Island Councilman
Mark Treyger cheered the proposed
site at Bayview Avenue and
W. 33rd Street following the mayor’s
announcement, but Borough
President Adams argued the location
should be further up the creek
at W. 21st Street and Neptune Avenue,
a spot he fi rst endorsed back
in December 2017 , in part because
it would force the city to clean out
more of the creek than it likely
would otherwise to make way for
the service.
Still, Adams promised to work
with Treyger and other colleagues
in order to determine the best landing
location.
PRICEY: Kings Plaza Shopping center
rolled out higher parking fees
this month, to many locals’ dismay.
Photo by Steve Solomonson