TO WATCH IN 2019
14 9 8
DEVELOPING: (From left) Coney Island is set to receive a slew of new
attractions, the fi rst of which may open as soon as this summer. Newly
elected Democrats Andrew Gounardes and Max Rose will represent
Brooklyn in Albany and Washington, DC, starting in January.
COURIER L M B G IFE, JAN. 4–10, 2019 3
manently sail away from their
Emmons Avenue pier by September,
but outraged Mill Basinites
subsequently squashed
a scheme to dock them in their
neighborhood, and civic leaders
on Community Board 18
in October strongly opposed
a mayoral proposal to move
the vessels to a pier at the
Gateway National Recreation
Area near Floyd Bennett Field
— whose operators said they
couldn’t accommodate the
boats by spring 2019 even if
they tried.
And with months to go before
the cruising season kicks
off again, the city is running
out of time to fi nd a new port
for the party boats.
14. More ways to
play
The People’s Playground
will be more fun than ever in
2019 thanks to a host of new attractions
funded by the city’s
Economic Development Corporation
and the Department
of Parks and Recreation.
Last year, reps from the
agencies requested proposals
on how to develop a piece of
Coney Island land the size of
more than two-and-a-half football
fi elds bounded by Surf Avenue,
the Boardwalk, and W.
10th and W. 16th streets.
New Jersey-based amusement
park developer-operator
Central Amusement International
ultimately won the job,
and revealed plans to construct
a log-fl ume water ride
on an empty lot between the
Thunderbolt roller coaster
and MCU Park, and a zip-line
adventure park on a stretch of
what is now W. 15th Street between
the coaster and the site
of Luna Park’s former Coney
Island Raceway.
The fi rm’s grand scheme
also calls for constructing a
pedestrian-only public plaza
with an open-air food court
and arcade games at the end
of nearby Ruby Jacobs Walk.
And if all goes according to
plan, the zip-line attraction
should open for thrill seekers
this summer.
13. Ferry possible
After years of locals’ demands
to bring the city’s ferry
service to Canarsie, offi cials
are poised to decide whether
or not to create a stop at Canarsie
Pier at the Jamaica
Bay tip of Rockaway Parkway
— which would bring a muchneeded
new way to commute
to residents of the neighborhood
with few other publictransportation
options.
In August, Mayor DeBlasio
committed to an end-of-2018
deadline to decide whether to
include Canarsie in a forthcoming
ferry-feasibility study
conducted by the city’s Economic
Development Corporation,
which plans to explore
several possible locations to
bring the service — including
places suggested by the public.
12. Changing Coney
Coney Island will likely
look a lot different 12 months
from now, thanks to a slew
of construction projects
that will bring bigger buildings
containing hundreds of
new apartments and retail
and commercial space to the
neighborhood.
Last month, local pols and
leaders broke ground on the
fi rst part of a three-phase
Surf Avenue development
that spans the blocks between
W. 16th and W. 20th streets,
and will include nearly 1,000
affordable units and two-anda
half football fi elds’ worth
of retail space. Another socalled
affordable-housing
project, set to open early this
year at W. 21st Street and Surf
Avenue, will contain more
than 130 below-market-rate
apartments — more than 80
of which are earmarked for
formerly homeless veterans
— along with nearly two
basketball courts’ worth of
ground-fl oor retail space.
And a third development
team is poised to begin renovations
to the exterior of the
landmarked Shore Theater
once the city signs off on its
plans that the local community
board already approved,
as part of the site’s transformation
from a vacant former
house of Vaudeville into a new
hotel and spa.
11. Surpassing
Chicago
Thanks to Midwestern migrants
and some good-old-fashioned
baby making, the borough
is on track to overtake
the Windy City as the United
States’s third-most populous
metropolis any year now.
In fact, 2017 population estimates
from the federal Census
Bureau show Brooklyn
is home to 2,648,771 people,
roughly 65,000 fewer than Chicago’s
2,716,450 — suggesting
that Kings County may have
already outpaced the Illinois
city over the last 12 months.
But we likely won’t know
if the number of people in our
beloved borough outpaced that
of Chicago until after the 2020
Census, and until then, Brooklynites
intent on claiming the
crown of third-largest American
city should follow this
newspaper’s strictly amoral
guide to increasing the population.
10. Making the
Census count
Speaking of the 2020 Census,
a contingent of local experts,
activists, and pols are
already fast at work preparing
for the next installment of
the once-a-decade head count,
which they claim could have
an outsize negative effect on
parts of Brooklyn if it includes
a question about citizenship
that the Trump administration
wants to add.
This month, a federal judge
will begin to hear arguments
over the legality of that question,
which local leaders fear
could dissuade the many immigrants
and people of color
living in Brooklyn from participating
in the census, resulting
in cuts in federal funding
and decreased political
representation for parts of the
borough.
And the fi ght to ensure
a fair count isn’t only being
waged in the courts — Borough
President Adams last
year launched his “Make
Brooklyn Count” campaign
led by a committee of local
civic gurus and residents from
traditionally undercounted
communities , which is tasked
with ensuring all eligible residents
participate in the census.
9. Blue aftermath at
home …
The fi rst effects of the socalled
blue wave that gave
Democrats a tighter grip on
swaths of Southern Brooklyn
after the state midterm elections
will start to materialize
in January, when state
Sen.-elect Andrew Gounardes
(D–Bay Ridge) and Assemblywoman
Mathylde Frontus (DConey
Island) begin legislating
in Albany.
Frontus clinched her seat
by winning more than 53 percent
of votes in a race against
her GOP opponent, both of
whom battled to fi ll the position
vacated by convicted
felon Pamela Harris, who resigned
last year after the Feds
charged her with stealing
money from storm-recovery
agencies.
And Gounardes won his
seat by defeating long-time
incumbent state Sen. Marty
Golden (R–Bay Ridge) by a
less than two-percent margin,
earning just fewer than 50 percent
of overall votes.
Gounardes, a Bay Ridgite
who has never previously held
elected offi ce, is among a group
of newly elected blue-party state
pols that will give Democrats a
true majority in New York’s
state Senate — and control of
Albany, with the governor and
Assembly both blue, too.
8. … and ‘abroad’
Last November’s blue wave
didn’t just shake up Albany
— it also swept a Democrat
into a Brooklyn Congressional
seat held for years by Republicans,
helping the blue
party regain control of Congress’s
lower chamber, and
ending the GOP’s iron grip on
all branches of the federal government.
Political novice and Congressman
elect Max Rose (DBay
Ridge) won a contentious
race against incumbent Rep.
Dan Donovan (R–Bay Ridge),
netting 52 percent of the votes
in his district, which includes
a swath of Southern Brooklyn
and Staten Island.
Rose, like Gounardes,
is part of a group of newly
elected Dems that will put
the party in control of the
House of Representatives for
the fi rst time since 2010. That
control already resulted in big
changes for some other Brooklyn
pols in the House, including
Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (DCanarsie),
who in November
assumed the powerful role
of chairman of House Democratic
Caucus.
And Jeffries’s colleague
Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D–Red
Hook), a vocal critic of President
Trump, is poised to take
over the House Judiciary Commitee
— a panel that can initiate
impeachment proceedings
— when his party offi cially
takes control of the chamber
this month.
7. Another Bklyn
pol for Advocate?
Kings County pols are practically
falling over themselves
as they jockey to get to the
front of the pack of contenders
hoping to replace former Fort
Greene Councilwoman and
outgoing Public Advocate Letitia
“Tish” James, who heads to
Albany this month to assume
her new role as New York State
Attorney General.
Councilman Jumaane Wil-
Continued on page 4