[NYguy]

Everything is expected to fully open this weekend for another exciting season in the rebirth of Coney Island. There is still one sore point for locals and tourist and just anyone that loves a good boardwalk.


http://www.brooklynpaper.com/stories..._05_25_bk.html

City's use of wood in Rockaway boardwalk repair angers Coney's faithful



Boardwalk war: The city is using wood to repair an aging section of the boardwalk in Rockaway — after refusing to use wood to rebuild the Coney Island Boardwalk.




Separate and unequal: Coney-Brighton Boardwalk Alliance President Rob Burstein is furious that the city is repairing the Queens boardwalk with wood, but paving over Brooklyn’s seaside walkway with concrete.


By Daniel Bush
May 23, 2012

A city decision to repair an outer-borough boardwalk with wood has opponents of the Coney Island Boardwalk’s upcoming concrete makeover accusing the Parks Department of turning back on its word. Agency officials have said repeatedly that repairing city boardwalks with wood was no longer a viable option — sparking the move to replace the iconic Coney Island Boardwalk with concrete and plastic lumber. But the city began repairing a 10-block stretch of the longer, but far less exciting, Rockaway boardwalk with lumber last week — a move that has Coney Boardwalk advocates spitting nails.

“It’s an unbelievable slap in the face to our communities,” said Rob Burstein, the president of the Coney-Brighton Boardwalk Alliance. “It shows that it’s possible to have a wooden boardwalk.” Friends of the Boardwalk founder Todd Dobrin was also outraged. “I’m furious,” said Dobrin, who has been fighting the city’s plans to take away the Boardwalk’s cherished planks. “Every boardwalk should be treated equally.”

But city officials say they’re not flip-flopping. “Under a full reconstruction of the Rockaway boardwalk, we would consider using concrete,” said Parks Department spokeswoman Meghan Lalor, who said repairs on the Rockaway boardwalk, which drew 3.6 million visitors last year, will replace planks Hurricane Irene turned into kindling last year. A one-mile section of the 5.5-mile walk has already been paved over with concrete, Lalor noted.

Councilman Eric Ulrich (R–Queens) doled out $1.6 million in taxpayer dollars to help repair the Rockaway boardwalk. That news wasn’t lost on critics who slammed Councilman Domenic Recchia (D–Coney Island) for supporting the city’s plan to replace the Boardwalk between Coney Island Avenue and Brighton 15th Street with concrete and recycled plastic lumber. “We need elected officials to support the Boardwalk here the way that they did in Queens,” Burstein said.