Judge scolds preservation group over attempt to block Coney Island boardwalk change

One Brooklyn judge may have grown wary of preservation activists. Yesterday, Judge Martin Solomon judge scolded the lawyer for a non-profit organization suing to preserve the Coney Island boardwalk, saying he knew more about the storied Brooklyn attraction than the group, the New York Post reported.

“You know, when they built this boardwalk 100 years ago, they didn’t envision cars on the boardwalk or hypodermic needles underneath it,” Solomon told the attorney for the group Friends of the Boardwalk, which seeks to keep the city’s Parks Department from replacing the wooden boardwalk with newer, plastic planks.

The judge also noted that the U.S. Census Bureau has documented seven homeless New Yorkers who consider “under the boardwalk” their official address.

The group contends the plastic planks will be more slippery and will take away from the historic character of the boardwalk.

The judge repeatedly insisted that he knew more about the boardwalk than anyone else in the courtroom, the Post said. Solomon said he will rule on the case in the next 60 days, according to the paper. [Post] –Guelda Voien