Bloomberg throws support behind Coney amphitheater plan

Mayor Michael Bloomberg told opponents
of a controversial summer concert series at Asser Levy Park today that
he is likely to sign into a law a bill that will allow it to continue
and may effectively leave the door open for Borough President Marty
Markowitz’s $64 million amphitheater project
at Coney Island to move forward. The bill temporarily allows
amphitheaters, open-air band shells and stadiums to host concerts
despite being within 500 feet of religious institutions and schools.
Markowitz’s summer concert series is slated to begin Thursday at Asser
Levy Park’s existing band shell, and has been held there since 1991.
But Markowitz’s proposed amphitheater
for the community has drawn harsh criticism from Brighton Beach
residents, who say it will increase traffic, take up valuable park land
and exacerbate the noise problems that already come with the summer
concerts. “This is not about what’s going to be built afterwards,”
Bloomberg said of the bill, which would expire after 90 days. “You can
think that it will lead to something, but when they draft laws I can
take them only at face value.” [Post]