Peter over at situatedlaundry here. Much thanks to Brian, who gave me the opportunity to drop in and put some of my Southie observations here .
I trekked out to Coney Island last Friday in anticipation of the the highly publicized Festival By The Sea but was notified the Grand Opening was delayed until today. Giving the short trip a second-go, I went with my sister this afternoon to check out how us Brooklyn Southies are reacting to another major effort at gentrification in the traditionally ghetto-er neighborhood. And oh boy, was it an epic fail.
Judging from the two photos below, outside of the sparsely placed balloons, you can barely tell the difference between today’s ‘Grand’ opening and last week’s original start date.
With more than three-forths of the merchant plots empty and a selection not much different than what you’d find at your local neighborhood garage sale, I can’t see how this new Joe Sitt project can last another month without a major revamped model. Counting my sister and myself, the amount of shoppers at hand can’t be anymore than 20. What a weak ‘festival’.
As for the rest of my short visit, I had the most fun soaking in the sunshine and the diverse crowd by the sidewalks, per usual. It appears that people are complying to the unofficial first weekend of summer- with the beach starting to fill up with sunbathers, the outdoor counters at Nathan’s open for business (I got a couple of ‘dogs myself) and the box office for the Brooklyn Cyclones ready for baseball fans. So fellow BK Southies, what plans do you have for this summer this side of Prospect Parkway?
I promise in my future contributions to BK Southie, I would be less pessimistic- and you can take that to the bank.
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