BK Southie » Nathan’s

The summer is here and temperatures hit 90+ in spring so we are in for warm days in the naked city…I’ll get back to that in a minute. What could be better than going to Coney Island or Brighton Beach to cool off with a swim in the Atlantic Ocean? So I decided to see where these beaches ranked! From Beaches World, the World’s Top 10 Beaches are 1) Anguilla, Caribbean, 2) Barcelona, Spain, 3) Bora Bora, French Polynesia, 4) Fernando de Noronha, Brazil, 5) Harbour Island, Bahamas, 6) Mykonos Island Beach, Aegean Sea, 7) Oahu, Honolulu (what no Maui..where you can get some Maui wowie, Palm Beach – Aruba, 9) Tulum Beach – Cancun, 10) Horseshoe Bay – Bermuda. Brighton Beach and Coney Island not mentioned…where else can you eat great Eastern European food overlooking the ocean at sunset…well maybe the Black Sea…where else can you ride the world’s most famous roller coaster and eat the world’s most famous hot dog? Ok maybe Coney or Brighton made the Top 10 USA Beaches for 2010: 1. Coopers Beach (Southampton, N.Y – WTF!! Those snooty bastards in LI are #1!), 2. Siesta Beach (Sarasota, Fla.) 3. Coronado Beach (San Diego, Calif.) 4. Cape Hatteras (Outer Banks, N.C.) 5. Main Beach (East Hampton, N.Y.) 6. Kahanamoku Beach (Waikiki, Oahu, Hawaii) 7. Coast Guard Beach (Cape Cod, Mass – over Kalmus and West Dennis Beaches.) 8. Beachwalker Park (Kiawah Island, S.C.) 9. Hamoa Beach (Maui, Hawaii) 10. Cape Florida State Park (Key Biscayne, Fla.).. from Leatherman’s survey of 650 public beaches along the U.S. coast of the Atlantic, Gulf and Pacific…uses 50 criteria for ranking beach quality, including sand softness, frequency of rip currents, size of waves, presence of shorebirds, water color, the presence of oil and tarballs, whether it’s overcrowded, public safety, maintenance of grounds and other factors… ok not mentioned in USA either!! Well the NY Daily News has Brighton/Coney as #4..should be #1! Ok back to the naked city…in case you were wondering…There are several nude beaches on Fire Island and discreet nudity is seen on isolated stretches of sand in between towns. Topless sunbathing, heard to be legal in NY state, happens on except at the busiest beaches. Gunnison Beach in Monmouth County is the only nude beach in New Jersey and the largest clothing-optional recreation area on the East Coast. Asbury Park is the news of date and is the first municipality to officially sanction a topless optional section beach — which would be located on the northern end of the beachfront away from homes and even the boardwalk. “It’s a person’s prerogative if they want to go topless,” Deputy Mayor and City Councilman John Loffredo said in an interview. “I really don’t see anything wrong with it.”… This is a list of the 10 most famous nude beaches of the world….Black’s Beach, San Diego, California; Bondi Beach Sydney, Australia; Clifton Beach Cape Town, South Africa; Forte Dei Marmi, Italy; Ibiza Spain; Ipanema-Copacabana Beach Brazil; Kuta Beach Bali; Margarita Island, Venezuela; St Tropez France; St Barts Beach;

Zoltar

(Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/28198273@N05/ / CC BY-ND 2.0)

1. Splitting Coney Island’s central district in two – a City portion and a Sitt portion – is good for you and me. One of the problems I see with Atlantic Yards – a Bloomberg “Legacy” project with no accomplishments to date – is that a corporate developer has oversight over both his boondogle and the affordable housing which was billed as a benefit to the City. Well, now that the economy has tanked, guess which part of his plan is on indefinite hold, and guess how much public assistance he has to forfeit. If Sitt had been left in charge of the whole of Coney Island, I have no doubt that the social benefit (in this case, a new, quality amusement park) would have been tossed by the wayside in favor of a never-ending run of rent-a-carnivals and fleas-by-the-sea. Now he can focus on combing his patch of sand for every last penny and wooden nickel, and the Bloomberg Administration can concentrate on actually following through on one of their Legacy projects.

2. The Bloomberg Administration’s record with Legacy projects is a bit on the dim side (Olympics, West Side Stadium, Tolls For Transit Take 1, etc), yet I’m oddly optimistic that they’re going to get the job done at Coney Island. Here’s something from the RFP fact sheet I found particularity telling – they’re not looking for a rent-a-carnival to bide time until the big guns move in. They want someone to move in by next summer, and continue to improve their amusement park with phased development. If they can get contractual guarantees – something they apparently failed to do with the affordable housing attached to the Atlantic Yards project – they’ll be in excellent shape to get their first win since the Million Trees.

3. The City is out to prove the Doesn’t Matter side of the Size debate. Count me among those, like the activist group Save Coney Island, who believe there should be more carnival/amusement park space than the 12.5 acres that the City has proposed. But this land sale has sealed it – they’re clearly letting Sitt run with his plans on his side of the demarcation line. If Sitt fails, there may be another chance to review this in the future, but the lines are set for the foreseeable future.