The Thunderbolt in 1995.

Called “the People’s Playground,” Coney Island is perhaps the most popular piece of New York City’s entertainment puzzle, Times Square and the Bowery having been thoroughly scrubbed of any excitement the past few decades. Chic and refined it’s not—at least not yet—but in terms of crowds, ice cream cones, corn dogs and cheap(ish) amusements, this corner of the city is the one calling.

The season may be over, but the enthusiams persists.

Today, the city's Economic Development Corporation announced an RFP seeking the development and operation of new amusement rides, game booths and other entertainment attractions at a vacant site at the heart of the Coney’s amusement hub.

The site, located along West 15th Street between the boardwalk and Surf Avenue, formerly home to the famed Thunderbolt roller coaster, is approximately 45 feet wide by 860 feet long; it is nestled neatly between newly expanded Scream Zone—now featuring a go-cart track and the Boardwalk Flight sky-coaster alongside its four rides for the thrill-seekers among us—and the soon to be Steeplechase Plaza, a 2.2-acre space that will house the restored B&B Carousel, Coney Island’s last remaining historic carousel.

Seth W. Pinsky, President of NYCEDC, commented, “The activation of the West 15th Street site will further expand the amusement core, and build on the ongoing revitalization taking place in Coney Island.” It will also continue the revitalization that the opening of Scream Zone and Luna Park has prompted over the past three years.

“America’s Favorite Playground,” as Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz called it, is a major attraction; the summer of 2011, was one of its most successful seasons to date, with over 640,000 visitors taking over 2 million rides.

“The launch of this site will further propel Coney Island as New York’s premier tourist destination,” said Domenic M. Recchia Jr., councilman for Coney Island and City Council finance chair. Ms. Markowitz concurred: “Its redevelopment will mean even more places to see and more things to do at Coney Island.”

The Coney Island Revitalization Plan will both preserve and nurture this affluent amusement area; it will open up retail opportunities for its neighborhood, with nearly 5,000 new units of housing, and it will generate more than 25,000 construction jobs and 6,000 permanent ones. The plan is expected to generate more than $14 billion in economic activity for New York City over 30 years.

The cards are on the table; we just have to wait for Oct. 23 to see them.

Recchia endorsed Bloomberg for re-election, sat right next to him when he signed the law extending term limits, and is generally an ally of the mayor's administration.

Recchia, as I and others have noted, is particularly close to Bloomberg, especially when compared to one of the other leading candidates for the job, Lew Fidler. Liz says there's room for the Bronx to make a play for the job, if Carl Heastie rolls up his sleeves and gets lucky.

Recchia's spokeswoman said he's in back-to-back meetings and unable to talk. Bloomberg's spokesman reiterated that they have policy of not commenting on private conversations.

Oliver Koppell, a City Councilman from the Bronx, didn't offer much insight. I spotted him walking out of Council Speaker Christine Quinn's office this afternoon and asked him if he knew anything about the committee assignments.

"I'm not at liberty to say and I don't have an opinion," he said. When I asked if he'd be happy with anybody as finance chair, Koppell said yes.

There's apparently another name to add to the mix: Simcha Felder, who I'm told has sent word to the speaker that he's interested in the position.

The current Finance chairman is David Weprin, of Queens, who lost a primary bid for city comptroller. The notion that Queens will be able to hang onto the Finance chairmanship while also holding another plum job--the chairmanship of the Land Use Committee--seems unlikely. (Land Use is being vacated since its current occupant, Melinda Katz, also ran unsuccessfully for city comptroller.) Queens lost three seats to Republicans, and the need to placate members in other boroughs, mainly in Brooklyn and the Bronx, has been growing. The Queens members got those plum positions because its voting block, combined with members from Manhattan, helped propell Christine Quinn into the speaker's position.

Fidler, Recchia and Fidler each have public and private sector experience that would easily justify their selection. But they each also have distinct and powerful sets of political allies.

Fidler is, arguably, the one closest to the speaker. It's not uncommon for calls into her office to result in a response from Fidler. He's also close with Brooklyn Democratic County Leader Vito Lopez, a power broker whose influence can't be ignored.

Recchia is also close with Lopez. But he's close with Mayor Michael Bloomberg, too. When the mayor signed the term limits extension bill, Recchia was sitting right next to him. Fidler is one of Bloomberg's biggest critics, which would make budget negotiations extremely entertaining. Having Recchia in that spot would be, theoretically, less of a headache for the mayor.

Felder would be the moderate choice. He is close with Bloomberg--he campaigned with him--but sometimes goes off-message (Five-minute grace period, funding local groups.) Felder also has a good enough relationship with Quinn, considering he walked out of the room when the Council voted for her as speaker in 2005.

UPDATE: Please also see Adam Lisberg's Sunday piece, which I neglected to mention, on said jockeying.

Oliver Koppell, said, “I got 64 percent. Last time I got 76 percent. I think the difference was largely term limits. But part of it was there was a better campaign.”

James Sanders, for whom Michael Bloomberg raised money, said he’s undecided about the mayor's race. “I’m in consultation, I’m in dialogue with both.” When I asked if he’s open to endorsing Bloomberg, Sanders said, “Sure. Or Thompson.”

Alan Gerson, who lost his primary to Margaret Chin, said his vote to support the term limits extension “probably depressed our vote slightly. I don’t think it was a decisive factor." He added, “What was more significant than term limits was the unusually low voter turnout in all the areas except Margaret’s stronghold.”

Domenic Recchia, who played a leading role in getting the term limits extension passed, said, “I didn’t have an opponent. How much of a factor could it have been?”

Darlene Mealy, who voted for the extension and narrowly edged out a victory over former Council member Tracy Boyland, said, “It really wasn’t a factor out here.”

Diana Reyna, who voted for the extension and beat a challenger supported by the Brooklyn Democratic County leader, said, “It was brought up, but not as often as people would have thought.”

Inez Dickens said, about Christine Quinn refusing to commit to supporting Thompson, “I haven’t had a discussion with her about it. Yes, I have read in the paper that she has not yet. But there are others who have not yet endorsed.”

Larry Seabrook, who endorsed Bloomberg in 2005 and voted to extend term limits, said, “I'm with Thompson," and "I think all the Democrats will be endorsing the Democratic nominee.” He said, “When I endorsed the mayor the last time around, I looked at the situation and he was the best guy at the time to deal with those issues.”

Sort of.

In addition to his day job representing the people of Gravesend and Bensonhurst, the aptly named Mr. Recchia, chairman of the City Council’s Cultural Affairs Committee and a longtime Coney Island enthusiast, has a gig on the side as a personal injury lawyer, representing clients who trek into his office after suffering various slips and falls.

Earlier this year, he filed a suit against Tishman Speyer on behalf of one of those clients: Elizabeth Webb, a Georgia resident who he said tripped on the sidewalk at Rockefeller Center and fractured her ankle. This week, there’s a preliminary conference scheduled in the case, and ultimately Mr. Recchia’s looking for an award to cover, in his words, “medical costs, the pain and suffering,” etc.

But there’s a bigger issue to be raised here, specifics of the case aside, he said. “In Rockefeller Center, the sidewalks are really defective and they really should redo the whole concourse. You can’t see the sidewalk when you step off from the sidewalk to the street; you can’t see that it’s a step there.”

Taking on giant landlords can’t be bad for business, either: In 2008, Mr. Recchia, according to the good-government group Citizens Union, reported having the second-highest income on the Council, taking in between $220,000 and $640,000.

Tishman Speyer did not respond to requests for comment.

ebrown@observer.com

The rezoning plan would turn vacant lots currently zoned for amusements into a residential area, and would allow some hotels, retail, and indoor amusements into the central amusement area of the historic entertainment hub. The plan, which has been in the works for nearly eight years, must now pass through the chaotic gates of Albany before it’s signed into law.

It remains unclear exactly how much land the city will claim. But Domenic Recchia, Coney Island’s representative on the City Council, said that the amusement parkland will have between 9.5 and 10 acres. He added that developers will most likely build two high-rise hotels, though the legislation allows for up to four. Mayor Bloomberg said after the vote that the city is hoping to develop an amusement district that totals 27 acres. It would stretch between Surf Avenue and the Boardwalk.

The plan’s three main proponents on the City Council—Council Speaker Christine Quinn, Land Use Committee Chair Melinda Katz, and Mr. Recchia—emphasized throughout the afternoon that the legislation would revive the world’s former playground into a year-round destination.

“Clearly, Coney Island’s luster isn’t what it used to be,” Ms. Quinn said. “What we did today, and what this whole process has been about, is to keep what was best about Coney Island but also to move it forward.”

After touting a new shark exhibit for the aquarium, 35 percent affordable housing, a new gym for the school district, renovation of the Boardwalk, and a $137 million investment in renovating the sewage system, Mr. Recchia said, before voting yes, “Any single one of these things would be a huge benefit to Coney Island. The fact that the commitment has been made to provide all of these is truly remarkable.”

Ms. Katz said at the vote that the plan would create 6,000 permanent jobs and 25,000 construction jobs, in addition to 4,500 new housing units, over 5,000 square feet of new retail, and 900 hotel rooms. Overall, she said, the plan would add a projected $14 billion in economic activity to the area over the next 30 years.

Who that economic activity would benefit, however, has been a point of heated debate.

Protesters relegated to the mezzanine clapped and cheered when City Council members like Charles Barron of Brooklyn lambasted the Bloomberg administration for putting corporate interests first.

“This is a plan to make Coney Island more feasible for the business community, more attractive to the business community,” Mr. Barron said, “and not for the local grassroots, indigenous people there that are struggling each and every day.”

Mr. Barron and Tony Avella, a Democratic candidate for mayor, were the only two City Council members who voted against the plan, while Rosie Mendez abstained. Opponents did not protest on City Hall’s steps (restaurant workers lobbying for paid sick days did instead) because they were expecting Mr. Recchia to work out a deal with the Bloomberg administration for 50 percent affordable housing, according to Carmen Gonzalez, the head of Coney Island’s ACORN chapter.

As those hopes were not realized, local activists maintained that corporate interests would benefit the most from the rezoning. “The hotels are getting more than the people in the community,” Ms. Gonzalez said.

Juan Rivero, Save Coney Island’s spokesperson, argued that since the amusement area would shrink and be dwarfed by new development, the plan would destroy Coney Island’s distinct character.

“If the administration lacks the perspective, humility, or wisdom to fix its plan in its implementation,” he said, “then this rezoning will be viewed in the same light as the demolition of the old Penn Station: a disgraceful moment in the history of New York City.”

Meanwhile, the power struggle between council and the administration remained an undercurrent. “The problem is it was the city’s plan,” Mr. Avella said before voting no. “We wind up tweaking the [rezoning] application as much as possible, but it’s never really a cooperative relationship.”

But it’s a conflict that Mr. Recchia and Mr. Bloomberg seem to have moved past—for the most part.

“Now the star of the day,” Mr. Bloomberg said at the end of his remarks at a post-vote press conference, “the one, the only, the indomitable—I was looking for a word other than insufferable, and I came up with indomitable—Domenic Recchia!” 

bkavoussi@observer.com

The rezoning would turn vacant lots now zoned for amusements into residential; and would allow some hotels, retail and indoor amusements in the central amusement area of the historic entertainment hub.

We'll have more soon, after the Council vote, which is expected Wednesday afternoon.

Update 3:38 p.m.:

More details on the press conference.

While Mr. Recchia said that the Bloomberg administration has reached a compromise with Thor Equities' Joe Sitt—the main landlord in the proposed rezoning—he shed little light on the details of the compromise, and whether they even have been finalized. “The Bloomberg administration has reached an agreement with Thor Equities, and they are working on all of the details,” Mr. Recchia said, adding that under the current agreement, there will be 10 acres of parkland (as opposed to 9 acres from last week’s Land-Use Committee vote) and hopefully more.

City Council members at the press conference emphasized that the soon-to-be-passed legislation would revive Coney Island’s greatness as a year-round destination.

Diane Savino reminisced about taking “staycations” to Coney Island as a 10 year old with her grandfather every Saturday. “Even then, Coney Island was a shadow of its former self.”

Mr. Recchia said that there could be up to four hotels under the current plan, but he expects that there will most likely be two.

bkavoussi@observer.com

Still, there are a few loose ends that could threaten its passage before the full Council next Wednesday, including deals with major landowner Joe Sitt and building employees’ union 32BJ, which wants wage guarantees.

This afternoon, the Council’s Land Use Committee voted 13-2 in favor of the rezoning plan, which would turn vacant lots now zoned for amusements into residential; and would allow some hotels, retail and indoor amusements in the central amusement area of the historic, if grungy, entertainment hub.

The vote, which largely leaves intact the essence of the Bloomberg administration’s plan—some changes were made, including the removal of Wonder Wheel Park from a planned swath of parkland—came after last-minute negotiations with unions and the Council. A scheduled vote for Monday was delayed, even as all the needed Council members showed up to vote, as did a stream of city officials including Amanda Burden, director of the Department of City Planning.

But Tuesday, starting a few hours late, Mr. Recchia was in support.

“I will be moving forward with the project that you see today,” he said. “Please vote ‘aye.’”

With the vote, Mr. Recchia acknowledged the unresolved issues and said that he expects the full Council will ultimately be ready to pass the plan on July 29.

He also said he and the administration were discussing an expansion of the area set aside for open amusements, an issue that has been relentlessly pushed by a loud collection of groups of amusement enthusiasts and the Municipal Art Society.

“I would like to have been able to expand the area available for open amusements, and I’ve been actively discussing this with the administration,” he said.  

With regard to Mr. Sitt, after on-again, off-again discussions, the landlord seems to feel that a deal acceptable to him is within reach, according to multiple people familiar with talks. He is now negotiating with the Bloomberg administration for the city to buy a large portion of his property, leaving him a portion to sell or develop. He paid about $100 million over the past half decade to buy up the bulk of the land in the central amusement area. 

ebrown@observer.com and bkavoussi@observer.com