New York Observer
Municipal Art Society to Solve All of Coney’s Problems With Charrette
by Eliot Brown
October 24, 2008
NYCEDC
In the works for years now, the city's planned redevelopment of Coney Island has never been short on input. A sampling of what we've seen in the last year: A self-proclaimed "bombshell" press conference by a dissatisfied state Senator, an environmental "scoping" hearing with a stream of freaks, musicians, a hunger striker and the Reverend Billy; an info session that attracted busloads of protesters, many of whom were apparently unfamiliar with the issue.
Now, the Municipal Art Society is stepping deep into the muck, with plans on Monday to kick off its own charrette—a pow-wow of designers and amusement experts—as part of its larger recent focus on the Coney issue.
The initiative will "feature a global Web-based call for ideas, and a charrette (an intense design workshop) featuring international amusement and design experts from Tivoli Gardens in Denmark, Broadway theater in New York City, and former Disney executives," the group said in a release.
The civic group has previously been rather critical of the city's plan, saying the proposed amusement zone of nine acres is rather small (here's the detailed, 17-page testimony).
"We are not aware of any other amusement areas of a comparable scale that come close to achieving the number of visitors that is the market for a revitalized Coney Island or even Coney Island today," the group said in testimony this summer.
Results are due back Nov. 17. Release below.
MAS GATHERS TOP WORLD DESIGNERS TO
DEVELOP NEW IDEAS FOR VISION FOR CONEY ISLAND
Effort Seeks to Identify Designs, Uses & Events
for Long Term and Interim Development Period
The Municipal Art Society, working with a team of world-class architects, amusement designers and economists, will launch an initiative to develop new ideas for the design and programming of Coney Island this Monday, October 27 2008.
Titled "Imagine Coney," the new initiative will feature a global Web-based call for ideas, and a charrette (an intense design workshop) featuring international amusement and design experts from Tivoli Gardens in Denmark, Broadway theater in New York City, and former Disney executives.
MAS hopes that by leveraging global ideas and creativity it can help identify the novel uses that will spark new life in Coney Island and build on the remarkable strides Mayor Bloomberg has made toward a revitalized Coney Island. The charrette team will draw from creative and entrepreneurial ideas submitted during public workshops and on a Web-based call for ideas that will be open to all.
The team will participate in a briefing session on Coney Island on Monday, October 27 from 9 am - 12 pm with Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, the Coney Island Development Corporation, the Department of City Planning, Coney Island USA, the Astella Development Corporation, the New York Aquarium, Creative Time, and other groups and local stakeholders. The team will return on November 13 and 14 for the charrette, and the results will be publicly presented on November 17.
© 2008 Observer Media Group