Coney Island #2: Sen. Carl Kruger Shines at Meeting

Sen. Carl Kruger managed to cause quite a stir at the kickoff meeting on the Coney Island plan on Monday night by repeatedly referring to it as "Brighton Beach," and drawing loud boos from the audience. The Senator, who Coney Island critics derisively call "Krazy Kruger," created the biggest stir at the meeting and was reminded of the three-minute limit on remarks. The crowd cheered when he was called on the time limit. While Mr. Kruger had shut down a November meeting with bus loads of (possibly paid) protesters, he brought only a handful of supporters with him. If anything, opponents of developer Joe Sitt's plan, who have ended up backing the Bloomberg Administration strategy to remove him from the amusement district, used the threat of busloads of Kruger-related protesters to draw a bigger turnout. At the meeting, meanwhile, the Brooklyn Eagle quotes Sen. Kruger as saying, "This is not Disney Land, this is not Epcot Center ... this is Brighton Beach,." Which is when the booing apparently started in earnest.

Sarah Ryley included this interesting passage in her Brooklyn Daily Eagle story on the meeting and on the State Senator--who previous to picking the Coney Island issue was best known outside his district for proposing to make it illegal to walk and listen to MP3 player:

Another of Kruger’s objects is that the Coney Island Development Corporation lacks representation from Coney Island, that it’s just another example of Manhattan imposing its will on Brooklyn. In fact, the agency president Lynn Kelly and Chairman of the Board Joshua Sirefman both live in Brooklyn, and of 11 the 13 board members also serve Brooklyn entities, many based in Coney Island.

The above example is not the first piece of misinformation on Coney Island redevelopment disseminated by Kruger, who has admitted not being familiar with the city or retail developer Joseph Sitt’s redevelopment plans. Janel Patterson, spokeswoman for the city Economic Development Corporation, said Kruger “has refused our invitation to be briefed on the plan.”

The broad assumption in Coney Island circles is that Sen. Kruger has mounted protests on behalf of Mr. Sitt and Thor Equities.