Mayor Zohran Mamdani: Good afternoon, everyone. It is such a pleasure to be here alongside old friends and new. And you know, there's always the saying of, "The best thing since sliced bread." So, for those who don't know, sliced bread was invented in 1928. Coney Island Cyclone over there was invented in 1927. So, Coney Island is actually better than even what we think of when we think of the best in the recent past. It is a true pleasure to be here at the People's Playground, the one and only. And the last time that I came in here in weather like this, I plunged into the ocean in a full suit, so it's a pleasure to be here in a different capacity. And I very firmly have my feet planted on the boardwalk today, and I'm so excited to be celebrating the formation of the Coney Island BID.
The launch of the Coney Island Business Improvement District marks a new era of investment in this beloved community. An era where the small businesses that make Coney Island so vibrant and inviting have the support that they need to thrive. It took eight years of community organizing and advocacy to make this BID a reality. It took local merchants, property owners, and city workers at the Department of Small Business Services coming together to mobilize for this community's future, knocking on doors, talking to their neighbors. And many of the people who led that slow, steady work are here today.
I want to say thank you to each of you alongside me and in front of me and beyond, for believing in this project. I want to say thank you to a dear old friend of mine, who I now have the privilege of serving alongside, our Council Member Kayla Santosuosso, my former boss. I want to say thank you to Dennis Vourderis of Deno's Wonder Wheel. It's truly - I feel, I do feel a little bit starstruck. I'm being honest, I've been on the Wonder Wheel many times, I never thought I'd meet you. And then I want to say thank you as well to Sophia Harrison of Art's House Schools of Music [Dance, and Fine Arts]. We have Daniel Murphy from [the] Alliance for Coney Island. And then we also have the former council member whose legislation this was, who ushered this through so many different passages and challenges, former council member, Justin Brannan. Finally, Pam Pettyjohn of Coney Island Beautification.
For a time in the late 19th century, it was not the Statue of Liberty that immigrants first glimpsed when they entered our harbors. It was instead Coney Island. Specifically, the Coney Island Elephant, a 122-foot colossus of a hotel built in the shape of an elephant. And though it burned down in 1896, that playful spirit has defined Coney Island for generations of New Yorkers. When New Yorkers think of summer, we dream of escaping the city heat to roam this boardwalk, to ride the Deno Wonder Wheel, to load up on candy at Williams, and split some Nathan's cheese fries with friends. This has always been a haven for working New Yorkers. And while seasonal traffic accounts for much of Coney Island's economy, there is another Coney Island as well.
This is the Coney Island made of Black and Latino families, of Italian and Jewish small business owners who built storefronts here decades ago. The Coney Island of Russian, Ukrainian, Caribbean, Central Asian and South Asian neighbors who now pray, shop and build their lives along Mermaid Avenue. And yet we know for far too long the city and state have failed to invest in Coney Island in a meaningful way. That's true for both the colorful shops that cater to beachgoers and the mom-and-pop pharmacies that sustain those who call this home. As Coney Islanders contend with the challenges of life here, whether it be the damages of Hurricane Sandy or the increasingly untenable cost of maintaining a business. They have too often been left to fend for themselves.
No more. The Coney Island BID will invest an initial $1 million in the small businesses that power this community, ensuring the people's playground remains a welcoming place all year for visitors and residents alike. That means a variety of sanitation and beautification efforts, from the development of marketing materials to power wash shared spaces, to touches like potted plants and festive lights lining Mermaid Avenue during the holidays. The simple truth is that it has become too hard to run a business in this city. That is why I signed Executive Order 11 last month so that we not only identify ways to cut fees and fines for small businesses but start to deliver these reforms within the next six months. As we work to transform the lives of working Coney Islanders, City Hall remains laser-focused on passing our affordability agenda.
Because the New Yorkers who give Coney Island its character are the same New Yorkers who stay awake at night, wondering how they are going to cover childcare costs every month. They are the same New Yorkers whose rents keep rising even as their paychecks don't, who are sick of hidden costs and junk fees making it harder to make ends meet. And they are the same New Yorkers who lose precious time with their families every week as they ride the slowest buses in America to and from work. The Coney Island BID is the first step of many as we redouble our commitment to a prosperity shared among all New Yorkers. Thank you to everyone here who believed in this project, who ushered this project to this moment. Coney Island, and all of our city, will be better for it. Now it is my honor to sign the Certificate of Incorporation for the Coney Island Business Improvement District. I would like to invite Council Member Santosuosso to join me in doing so.
[Signs Certificate.]
We will now hear from our Council Member Kayla Santosuosso.
Council Member Kayla Santosuosso: Thank you, Mr. Mayor, my good friend, and thank you to everyone who has made today possible. Coney Island is one of the most legendary neighborhoods in the world that attracts visitors across the globe, most notably during the summer months. But when the days get shorter and the tourists pack up and go home, it's my job as Council member of Coney Island to think about and serve the people and business owners that call Coney Island home year-round. These are the people and the businesses that make Coney Island so special. Despite being one of the city's most iconic neighborhoods, the unfortunate fact is that a sad history of government neglect of this area has made Coney Islanders accustomed to going to bat for basic services that the rest of the city takes for granted. That ends today.
This Coney Island BID will beautify our streets, help to give our small businesses a fighting chance year-round, and be a source of support and improvement for our commercial corridors from surf to mermaid. And importantly, this BID will be governed by and composed of residents, property owners, and business owners who all have a stake in making Coney Island the best it can be. And that is why it will succeed. This is only possible today because of the hard work of many committed business owners, residents, and elected officials. I have to shout out in particular my predecessor, former Council Member Justin Brannan - one of his very last acts while in office was getting this across the finish line.
I want to shout out the Alliance for Coney Island, without whom this really would not have happened. I also want to shout out Daniel Abramson from the Brooklyn Borough President's Office as well. And of course, I want to thank our mayor for coming to Coney Island today to seal the deal, co-signing our commitment to giving Coney Island the love and attention it so desperately needs and deserves. It's an honor to serve and represent Coney Island, and it's an honor to see this important project through today. Thank you, everybody.
Mayor Mamdani: And now, of [Deno's] Wonder Wheel fame himself, Dennis Vourderis.
Dennis Vourderis, Co-Owner and Operator, Deno's Wonder Wheel Amusement Park: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Good afternoon. My name is Dennis Vourderis, and I am the co-owner of Deno's Wonder Wheel Amusement Park on the Boardwalk, right here, which is the intersection of Lula Vourderis Way, named after my mom, and Denos Vourderis Place, named after my dad. My family and I are very excited about this BID. I look forward to all of the benefits that it will bring, not only to the Amusement District, but also to Mermaid Avenue, which it richly deserves. The most important thing that the BID will provide is consistent supplemental sanitation, which is so important.
Services will be five days a week during the season and three days a week in the off-season. Right now, the Alliance for Coney Island is providing sanitation based on funds that we get from the grants funding cycle from our council members and local politicians, of course. BID services will be more consistent throughout the year with this funding that we're going to generate. The BID will also provide landscaping and streetscape services, as Pamela knows, including tree pit maintenance and planting trees and flowers. The BID will also provide something that we're very familiar with the past couple of weeks, snow removal at curbs and crosswalks, as well as graffiti removal and power washing. All very important quality of life issues that we desperately need here. All of the services combined will create a positive experience not only for the residents but also for the visitors and make you feel good about your neighborhood.
And I just want to tell you a little story about one of our employees that was working here many years ago and he's gone on to bigger and better things. His name is Ikeem Allen and he lived in Marlboro Projects and was very excited to learn that he was chosen from the lottery to fill out the paperwork and come in for an interview for an apartment at 1515 Surf Avenue. He was so happy to learn that he might be able to live in Coney Island finally. This is what we need. People that want to live and work here, not run away. The BID services and enhancements to the district will continue to attract more [workers like] Ikeem Allen and new businesses to our neighborhood. Remember everybody, a rising tide raises all ships in the harbor. So, all of us working together to beautify this area and make it safe for everybody that comes here and visit here and live here, we're all rowing in the same direction.
So, thank you very much to our former Council Member Justin Brannan. Thank you to our new Council Member Kayla Santosuosso. Especially thank you to Mr. Mayor here for signing our document today and having it notarized to make it very official. I want to also shout out to our fellow steering committee members that saw this through in the last decade or so. We owe it all to Alexandra Silversmith who started it. She started it all for us many years ago and insisted on moving forward. And Danny Murphy took the took the football from her and kept it up, kept us all together, attending meeting after meeting - I said "We got another meeting? Are you kidding me? When's this gonna end? I got family, you know, I have a business to run here." But thank you to everybody that helped us see this through.
Thank you to my family who supported me through this whole process, my nephew DJ, my son Denos, sorry I can go on and on. But thank you so much, guys, really appreciate it. And one more thing. It's really nice to be here in the in the winter, but it's a little it's a little creepy because the rides aren't put together and it really - but you I want to invite everybody back, especially this guy right here, I want to invite you back for opening day March 29th to cut the ribbon, because we do our annual blessing of the rides and you have to see this event. It's really heartwarming. So, we invite local kids from the Salt and Sea Mission to come and ride for free and bless the rides for us, because that's how my dad started it 50-something years ago and we continue that today. So, thank you so much, Mr. Mayor. Really appreciate it. Such a pleasure.
