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As the issue of casino gambling coming to iconic Coney Island continues to draw attention by critics and supporters alike, one must take a thorough look at the situation that Coney Island and its residents find themselves in. As the Jewish Voice previously reported, Community Board 13 has held public forums on this very matter and it is quite apparent that the vast majority of people in the neighborhood are adamantly opposed to the establishment of casino gambling on this already overcrowded peninsula.
This display of opposition was the latest instance of local pushback during the intense competition for a coveted $500 million casino license in New York City that would be granted by the New York State Gaming Facility Location Board. In November of 2022, Joe Sitt, a long time developer in the Coney Island area, and chief executive of the company he owns known as Thor Equities, announced the $3 billion casino proposal, in partnership with Saratoga Casino Holdings and the Chickasaw Nation in an attempt to secure one of up to three new casino licenses aimed at the New York City region, the New York Times reported. Saratoga Casino Hotel is a company based in upstate New York and the Chickasaw Nation is a Native American tribe that operates 23 casinos in Oklahoma.
Several hundred concerned residents gathered last month to offer a litany of cogent reasons why a casino in Coney Island would have a deleterious effect on the storied Brooklyn neighborhood.
Coney Island residents expressed their concerns about local businesses losing substantial revenue, property taxes soaring, the proliferation of violent crime, traffic congestion, population displacement, the dangers of gambling addiction and more when voicing their opposition to gambling.
Now, it appears yet another element has been brought into the mix. If Coney Island did not have enough problems and the quality of life was not being threatened as it is, the most recent news is that Mayor Eric Adams said in an interview on Tuesday that the city is now eyeing up to 20 schools with standalone gyms to house migrants.
The six schools in Brooklyn that are being considered for migrant housing include P.S. 188 in Coney Island, P.S. 172 in Sunset Park, P.S. 189 in Crown Heights, as well as P.S. 17, M.S. 577, and P.S. 18, all in Williamsburg.
Mayor Eric Adams’ office released the following statement:
“As we’ve been saying for months, we are in the midst of a humanitarian crisis, having opened approximately 150 emergency sites, including eight large-scale humanitarian relief centers, to serve more than 65,000 asylum seekers. We received more than 4,200 asylum seekers last week alone and continue to receive hundreds of asylum seekers every day. We are opening emergency shelters and respite centers daily, but we are out of space. As the mayor has said, nothing is off the table as we work to fill our moral mandate, but we should all expect this crisis to affect every city service. We will continue to communicate with local elected officials as we open more emergency sites.”
This does not sit well with the hard working folks living in Coney Island and the surrounding areas. Coney Island is already riddled with its own problems as it pertains to harnessing rampant crime, drug abuse and gentrification that can result in population displacement.
One Coney Island resident said, “If the city now thinks that they can dump a bunch of migrants in our school’s gym, he had best know that he will face staunch opposition.”
The resident added that, “Can anyone possibly imagine what a nightmare Coney Island will become if casino gambling comes along and disrupts every aspect of life? And this would be compounded with the fact that we now have to deal with migrants who may pose a danger to the community.”
