Failed Politico Hired by Developer to Promote Coney Island Casino Bid

 By: Hadassa Kalatizadeh

Thor Equities has hired Domenic Recchia to help in its bid for the sought-after lucrative downstate casino license.

As reported by Crain’s NY, Recchia who represented Coney Island in the New York City council from 2002 to 2013, had been one of the leaders who dreamed to transform the neighborhood in the contentious 2009 rezoning, which made the current bid possible.  Recchia confirmed that he was hired by Thor and their team in May, adding that he was pivotal in the rezoning.  “I’m the one that rezoned all of Coney Island,” Recchia told Crain’s. “I have a lot of institutional knowledge.”

Joseph Sitt’s Thor Equities had also been one of the main forces behind the 2009 rezoning, as the developer had sought to maximize the value of some ten acres of land he owns along the peninsula.  The city had offered to buy Sitt’s land and zone it as park land. Recchia had backed Sitt then, winning a victory allowing for high rise hotels and developments in the neighborhood.  Recchia and Sitt were not only aligned in their vision for the future of Coney Island, they were also friends.  “We practically live a few blocks from each other,” Recchia said of his relationship with Sitt. “We grew up in this same neighborhood.”   Sitt and his relatives donated to Recchia’s City Council campaigns in the early 2000s.  Also, the developer and his wife each gave the maximum $5,200 to Recchia’s unsuccessful bid for a Staten Island and South Brooklyn congressional seat in 2014, per city records.

Recchia, now a lawyer in private practice, said he is serving as “attorney-slash-consultant” on Thor’s Coney Island project.  Recchia declined to say how much he is being paid, adding he doesn’t disclose legal fees he charges his clients.  “Whatever they need for me to do, I do,” he said, pointing out community-engagement work including a basketball tournament organized to promote the casino bid.  Thor, who partnered with Saratoga Casino Holdings, the Chickasaw Nation and hospitality firm Legends, is offering what many consider an underdog bid for a $3 billion casino in Brooklyn’s Coney Island, steps from the boardwalk.  The project would include a casino, hotel and one-acre park built on five acres of “mostly vacant” land near Stillwell Avenue, per the website.

In February, Thor’s team also hired Robert Cornegy, a NYC Council member till 2022 representing Central Brooklyn.  As per Crain’s, Recchia said he is working closely together with Cornegy. Similar to a handful of other eager casino bidders, Joseph Sitt’s Thor Equities, has also been pouring money into major lobby companies, hoping to influence city and state legislators.  The Jewish Voice previously reported in June that Thor entered a $25,000 monthly contract to pay lobbyist Patricia Lynch.  Its partner, Saratoga Casino Holdings also paid $40,000 to Featherstonhaugh, Wiley & Clyne to garner support.

Residents in Coney Island and the surrounding areas have voiced their strident opposition to the establishment of casino gambling in the area due to issues such as a significant increase in crime, snarling traffic, gambling addiction issues, devaluation of property values and local businesses taking a severe economic hit.

Along with these concerned residents, every community board member in south Brooklyn along with every elected official in the area has echoed the strong sentiments of the residents who are opposed to it. A member of one community board said, “We cannot find even one person in Brooklyn who is in support of Coney Island being transformed in to a gambling venue.”

The Jewish Voice has gone on record with a series of hard hitting editorials denouncing the possible creation of a  gambling mecca in Coney Island and, as such stands in solidarity with Brooklyn residents who are against it.