Coney Island Boardwalk: An Accident Waiting to Happen

The newly rebuilt part of the Coney Island Boardwalk is already starting to fall apart according to some advocates. The New York City Parks Department installed new planks on the stretch of the Boardwalk by Coney Island’s amusement area in the Spring of 2009. According to the New York Daily News, there are now screws popping out of their holes and planks coming loose and sticking out.

Chairperson of Friends of the Boardwalk, Todd Dobrin, said, “It’s not even a year old, and we’re right back to square one”. Mr. Dobrin said he, “expected that with all the money they’re spending and architecture...that the plan was foolproof.” The new planks are a part of a $30 million project to rebuild 15 blocks of the famous 42-block stretch. Mr. Dobrin said “Something is wrong, and we need to find it out now before we waste all our resources on something that needs to be done again.”

To this date, New York City has spent $5 million on the project. According to the New York Daily News, the New York City Parks Department spokesman, Phil Abramson, said the city is repairing the small percentage where screws are broken, and using a different, more secure method of installing screws on sections of the Boardwalk currently under construction.

A resident of Bath Beach, Mike Greco, has pressed the city for years to fix the beachfront walk and blames the Parks Department and New York Police Department vehicles that drive on the Boardwalk for the damage. New York premises accident lawyers agree that people will keep getting hurt if nothing is done about this situation.