Coney Island is in for a glow-up with a $1 million investment from the city through a new Business Improvement District, Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced Sunday.
The seven figures in funds will be available as early as July after Hizzoner inked the paperwork while visiting the historic boardwalk.
“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,” Hizzoner said, speaking with the towering Wonder Wheel at his back.
A BID refers to an area where local businesses, residents and government work together to improve, maintain and promote its commercial area, according to the city’s web site.
Some of the new Coney Island dough will be used to bolster the neighborhood’s sanitation efforts, with collections five days a week during the summer season and three days a week the rest of the year.
The money will also provide for additional landscaping and maintenance, with tree pits, lawns and gardens getting more attention.
Snow removal will be increased, too, as will graffiti removal, and lights will be put up across the neighborhood during the holidays using the BID funds, which are being provided by the New York City Department of Small Business Services.
“The formation of the Coney Island Business Improvement District is about investing in the small businesses and working families who make this neighborhood iconic all year long,” Mamdani said in a statement.
The move comes as Coney Island has seen a wave of investment with about a half-dozen new residential towers and affordable-housing buildings recently completed or under way.
“This is what we need, people that want to live and work here, not run away,” said Dennis Vourderis, owner of the historic Wonder Wheel.
Mamdani also weighed in on his amusement park preferences at the announcement.
“I was on the Phoenix like four months ago,” the mayor said of the roller coaster.
“I am a big fan of Coney Island, big fan of roller coasters. Also a big fan of the bumper cars,” he said. “The Cyclone, also incredible.
“All of these things around there are great,” he said. Although, “The Slingshot is a little too much for me right now.”
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