Hurricane Sandy has left Coney Island looking like a Cyclone hit it – devastating its seaside amusement district, officials say, with tens of millions of dollars in damage alone.
And now a new nonprofit entity created to continue the steady sanitizing of America’s Playground in recent years has inherited a real cleanup job.
The Alliance for Coney Island – a partnership between the city and the heaviest hitters in Coney Island’s business community – is officially launching its organization today.
But instead of focusing on pumping up Coney Island’s popularity through marketing and other means as originally planned, the Alliance will instead oversee early recovery efforts for businesses and residents still without power and reeling from Hurricane Sandy.
“We have a lot of work on our hands,” said Dennis Vourderis, the Alliance chairman and owner of Deno’s Wonderwheel Park.
The Alliance has already set up a new website — http://coneyrecovers.org/ — for gathering donations and volunteers to assist neighborhood relief efforts, and it’ll direct people who live in the area on places to get assistance.
Meanwhile, the business leaders heading the Alliance have their own Sandy woes to deal with.
All of Coney Island’s seaside rides need to have their electrical and motor systems overhauled. Deno’s suffered roughly $3 million in damages, while Zamperla USA, which oversees Luna Park and the Scream Zone, faces about $8 million or so in repairs, according to sources.
MCU Park – home of the Brooklyn Cyclones – was also badly damaged. Its field was covered in water during the storm, and the locker rooms and souvenir shop were badly damaged.
The New York Aquarium also suffered extensive damage. It is trying to partly reopen by Memorial Day.
Vourderis said the amusement district hopes to have its rides and attractions ready for the spring.
Neighborhood staples like Nathan’s Famous and Gargiulo’s Restaurant were also among the area businesses hardest hit. Nino Russo, an Alliance board member and Gargiulo’s owner, said his business suffered more than $1 million damages and is “working hard to re-open” by Christmas.
The Alliance replaces the former Coney Island Development Corp. and will inherit $630,000 earmarked for CIDC over the next two years. The new organization’s role will be similar to that of the public-private Downtown Brooklyn Partnership that Mayor Bloomberg created in 2004. Business owners will also fund the group’s new budget.
rcalder@nypost.com