The chairman of a Brooklyn community board is being accused of racism by a new board member who runs a popular Coney Island boardwalk dance group — for allegedly telling the guy his music attracts “too many blacks and gays.”
Rican Vargas, who has run Coney Island Dancers for nearly two decades and was appointed to Community Board 13 in June, literally wants the head of board chairman Eddie Mark.
Vargas, 52, has begun distributing fliers announcing a Saturday seaside rally and march to demand Mark ” resign” because there’s “too many gays, blacks & old folks for [Mark] in Coney Island.” The flyer, which is also being blasted throughout Facebook, features a photo of Mark’s head in a guillotine. The head is about to drop into a box emblazoned with the Coney Island Dancers’ logo.
The rally is set to kick off at noon by the Stillwell Avenue boardwalk entrance, and other local activists confirmed they would be there. A source also said headline-grabbing, civil-rights lawyer Normal Siegel could attend on Vargas’ behalf.
Vargas told the Post that Mark and a buddy of the board chairman allegedly made the racist comments to him during an April encounter at Tom’s Diner on the boardwalk.
“They said my events attract too many gays and blacks to Coney Island, and that I had to change it up,” said a fuming Vargas, who added that a friend who can back up his story accompanied him.
In another bizarre twist, Vargas claims he opted to finally take action only after “finding out” Mark and his minions recently called the cops to have the Dancers’ boardwalk permits pulled.
“They claim I am receiving a percentage off of the illegal vendors, as well as confining people under the boardwalk,” Vargas wrote on the Coney Island Dancers’ Facebook page. “This is ludicrous. They are implicating that I am merchandising T-shirts and this is not true.”
Vargas later clarified to the Post that he’s being wrongfully accused of actually locking people up in a shed under the boardwalk that his group controls.
Mark through his lawyer vehemently denies all the allegations against him.
“Our diversity is one of our greatest strengths and one of the characteristics of this community that makes us so special,” Mark said in a statement. “I would never try to change that – I’m part of it!”
Sources said city officials have been trying to smooth the bad blood between the bickering board members for weeks – but to no avail.
Councilman Domenic Recchia Jr. (D-Brooklyn), who’s running for Congress and appointed Vargas to CB 13, declined comment.
Borough President Marty Markowitz in a statement called Mark an “outstanding” chairman, adding he hopes “that communication and respect will prevail.”