Community Board 13, half of whose members are appointed by Markowitz, has refused to take a position, even as hundreds of neighbors of Asser Levy Park have protested repeatedly.
Their main issues are clear: Markowitz’s glitzy amphitheater would absorb nearly all of the grass recreation area inside the park, replacing it with a concrete seating area and a raised lawn that is off limits to soccer or football players.
In addition, neighbors worry that amplified music will create a disturbance — especially on weekends when two area synagogues are filled.
Make no mistake, if city planners were forced to listen to every little complaint, nothing would ever get built in this polyglot town.
But we believe that the opponents have good reason for objecting to Markowitz’s legacy project.
Face it: There is no question that Markowitz is dumping this amphitheater in Asser Levy Park without a full vetting. The project is not undergoing the city’s normal public review process, and the Parks Department will select an operator without public discussion.
Much of the project’s $64-million budget comes from a pool of capital construction money that Markowitz controls by fiat.
This lack of public oversight convinces us that Markowitz is treating Asser Levy Park as his personal playground, something he feels entitled to do because he stages a summer concert series in the park’s current bandshell.
Such nostalgia events typically feature aging rock or soul performers. But Markowitz believes that a new amphitheater, designed in a striking potato chip design by Grimshaw Architects, will allow him to draw better acts — the kind that perform at Jones Beach, the Westbury Music Fair or even at the Cyclones’ baseball stadium several blocks away.
Markowitz says his amphitheater would be a vital piece of the city’s plans for a revived amusement area in Coney Island. But that’s not his call to make. A project of this magnitude and ramifications needs a proper review by the very agencies set up to oversee big land-use changes.
This is not a project that should merely come out of Marty Markowitz’s fertile, Barnum-esque imagination and be dumped on a community.