BAY CURRENTS EXCLUSIVE

While much of the boardwalk is changing, some things apparently will stay the same – like re-occurring damage.

Along several newly-renovated areas of the boardwalk, with concrete planks taking the place of wood, there already are screws popping up and planks coming loose, causing all too familiar hazards. While the Parks Department says this is only happening to a small percentage boards, others speculate that the entire redevelopment plan may be flawed.

There wasn’t very much that could hurt Joe Rollino, the strongman who once lifted 3,200 pounds at Coney Island and was still bending quarters with his fingers at age 104.

He was finally taken out by a minivan.

The 104-year-old died Monday Jan. 11 shortly after he was struck by the vehicle as he crossed Bay Ridge Parkway and suffered a broken pelvis, head trauma and broken ribs.

Police said the driver wasn’t speeding and had not been drinking. The driver wasn’t charged except given a summons for a defective horn.

During his storied life, Rollino hobnobbed with Harry Houdini, watched Jack Dempsey knock out Jess Willard and was friendly with ’50s Hollywood great Mario Lanza. He even had a bit part in the 1954 classic, "On the Waterfront."

Friends said Rollino, a decorated World War II veteran, was the epitome of health – he didn’t drink or smoke, and exercised every day.

He would have been 105 on March 19.

The legendary boardwalk of Brighton Beach and Coney Island will be no more

At least that will be the case if the city Parks Department goes ahead with its plans – which Community Board 13 chairwoman Marion Cleaver confirmed are definitely slated to begin -- to replace all of the Brighton boardwalk and most of the Coney Island boardwalk with, to the shock of many residents and boardwalk visitors, concrete.

The project will create “a secondary concrete jungle,” said Michael Greco, 48, an electrician, construction designer, and inventor (who holds one patent with several more in the works).

In exclusive interviews with Bay Currents, Greco described the plan as a “boardwalk blunder” that will “not only take away from the legacy of an American icon, but also has several flaws in design.”

For one thing, textured concrete, “although appealing to the eye,” is too rough and hazardous for bicycles, baby carriages, or jogging, he said.

The anticipation is overpowering as the subway pulls into the terminal at Stillwell. As you come out of the station, the sights, sounds and scents of Coney Island take you to another world; a world of excitement, a world of adventure, a world that overwhelms the senses…all at a price that virtually everyone can afford. This was Coney Island’s legendary past; the Coney Island that became an international brand name. This is the Coney Island that will be no more.

The announcement that the city has purchased seven acres from Joseph Sitt’s Thor Equities, leaving him most of both sides of Stillwell Avenue south of Surf Avenue, compounds the disaster for Coney Island. The mayor and the developer have been haggling over their plans for several years now, ever since Mayor Bloomberg announced his rezoning plan, opening the door for major developers to dive in like vultures to eat up the remains. Their visions aren’t very far apart though and both signal the end of the iconic amusement area. The mayor wants to create a Times Square South with expensive year round entertainment while Sitt leans more toward hotels or condominiums and shopping malls…if he doesn’t simply flip it to another developer, which he is known to do. Both would keep a small token outdoor amusement area simply to maintain brand recognition.

By SCOTT Krivitsky

It doesn’t get better than this.  Where else can you take a walk on the boardwalk and see the Coney Island Aquarium, Deno’s Wonder Wheel, Coney Island Cyclone, Key Span Park, all the while eating a hot dog from Nathan’s and visiting the Coney Island Museum?  Then there’s the Mermaid Parade, Coney Island Arcades, Coney Island History Project, and Abe Stark Ice Skating Rink.