00:00Live in Coney Island for us this morning, Lisa, what's the latest there from the boardwalk?
00:07Well, right now, this is the place to be, Coney Island.
00:10There have been people lining up here since before 6 in the morning to get a spot on the beach.
00:14You can see the boardwalk is pretty busy for this time of the morning, but it is 4th of July.
00:18This is the home to about 350 businesses, 50,000 residents,
00:22and a boardwalk that is a national landmark here in New York City.
00:27So here to tell us more about it, we have Daniel Murphy. He's with the Alliance of Coney Island.
00:31You're the perfect person to talk about this. Good. Thank you for joining us out here.
00:35So talk about the Alliance of Coney Island and what exactly the purpose is for it.
00:39Well, the Alliance of Coney Island was an organization put together in 2012,
00:44mostly by the businesses in Coney Island and also with help from the city,
00:49especially the Economic Development Corporation.
00:50And at that point, it was Mayor Bloomberg who set this up.
00:55And what it was was to create an environment where the businesses could thrive.
01:01A lot of our businesses are seasonal and need all the help they can get.
01:04We also have a local community with business needs of its own.
01:07So we were there to create that.
01:10And one of the things we were set out to do from the beginning was to create a business improvement
01:15district,
01:15which is what we did actually in last December when the council passed it into law.
01:20And so from now on, Coney Island will have a permanent structure to empower the businesses through a local tax
01:26base
01:26so that they can keep the streets clean, keep the streets safe, promote our local businesses,
01:32and bring ever more people to Coney Island.
01:34Well, you mentioned a lot of these businesses.
01:36You talk with all the business owners, whether they're large or small.
01:39How are they feeling?
01:40How are they feeling right now?
01:42Well, business people are always nervous.
01:44Yes, of course.
01:44Well, so that's good.
01:46It keeps them on their toes.
01:47But they're generally excited about the prospects of Coney Island now because Coney Island is on the rise.
01:53I mean, literally on the rise.
01:55If you see some of the buildings behind you that have gone up in just the last five years,
01:59this all comes out of the city planning that looked at Coney Island as a place for opportunity
02:05and not for a place in the past but for the future of it.
02:08And so we've created that.
02:11The city is now going to invest a billion dollars into the boardwalk to create a safer, more accessible boardwalk
02:19for the businesses and the people and for the local community, very importantly.
02:23This is their park.
02:25So we're very excited about the future.
02:28You know, businesses day-to-day always look out.
02:30They look at the weather a lot here.
02:33But, you know, Coney Island businesses bring their own weather, and it's always bright,
02:37especially from, you know, May through September.
02:39Sure, and you mentioned the people.
02:41So what are some of the concerns of the people, or how are they feeling at this time?
02:46You know, people are actually worried about climate change a lot.
02:49But that's why they come here, to come to the water and to enjoy kind of this.
02:56This is a communal experience, Coney Island.
02:58When people come to Coney Island, they come not only just to experience a historical location,
03:02but also to be with their fellow Americans.
03:04And so anybody has access to Coney Island, through the subway or through a car.
03:09You can park here if you want.
03:10But nobody has more access to the beach than anybody else.
03:15A billionaire can lay down his blanket right next down to the transit worker.
03:19So it's really great.
03:20It's an amazing thing.
03:22People come here to get away from their worries.
03:25This is the people's playground, and so they come to play.
03:27It is the people's playground.
03:28Now, every Friday you have fireworks.
03:30You're having extra fireworks tonight for 4th of July to celebrate the 250th.
03:34It's not extra.
03:36We do this all the time.
03:36You do it all the time.
03:37Coney Island is about fireworks every Friday night in the summer.
03:40And July 4th, this is the best place to see fireworks, because Coney Island is America.
03:45You know, it's where people can come to.
03:47It's where you have folks coming to Coney Island who have been in the United States for five generations or
03:53more.
03:54And we have people who are coming who came to the United States last year.
03:57And they're here to celebrate the freedom and the ability to basically enjoy all of this without fear.
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