Talk about building a bridge in the middle of nowhere.
A Brooklyn assemblyman is pushing a $30 million plan to build a pedestrian bridge over a heavily polluted creek to connect two city parks – one next to a gated Coney Island community and the other by the site of a planned waste-transfer station in Bensonhurst, according to the New York Post.
Assemblyman Alec Brook-Krasny said connecting 26-acre Kaiser Park in Coney Island and 78-acre Calvert Vaux Park in Bensonhurst with a walking bridge across Coney Island Creek makes sense — not only because it creates larger, contiguous green space to benefit two neighborhoods, but because "it helps wipe out the potential" for a seaside disaster.
He said residents in the gated-community Seagate and others on Coney Island’s west end face difficulty fleeing the island during a massive hurricane or other emergency. Many who live in the area are more than a mile away from the nearest exit, the Cropsey Avenue Bridge.
"If there’s ever a disaster, thousands, especially seniors, could be stuck getting out," he said.
Brook-Krasny (D-Brooklyn) said he has an architect lined up who’d design the bridge for free and that estimated construction costs are $30 million. The shortest distance between both parks is about 800 feet.
"In theory it sounds good, but it’s impractical," Ida Sanoff, a local activist and former CB 13 member.
"The $30 million would be better spend trying to come up with ways to limit the number of cars in Coney Island through mass-transit improvements. And seriously, how many people are going to want to walk from one park to the other just to travel between neighborhoods?"
