Mermaid Parade in danger, launching Kickstarter IT IS WORTH SAVING!

Mermaid Parade in danger, launching Kickstarter

Dear Friends of the Mermaid Parade:

I have two important announcements for you today:

1) Registration for this year's Mermaid Parade is now open. Click here to register.

2) We do not know whether there will be a Mermaid Parade this year.

Don't panic just yet-we have a plan. But first I want you to understand where we are and what we're up against.

Our first parade back in 1983 had more participants than onlookers. It is because of you-whether you've been marching for years or are joining us for your maiden voyage-that the Mermaid Parade has grown into the largest arts parade in the country.

A Free Parade is Expensive

This year we face unprecedented challenges. As the crowds have grown over the past years, the city has begun imposing new regulations and restrictions that have sharply increased the cost of the event. On top of that, Hurricane Sandy, that malevolent sorceress, wreaked havoc on the Coney Island community. We as an organization, like many others, are still recovering from the damage. What this all means is that the Mermaid Parade now has a budget shortfall of $100,000. This is an impossible gap for a tiny non-profit arts organization like ours.

The Plan

On May 7th , we'll be launching a "Save the Mermaid Parade" Kickstarter campaign to raise $100,000 for the Parade. We'll be actively updating our website and sending out news and information as the campaign to "Save the Mermaid Parade" progresses.

Next week you will receive a link to our Kickstarter campaign. Once you have it, please spread the word. If we don't meet our funding goal, there'll be no parade.

Registration this year is more important than ever before, but we also need to ask for even more from you to preserve our beloved cultural institution. Be advocates. This is your parade - get on your bullhorns!

Sincerely,

Dick Zigun

Founder & Artistic Director

Coney Island USA

Bathrooms’ Long Trek - Wall Street Journal

Bathrooms’ Long Trek - Wall Street Journal - WSJ.com
(Excerpt)

Bathrooms and other beach infrastructure along the public sand on Staten Island, Coney Island and the Rockaways, like most other coastal structures, became wrecks under superstorm Sandy’s floodwaters. With beach season now just a month away, city officials are racing to restore restrooms, lifeguard towers and maintenance sheds in time for the beaches to reopen.

The solution: bring prefabricated facilities to the boardwalks for about $2 million each.

But the unwieldy dimensions of these new buildings will turn their migration into a slow-motion race in which nearly three-dozen units will lumber to the city from a factory in Berwick, Pa. In total, the process will require three weeks of multi-state trips at speeds as low as 5 miles per hour, weaving through traffic, negotiating bridges and weaving around red tape.

“It’s just going to take a long time,” said Cristin Burtis, head of the Office of Citywide Event Coordination and Management.

Steeplechase Pier Renovation Continues

Weekend work goes on to rebuild the damaged Steeplechase pier in Coney Island.

The Other Coney Island

The Other Coney Island | Brooklyn Community Foundation
(excerpt)
The west side of Coney Island is steeped in poverty. Most residents live in subsidized or public housing. For them, Sandy took what little they had. In the weeks after, without power, heat, or food, thousands waited in lines for hours for donated supplies.

Tweeting one early morning before Sandy

Color Wheel

New York Aquarium on Coney Island, swamped by Hurricane Sandy, to reopen May 25

New York Aquarium on Coney Island, swamped by Hurricane Sandy, to reopen May 25  - NY Daily News
(Excerpt)
The beloved New York Aquarium in Coney Island, devastated during Hurricane Sandy, has set a date to reopen — and its famous sea lions will be out for the big day in May.
The aquarium will partially reopen on Saturday, May 25 at 10 a.m., said Jon Dohlin, director of the Wildlife Conservation Society New York Aquarium.
The reopening will come seven months after Sandy’s unforgiving storm surge inundated the 14-acre facility, trashing buildings and exhibits and damaging the aquatic life.