Progress is underway in what's often called New York City's playground, as about 1,100 new homes are set to be built in Coney Island, according to Mayor Eric Adams.
The mayor on Tuesday said the city is now forging ahead with two developments: Coney Landing, a 15-story building with 178 units of affordable and supportive housing and Coney Island Phase 3, a 430-unit development of 100% affordable housing with a community facility. The city is also looking for a developer to add over 500 units along Surf Avenue.
“This is not rocket science. It's about building more housing. That is the goal and that is what we push to accomplish,” said Adams. “I think Coney Island is a wonderful place to live. I remember as borough president, we saw many of the developers wouldn't develop because the infrastructure was not built out. And we're tackling that problem."
These developments are on top of previously announced projects, which includes infrastructure improvements, new streets and a $42 million renovation of the Abe Stark Sports Center.
The current revitalization project is set to be finished in three years. “We have broken records on building more and more housing. That is how you drive down rent, by building more housing, not making idle promises that you can't live up to,” Adams told BK Reader during his regular Tuesday press conference.
Some mayoral candidates, including Zohran Mamdani, believe that just building more housing isn’t enough to keep the city affordable, and that a rent freeze on rent-stabilized homes would be beneficial for New Yorkers.
“The question we should be asking, should rent ever go up?” said Adams. The mayor stated that he is a small property owner with three units who has not raised rent for his tenants, and that the concept of a rent freeze would severely hurt small property owners such as himself.
“A candidate can throw out anything. The mayor must answer those questions,” said Adams.
Meanwhile, as President Trump announced Sunday that he is pushing for Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials to conduct larger raids of undocumented immigrants, Adams stated that he and Deputy Commissioner of Operations Kaz Daughtry are speaking with federal partners to see if any changes will be made.
“My message stays the same. Your children go to school, call the police if you need help, get medical care if you need it. Make sure that you go to your houses of worship if you desire,” Adams said.
The mayor, who is running on two independent ballot lines in the November general election, said he will have his legal team look into the constitutionality of the city Board of Elections stating that an independent candidate can only run on one ballot line.
“I challenge the constitutionality of that. The [Board of Elections] is saying that if you are in one of the primary lines, a Democrat or Republican, you could have two lines. But if you are an independent line, you only can have one line. I think that's unfair,” said Adams.
The mayor also addressed how Sneako, an influencer that has previously aired antisemitic views and was banned from YouTube, came to Gracie Mansion to smoke cigars with him over the weekend. The mayor said his son, a musician, wanted to meet celebrity Amber Rose, who brought some friends to the mayor's home.
"The back porch of Gracie Mansion is used often to sit down and communicate with folks. And when [Rose] came in, she brought a friend and the friend she brought, he was the friend that she brought. And we sat down and started chatting and he said, I would love to interview. It happens every day. And that is how it came. I didn't know him before that. And my son was excited to meet Amber Rose and engage in a conversation with her. And that was a how that all came about," the mayor said.
In addition, the mayor banned New York Daily News reporter Chris Sommerfeldt from his weekly press briefing for calling out questions unprompted by his staff. Sommerfeldt is one of two Daily News City Hall reporters and has not been called to ask a question for more than three months.
