COURIER L 12 IFE, DEC. 13-19, 2019
SPEAKING OUT: Laura Lee Anderson (center) and more than a dozen other protesters
slammed the rent hikes that several boardwalk businesses are facing. Photo by Rose Adams
People’s Pay-ground
Business owners rally at City Hall
against massive 500-percent rent hike
BY ROSE ADAMS
Protesters took to the steps of City
Hall on Thursday to protest massive
rent hikes along the Coney Island
boardwalk, which threaten to shut
down local mom and pop shops across
the People’s Playground, according to
one business owner.
“I would have to close,” said Dianna
Carlin, the owner of Lola Star
Boutique who says she faces a nearly
500-percent rent increase. “I have no
choice. I don’t know any business that
could pay that much.”
Six Riegelmann Boardwalk businesses
— including 85-year-old Ruby’s
Bar and Grill and 57-year-old Paul’s
Daughter — have until Dec. 31 to negotiate
the proposed rent hikes, which
will go into effect on Jan. 1.
According to Carlin, none of the
businesses have yet reached an agreement
with Zamperla, the Italian company
that operates the amusement
park and the surrounding boardwalk
on behalf of the city.
The rally, organized by Carlin’s
small business advocacy group, Save
Coney Island, drew over a dozen colorful
protesters — including famed
sword swallower the Great Fredini, a
pageant winner on stilts, and several
local mavens — all of whom accused
Zamperla of threatening the heart of
the People’s Playground.
“Small businesses on the boardwalk
are family,” said Coney Island
native Seth Bogdanove. “I remember
after Superstorm Sandy, Tom’s, the
newcomer on the boardwalk, fed everyone
who helped in the restoration
efforts. A large business wouldn’t do
that.”
Protesters also lambasted the company
for allegedly pocketing 10-percent
of each tenant’s profi ts every month —
and for forcing tenants to sign non-disclosure
agreements.
“It’s one thing for private landlords
to have non-disclosure agreements,
but it’s another thing when the city
and the City Council issues non-disclosure
agreements,” said Norman
Siegal, a civil rights lawyer. “What do
you have to hide?”
Carlin — who said she refused to
sign a confi dentiality agreement or
give over her profi ts when she signed
her lease in 2010 — was the only affected
business owner to attend the
rally.
According to Siegal, others refused
to show out of fear of retaliation — although
one business owner, who spoke
on the condition of anonymity to freely
discuss ongoing negotiations, refuted
that claim.
“I don’t fear retaliation. I just don’t
think it’s in my best interest, and I
want to get the best deal I can,” said
the business owner, who claimed that
the rent increases are between 25-percent
and 75-percent — not the fi ve-fold
increase that Carlin cited.
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