Cissy Houston, Gloria Gaynor, Gladys Knight, Public Enemy, and more are set to perform at free Brooklyn concerts. Meanwhile, Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz is working on building an amphitheater for his free Coney Island Concerts. Click below for more details!
Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz isn’t giving up on his dream to build an amphitheater for his free Coney Island concerts.
Though legal action halted his $64 million open-air concert hall project at Asser Levy Park last year, Markowitz is spearheading an effort to move forward.
“I’m optimistic about a seasonal amphitheater being constructed in the Coney Island community,†Markowitz told the Daily News as he released his Seaside Concerts’ lineup — which kicks off July 12 with a tribute to Donna Summer, which includes the Village People and Gloria Gaynor. Gladys Knight is to set perform later in the summer.
At his Martin Luther King Jr. Concert Series in East Flatbush, Cissy Houston will sing Gospel and honor her daughter Whitney who died in February.
“This is not happening this year, and not next year, but Brooklyn will have its first real amphitheater in the near future,†Markowitz vowed.
He wouldn’t say what sites are being considered.
Critics of his Asser Levy plan worry he still wants to build there.
Residents say a more suitable place for the amphitheater — if it doubled as an ice rink — is the city Parks’ Abe Stark Skating Rink on Surf Ave. A Parks Department spokeswoman said there are no discussions with Markowitz about the site.
Markowitz’s original design had 5,000 seats that could be removed for an ice rink or skateboard park.
The Seaside Concerts will take place at a W. 21st St. and Surf Ave. lot that was last year’s venue.
A neighborhood activist hopes Markowitz will seek community input about amphitheater construction.
“Unless it’s planned to include infrastructure improvements and traffic control, the benefits wouldn’t outweigh the negatives to the community,†said Todd Dobrin of Friends of the Boardwalk.
“If they could find a venue in the entertainment district of Coney Island,†said activist Ida Sanoff, “I think the neighborhood would support it.â€
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FREE MUSIC UNDER THE STARS
For the full lineup of the Seaside Summer Concert Series, visit www.brooklynconcerts.com.
At the Martin Luther King Jr. Concert Series at Wingate Field, opposite Kings County Hospital:
* July 16: Bootsy Collins, SOS Band
* July 23: The Mighty Sparrow and other Caribbean performers
* July 30: Public Enemy, Salt-N-Pepa
* Aug. 6: Heads of State featuring Bobby Brown, Johnny Gill and Ralph Tresvant
* Aug. 13: Ledisi
* Aug. 20: Cissy Houston
