Fifteen prominent historians have signed onto an open letter urging the City Council to fix the City’s flawed rezoning plan for Coney Island.

Signatories to the letter include Emmy Award-winning documentary filmmaker Ric Burns (“New York,” “Coney Island,” “The Civil War”) and Pulitzer Prize-winning historians Edwin Burrows and Mike Wallace (“Gotham”), along with 12 other historians, scholars and chroniclers of New York City, Brooklyn and Coney Island.

“Coney Island is a place of great national historic significance. It is the birthplace of the modern American amusement industry,” they write. “The City’s rezoning plan for Coney Island, however, dishonors its past and sacrifices its future.”

The historians call on the City Council to fix this rezoning plan. “This plan must not be allowed to pass in its present form,” they write.

They urge the City Council to expand acreage for amusements, remove the high-rises proposed for the heart of the amusement district and preserve Coney Island’s historic buildings.

“The City Council has a responsibility to protect this iconic American place. If it fails to fulfill this responsibility, the judgment of history will be a harsh one,” they conclude.

Along with Burns, Burrows and Wallace, other signatories to the letter are Kevin Baker (former columnist, American Heritage), Thomas Bender (NYU), Marshall Berman (CUNY), Michele H. Bogart (SUNY Stony Brook), Charles Denson (Coney Island History Project), Richard Haw (John Jay), John Kasson (UNC-Chapel Hill), Phillip Lopate (Hofstra), Deborah Dash Moore (University of Michigan), Francis Morrone (“An Architectural Guidebook to Brooklyn”), Barnet Schecter (“The Battle for New York”) and Richard Snow (former editor-in-chief, American Heritage).

The historians’ letter comes on the heels of a public statement from Ned Jacobs, son of the late urban visionary Jane Jacobs, pronouncing himself “appalled” at the City’s Coney Island rezoning plan.

Full text of historians’ open letter is after the jump:

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HONOR CONEY ISLAND’S PAST, SAFEGUARD ITS FUTURE
AN OPEN LETTER FROM NEW YORK HISTORIANS
ON CONEY ISLAND REZONING

We are writing as historians, scholars and chroniclers of New York City, Brooklyn and Coney Island in order to express our profound concern about the City’s rezoning plan for Coney Island.

Coney Island is a place of great national historic significance. It is the birthplace of the modern American amusement industry.

The City’s rezoning plan for Coney Island, however, dishonors its past and sacrifices its future. It would shrink the area reserved for amusement parkland to only 12 acres. It would insert soaring high-rises into the very heart of Coney Island’s historic amusement district. It would invite developers to tear down many of Coney Island’s remaining historic buildings, some dating back more than a century. This shrunken amusement district, hemmed in by high-rises, would leave little room for the innovation and creativity that have been Coney Island’s hallmarks for more than a century.

This plan must not be allowed to pass in its present form. The City Council must step up and fix this plan. It needs to expand the acreage for amusements, remove the high-rises from the heart of the amusement district and preserve Coney Island’s historic buildings.

Please listen to the Municipal Art Society of New York, which has warned: “We are concerned that the proposed area set aside for open-air amusements is of insufficient size and that as a result this revitalization effort will not be successful.”

Listen to Charles Denson, executive director of the Coney Island History Project, who warned: “This rezoning… reduces what was once known as the world’s playground to something the size of a children’s playground…. Coney Island’s future as a world-class tourist destination is being sacrificed.”

Listen to Dick Zigun, founder of Coney Island USA, who warned: “If the city gets its way, it won’t be Coney Island anymore. And if we lose Coney Island now, it will be gone forever.”

The City Council has a responsibility to protect this iconic American place. If it fails to fulfill this responsibility, the judgment of history will be a harsh one.

Kevin Baker
Former Columnist, American Heritage
Chief Historical Researcher, “The American Century”
Author, “Dreamland”

Thomas Bender
University Professor of the Humanities and Professor of History, New York University

Marshall Berman
“One Hundred Years of Spectacle: Metamorphoses of Times Square”
Distinguished Professor of Political Science, CUNY Graduate Center

Michele H. Bogart
Professor of Art, SUNY Stony Brook
“Politics of Urban Beauty: New York and Its Art Commission”

Ric Burns
Emmy Award-Winning Documentary Filmmaker,
Producer and Director, “New York: A Documentary Film,” “Coney Island”

Edwin Burrows
Co-author, “Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898”
(Winner of 1999 Pulitzer Prize in History)
Distinguished Professor of History, Brooklyn College

Charles Denson
“Coney Island: Lost and Found”

Richard Haw
“The Brooklyn Bridge: A Cultural History”
Associate Professor of English, John Jay College

John Kasson
“Amusing the Million: Coney Island at the Turn of the Century”
Professor of History and American Studies, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Phillip Lopate
“Waterfront: A Walk Around Manhattan”
John Cranford Adams Chair, Hofstra University

Deborah Dash Moore
Frederick G.L. Huetwell Professor of History, University of Michigan

Francis Morrone
“An Architectural Guidebook to Brooklyn”

Barnet Schecter
“The Battle for New York”

Richard Snow
Former Editor-in-Chief, American Heritage
“Coney Island: A Postcard Journey to the City of Fire”

Mike Wallace
Co-author, “Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898”
(Winner of 1999 Pulitzer Prize in History)
Distinguished Professor of History, CUNY Graduate Center

*Institution names are for identification purposes only.
* Letter updated after release with additional signatories.