Like most New Yorkers, I’m looking forward to the warm days of summer. New York City’s public beaches are now open for the summer season. These 14 miles of spectacular shoreline include: Orchard Beach in the Bronx; Rockaway Beach in Queens; Midland Beach, South Beach, and Wolfe’s Pond Beach in Staten Island; and Manhattan Beach and Coney Island in Brooklyn. Lifeguards will be on duty from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. until Labor Day.
One of the most exciting new attractions on our waterfront this summer will be a new amusement park in Coney Island called Luna Park. Luna Park will bring more than 200 new jobs to our city, along with more than a dozen new spine-tingling rides.
Luna Park is the first of two amusement parks that will be developed this summer and next on the nearly seven acres of Coney Island land that the City purchased last November. Together, these parks will create the largest Coney Island amusement area since Steeplechase Park closed, all the way back in 1964.
Last week we announced our latest effort to create jobs in the media and technology sector. We already have about 315,000 information and media jobs in and around New York – more than any other metropolitan area in the nation. To spur even more growth, we’ve established the NYC Entrepreneurial Fund, designed to help information tech and new media startups get off the ground.
The City put up $3 million, and a private investment firm, FirstMark Capital, has agreed to invest up to $19 million. That gives us $22 million to keep New York a leader in this growing industry.
One of the first startups we’re investing in is an exciting mobile application provider caller My City Way. Our $300,000 investment in My City Way allowed the company to relocate here from New Jersey and hire additional employees. If you haven’t heard of My City Way yet, you probably will. Earlier this year, it won a prize in a major tech competition held by the City.
