A Coney Island official is going through backlash after questioning on social media how members of the native Muslim neighborhood may assist a proposed $3 billion on line casino for the Brooklyn seaside city.
Marie Mirville-Shahzada, a Muslim Coney Island resident, is asking for the resignation of Neighborhood Board 13 President Lucy Mujica Diaz for questioning how a Muslim would possibly assist a on line casino resort improvement. Coney Island is considered one of a dozen neighborhoods in New York Metropolis and within the downstate area that’s focused for a on line casino. (Picture: Fb/LinkedIn)
Lucy Mujica Diaz is the chair of Brooklyn’s Neighborhood Board 13. Neighborhood boards in New York encompass unsalaried members appointed by borough presidents and borough councilors. The neighborhood boards act in advisory roles and liaisons between native governments and their residents.
Diaz is a robust opponent to a on line casino coming to Coney Island on beliefs {that a} industrial playing vacation spot would negatively impression the neighborhood with extra site visitors. Diaz additionally contends that playing would lead to elevated crime and different societal drains.
The on line casino undertaking, pitched by a consortium consisting of New York actual property agency Thor Equities, the Chickasaw Nation’s World Gaming Options, Saratoga On line casino Holdings, and Legends Hospitality, is bidding for one of many three downstate on line casino licenses in New York. The event, dubbed “The Coney,” is focusing on a five-acre plot of land owned by Thor and situated at Surf Avenue and W. twelfth Road.
Controversial Feedback
Diaz ruffled some feathers on-line after she got here throughout a photograph from a current occasion held by Alfadila Neighborhood Providers wherein some attendees have been seen carrying T-shirts in assist of The Coney on line casino.
Marie Mirville-Shahzada, the New York Put up studies, is the Muslim founder and government director of Alfadila Neighborhood Providers. The nonprofit’s mission is “to interrupt limitations and bridge various communities to alternatives.”
On Fb, Diaz shared a photograph of Alfadila occasion attendees sporting “The Coney” t-shirts. The Neighborhood Board chair questioned how somebody may very well be Islamic however nonetheless assist a playing enterprise.
Somebody clarify this to me,” Diaz posted with a confused emoji. She added a Wikipedia excerpt on the Quran that reads, “It’s acknowledged within the Quran that video games of likelihood … are a ‘grave sin’ and ‘abominations of Devil’s handiwork.’”
Mirville-Shahzada shortly fired again, saying the picture Diaz shared included youngsters with disabilities. She informed the Put up that The Coney T-shirts have been donated to the occasion and that some attendees merely selected to put on the clothes. However there was no dialogue on the on line casino.
Mirville-Shahzada subsequently referred to as for Diaz’s resignation. She additionally wrote New York Metropolis Mayor Eric Adams and Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso, who appointed Diaz to the Neighborhood Board 13, to request her resignation.
I’m writing to request the instant removing and investigation of Lucy Mujica Diaz, Chair of Brooklyn Neighborhood Board 13, for her ongoing bullying, private assaults and final however not least, her current anti-Muslim statements and insensitivity to folks with disabled youngsters,” she acknowledged.
Diaz countered by saying her feedback have been taken out of context.
“I need to be clear; the submit was in a private capability and didn’t include any hurtful, destructive, or hate assaults in my language,” Mujica Diaz mentioned in a press release. “I reject the characterization … that this was ‘public assault’ and ‘prejudiced actions.’”
New York Bidding
The Coney is considered one of many on line casino initiatives finalizing their bids for the three New York downstate on line casino licenses. Different on line casino operators anticipated to bid embrace MGM Resorts, Genting Group, Las Vegas Sands, Wynn Resorts, Caesars Leisure, and Onerous Rock Worldwide.
The front-runners for 2 licenses are MGM and Genting, as they function Empire Metropolis On line casino in Yonkers and Resorts World New York Metropolis in Queens. These racinos can at present solely provide video lottery terminals and digital desk video games.
