On Thursday, January 1, 2009 at 12 Noon in Coney Island express how you feel about what’s going on in Coney Island. Join others on West Tenth Street at the memorial shrine on Boardwalk Gates of Coney Island’s closed and dismantled Astroland Park…Bring photos, drawings, letters, poems, flowers to add to the shrine.
Residents and tourists who come to Coney Island on New Year’s Day will be shocked to find historic bars and storefronts closed and colorful signage obliterated by Thor Equities “Space for Lease” banners. A few days before Christmas, Thor CEO Joe Sitt’s agents began evicting longtime tenants by cutting off locks, asking for triple the rent, or refusing to discuss 2009 leases. On Christmas Eve, huge custom-sized "Space For Lease" banners were put up on Ruby’s Bar & Grill, Nathan’s Boardwalk store, Cha Cha’s, and others businesses on Thor owned property in Coney Island. On September 7, Astroland closed forever after 46 years as Coney Island’s largest amusement park when Thor refused to grant a lease for the 2009 season.
"Especially in this economy, the city should not allow Thor Equities to displace an entire community of successful, thriving businesses who are contributing tourism dollars and tax revenue to the city,” says Dianna Carlin, owner of the Lola Staar Souvenir shop who found out on Christmas Eve that Thor Equities was evicting her from her shop on the Boardwalk. "This is the type of economic climate where Coney Island, the People’s Playground, would thrive because it provides accessible recreation for all during tough economic times and instead they are allowing it to be senselessly destroyed."
Why are Mayor Bloomberg, City Councilman Domenic Recchia and Lynn Kelly, President of the Coney Island Development Corporation, allowing Joe Sitt to get away with murdering Coney Island? This is your opportunity to say Thor No More!… Mayor Mike, Give Us Back our Playground!…Hey Domenic, Don’t let Pal Joey Kill Coney!….CIDC, Go Back to the Drawing Board!
“It is tragic that the City’s flawed redevelopment plan allowed predatory developer Thor Equities to take over and darken Coney Island,” says historian Charles Denson, a Coney Island native who began documenting his world-famous neighborhood when he was 12 and Steeplechase Park was set to be demolished. “The only way Coney Island will be saved for future generations is if the Bloomberg administration modifies its unrealistic rezoning plan and preserves the existing amusement zoning in its entirety. It is hard to believe that a shopping mall developer from Bensonhurst has brought the Bloomberg administration to its knees.”
The City’s rezoning plan is a capitulation to Thor Equities and almost completely abolishes the amusement district for the sake of high rise condos disguised as hotels and generic retail. Coney Island is currently zoned for 61 acres of amusements; the city’s new proposal reduces the amount of amusements to 9 acres. This reduction of the Amusement District will destroy Coney Island’s legacy as "the People’s Playground" and defeat the goal of creating a world class amusement and tourist destination.
“Change is inevitable in Coney Island but it MUST be change we can believe in,” says Dick Zigun, the founder and director of Coney Island USA . Known as the unofficial “Mayor of Coney Island” and the spokesman for the amusement district, Zigun was on the board of directors of the Coney Island Development Corporation until he resigned in protest in June 2008. “The CIDC compromised its plan for the amusement park last May to the extent that I had to resign to live with myself,” says Zigun. “Now its becoming clear that they city doesn’t have any interim plan and as a result, five hundred working people have lost their jobs in the amusement industry. The Municipal Arts Society of Manhattan has come forth with a plan for a world class tourist attraction in Coney Island for the 21st century. It is faster, better and cheaper. The CIDC must go back to the drawing board!”
For additional information on Coney Island redevelopment & how to help visit:
–Save Coney Island @ http://www.fightforyourrighttoconey.com/Home.html
–Save Coney Island @ http://www.myspace.com/saveconeyisland
–Municipal Art Society’s www.imagineconey.com
I have a message for the city. Don’t change the zoning of the amusement area of Coney Island. Keep it as it is. Allow for sensible redevelopment. It its O.K. to tear down the decaying buildings, but not to build condos. In other words, rehabilitate the Coney Island amusement area by giving incentives to build a major amusement park that includes a new major roller coaster, not high rises and shopping malls.