Neil deMause: The Website

The Mets mull selling bricks outside their new city-owned stadium. Guess who won’t be getting a share of the cash?

The Mets may be locked in a three-way battle for first place in the N.L. East, but don’t let it be said that they’re not looking to the future. Last week, the ball club sent out an online survey to “loyal Mets fans” (actually, anyone who had purchased seats via the Mets’ website) asking what they thought of a “new way to involve fans”: Engraved bricks with personalized messages that would be installed outside Citi Field when it opens in 2009. “As a Mets fan,” asked the single survey question, “would you consider purchasing a brick?”…[read more]

Joe Sitt offers to swap his condos for timeshares, but the city calls it a mere bait and switch.

Developers Thor Equities dropped a bombshell yesterday afternoon, sending out a terse two-paragraph e-mail declaring that it had “completely eliminated the residential component of its proposed plan” and will instead offer “a plan that is compatible with the City’s strategic plan.” In other words, no condos for Coney… [read more]

A forum on the future of Coney Island bodes ill for the beach’s oldest amusement park.

Last night, the somewhat unlikely pairing of the Municipal Art Society (representing white-haired Manhattan urban planning geeks) and Coney Island USA (representing a different kind of geek) sponsored “Coney Island On the Cusp of Change,” a panel discussion on the uncertain future of the city’s traditional low-rent amusement zone. [read more]