Neil deMause: The Website

A look ahead to Saturday’s Mermaid Parade, which itself is looking ahead to Tuesday’s public hearing on the future of Coney Island:

Coney Island’s annual Mermaid Parade isn’t usually a place for broad political messages, except when reclaiming pasties as a symbol of women’s empowerment can be considered political. These aren’t normal times, however. Last year, as the battle over Thor Equities’ plan for beachfront condo towers heated up, the “Save Coney Island” section was a small contigent of the festivities; at this year’s parade, stepping off tomorrow at 2 pm, expect it to be the major theme.

First off, it will undoubtedly be the first time that the hundreds of thousands of gawkers there to take in the sights will be handed flyers for a city scoping meeting…

A brief item on the Voice site on a Coney Island fixture quitting the local development board in protest of the city’s revised plans for redeveloping the famed amusement strip:

Six weeks after Mayor Bloomberg abruptly revamped his Coney Island rezoning plans to include fewer outdoor amusements and more 30-story hotels, Sideshows by the Seashore director and “mayor of Coney Island” Dick Zigun has quit the board of the Coney Island Development Corporation, the city-spawned agency in charge of the redevelopment plans.

“The [original] CIDC Plan promised a world class tourist attraction with an entertainment core: lots of rides complimented by year round nightclubs and enclosed waterparks,” wrote Zigun in his resignation letter, which he posted to his own Coney Island USA’s message board… [read more]

Another opening day at Coney Island - this time, it was the beach being opened for the summer - and another rainy day. Also this time, protests:

Another sign that the weather gods hate Coney Island this year: Rainclouds and bitter winds met this morning’s official ceremonies marking the reopening of the beach for the summer season. “It’s a beautiful sunny day!” Parks Commissioner Adrian Benape taunted a crowd of schoolchildren shivering under a tent on the boardwalk. “Do you want to go swimming?” (For the record, the weekend is supposed to be much nicer.)

A few yards away, bare to the elements, several dozen protestors from the nascent group Save Coney Island — principal instigators: Coney Island USA’s Dick “Mayor of Coney Island” Zigun, Coney Island History Project’s Charles “Mr. Coney Island” Denson, and the Lola Staar Boutique’s Dianna “Lola Staar” Carlin — carried on a steady stream of songs, chants, and jeers to call attention to what they charge is the city’s sellout of Coney’s traditional amusement district… [read more]

Another not-entirely-accurate headline by the crack editorial team at Metro NY - the issue with Coney Island is that the city is letting developers’ will take precedence over its own, which is symptomatic of a deeper problem:

Over the past week, details have begun to trickle out about the city’s revised vision for Coney Island — and if you prefer roller coasters to Chuck E. Cheese, you’re likely to be disappointed. Under the latest rezoning plan, the proposed “amusement district” would be trimmed to a 9-acre strip along the boardwalk (down from 15 acres in the city’s previous plan), while much of the stretch from Nathan’s to the Cyclone would be filled with stores and hotel towers.

The reason, explained city officials: Local landowners (read: developer Thor Equities, which has bought up much of Coney Island in hopes of building condos) wouldn’t go along with the original plan… [read more]

Or you can just read today’s Dilbert, which makes the same point in fewer words.

The city of New York has revised its ambitious rezoning plan for Coney Island, and some locals are starting to fear that the changes are a sellout to developers:

When the city Economic Development Corporation announced last week—via a New York Times article by Charles Bagli—that it was revamping its years-in-the-works rezoning plans for Coney Island, much was still unclear about the details, beyond that the zone reserved for outdoor rides would shrink (from 15 acres to 9) and more buildings would be allowed in the traditional amusement district between the Cyclone and Nathan’s.

A week later, Coney denizens have started to get more details on the EDC plan—and several now worry that the city is preparing to destroy Coney Island in order to save it… [read more]

Yesterday was opening day at Coney Island, and so also opening day for my Coney coverage in the Village Voice:

When Astroland owner Carol Hill Albert announced last fall that her amusement park would be returning for a 47th season, she noted in passing that its traditional opening day of Palm Sunday was set to fall exceptionally early in 2008. “I just hope,” she said, “it doesn’t snow.”

The snow held off, barely. But it was still 40 degrees and threatening rain yesterday morning as Astroland opened the gates for what Albert has sworn is really truly its final season in Coney Island… [read more]

My regular Monday op-ed schedule resumes, with a look ahead to tonight’s public meeting on the future of Coney Island that manages to avoid using the term “shell game”:

The announcement reads “community information session,” but “Fireworks at Coney Island tonight!” might be just as appropriate. After all, tonight’s public meeting at Lincoln High School on the city’s rezoning plan for Brooklyn’s summer playground is a do-over: The last time the city tried this, in November, state Sen. Carl Kruger bused in so many bewildered Brighton Beach residents to testify against the plan that the police shut the whole thing down.

It was only the latest twist in the yearlong circus that began when Joe Sitt, the developer who’s bought up large swaths of Coney (including the land under Astroland amusement park), threatened to raze everything in sight if the city didn’t let him build condos on the boardwalk… [read more]

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s long-awaited rezoning plan for Coney Island was finally released yesterday. But while most news outlets were distracted by the pretty pictures, they largely missed the bigger story - the city’s plan to use a never-before-tried zoning ploy to stick a fork in developer Joe Sitt’s condo dreams:

The reverberations from Mayor Bloomberg’s bombshell announcement that he intended to remap Coney Island’s amusement district as parkland were still echoing Thursday night when neighborhood denizens piled into Our Lady of Solace Church on Mermaid Avenue to hear Coney Island Development Corporation president Lynn Kelly give her board—and the public—the lowdown on the city’s plans.

The upshot, two hours of Powerpoint later: Bloomberg is moving ahead with plans to revamp the amusement district, but Joe Sitt’s condos-by-the-boardwalk plan is off the table—and the city plans on salting the earth to make sure things stay that way… [read more]

It’s official: Coney Island amusement park Astroland will be open again in 2008.

The pirate ship will take flight again: In what seemed inconceivable only a few months ago, Astroland operator Carol Hill Albert and her landlord Thor Equities have agreed to a new lease that will keep the 45-year-old Coney Island institution open for another season.

“I’m very pleased for my employees and I’m very happy to be part of another tremendous year for Coney Island,” Albert tells the Voice… [read more]

Yesterday was the last day for Coney Island’s Astroland amusement park, possibly forever. I stayed to the bittersweet end to deliver this report.

Yesterday was the official last day of business for Astroland, and supporters of the 45-year-old Coney Island institution turned out in hopes of sparking an 11th-hour reprieve that would keep the park’s 23 rides and three game arcades open into 2008. Brian Gotlieb, the former Community Board 13 chair who formed Save Astroland last month, came bearing an estimated 9,000 petition signatures calling on all parties involved to broker a deal; he told the few dozen Coney fans who rallied outside the gates at noon, “The idea behind this is to keep things open until the plans for Astroland’s successor are finalized.”… [read more]