Thursday, April 19, 2007

Predictions Of A Thor-Coney Future!

Image from Swithback's CIUSA bb post

Coney Island U.S.A. bulletin board's frequent in-depth analyzer in all matters of the Coney amusement situation, rants on with his predictions of Coney Island's future in the hands of Joe Sitt and Thor Equities. Switchback, as he goes by on the board, takes a good gander into Thor's up-town crystal ball and expounds on all the broken promises of attractions and fantastical wizardry - that Joe Sitt and company have served up straight from their board-room dreamland. And that's exactly where it all goes back to - dreamland - their dreamland.

With the slew of recent writings on Thor and Company's dealings with their Coney property and their current and evicted tenants, many have become worried about Coney's doomed scenario. A Coney-land of empty lots left behind by empty promises. Swithback (would be interesting to know who he really is) makes points on all the proposed attractions Thor has dished out over the last couple of years, starting with the first one: the Coney Island Mall. An attraction immediately put down and lashed at my most Coney enthusiasts and anti-gentrificationists. Going over all the ideas for attractions that came forth from Thor, one can see how hapless the loose proposals created by them were. Yet it's difficult to decipher what Thor's intentions really are. In retrospect, some indications point to the obviousness of them playing the city and the community to position their investments only to flip them. Other points seem to indicate that Sitt is simply bullying his way through. Believing that he and Thor can do whatever they want. Or perhaps Sitt has a genuine interest in changing Coney but has the slightest real concrete idea of what to do since he and his company have no experience in the amusement business. Then again, according to Dianna (Lola Staar) Carlin, Sitt has threatened to get what he wants or he'll "...destroy Coney!" With all the disputes and opposition to Thor's dubious future plans for the famed amusement area, There is one thing that could be said in his defence; at least someone has come along to make a change by investing in it. Unless, of course, he goes the way of Bullard.

Also, the arrival of Thor to Coney brings up a few questions. Besides Zigun and friends, where was everybody else when Coney needed them? There have been so many dilapidated lots in Coney for a long time. Too many un-Coney stuff sitting there for more than three decades? Where were all the artists, enthusiasts, and all-around Coney lovers, then? Was the post-Steeplechase Coney supposed to be furniture stores, flea markets, and school-bus housing decaying on the outter edges of the amusements? Like Zigun has said before, "Coney Island is broken". But nobody came to fix it. Not the little people. Many disagree with that but far more surely must feel the place needed a change. At least to build up what was vegetating. But the little people lost their chance. So did one of the 'big' players - but Horace Bullard also lacked the vision or the enthusiasm needed for it. He didn't fight hard enough. Some feel he is the one to blame for the current situation.

If the fight between Thor and the city is destined to continue and thus turn the area into a blighted oasis, perhaps the chance could still be there for the little people, along with the city, to pull their talents together and begin reinventing Coney again, like the Ziguns and the Eagans did back then.

The Future of Coney Island prediction thread [CIUSA bb]



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