Coney Rides Marked Unsafe In Media String Of Bad Press

Image courtesy of Leslie F. Miller (Flickr.com)

In recent weeks, Coney Island has been receiving much bad press by the local major media, especially the New York Post, and Coney amusement fans are smelling something fishy. Could there be a conspiracy by the city or Thor Equities that is trying to hurt Coney’s amusement business to gain favor in their cases?

The New York Post reported:

Amusement-safety consultant Walt Reiss, asked by The Post to conduct checks at local funfairs, said that if it were up to him, he would padlock a fairground set up on land on Coney Island owned by developer Joseph Sitt.

Posters on the Coney Island USA message board speculate that this is a conspiracy that connects Thor to the Post via Stefan Friedman, spokesman for Thor Equities who also used to work for the Post. But since newspapers always use headline grabbers, it’s difficult to detect a ‘conspiracy’. Though more accurate would be to point out the rides in question which are those that Thor Equities contracted that were inspected by amusement ride inspector Walter S. Reiss. It makes sense that the papers would generalize it with: ‘Coney Rides’. Also since the rides on the inspectors warning list are those rides brought in through Thor Equities onto their property, it would not make sense for the Thor spokesman to bring attention to the unsafety of those rides.

Yet there is an interesting string of recent negative press that make some seem like conspiracies; problems with the Cyclone and obvious problems like the deteriorating boardwalk (though not a conspiracy in itself but the city neglecting it surely stinks anyway), and other such things that simply occur with plain bad luck – like the man who fell through the floor at Ruby's Bar into a pile of dirt. Yes 'shit' happens as observed by Curbed:

This [Post 'unsafe rides' story] is not to be confused with a report a few weeks ago that the Cyclone, which is operated by Astroland, was causing some injuries and is in no way connected to the problems with the boardwalk, which has been causing average trip-and-fall injuries due to its crappy condition. Also, it is totally unrelated to the "unfortunate accident" in which the dude fell through the floor of the bathroom at Rubys on the boardwalk and emerged covered in crap dirt.

So, unless there is a continued string of negativity associated with Coney Island, the stench of a conspiracy will be difficult to smell.

Follow the discussion at the Coney Island USA message board

Expert Calls Coney Island Rides Unsafe [NY Post]
Should Health Insurance Be Part of Coney Discussion? [Curbed]
Some Rides at Coney Island Unsafe, Inspector Says [Gothamist]