Don't Kill Coney Island

A letter distributed via e-mail pleads with all of us to keep the push to save Coney Island and Astroland.

Dear Friends,

On Sept 7, the closing day of Coney Island's historic Astroland Park, I was part of a grassroots effort by the Save Coney Island group which distributed 10,000 flyers to visitors. City Hall must have gotten a gazillion emails and calls on 311. A couple of days later, the Associated Press was reporting Mayor Bloomberg is FINALLY stepping in to save Coney!!! "It would be a great shame if the amusements, which have been around for so many years and defined Coney Island and this city as much as anything ... it would be a shame if we lost hose," Bloomberg said on Tuesday.

Tonight we're launching an urgent last ditch effort to save Coney Island and Astroland for another year! We need everyone's help. We have three or four days at the most. I was skeptical at first, but reliable sources assure me Mayor Bloomberg is indeed actively trying to help rescue historic Astroland Park. Bloomberg has opened the door to negotiations for a lease extension with Joe Sitt of Thor Equities, the real estate speculator who is holding Coney Island hostage and
refuses to negotiate.

It's as if the Mayor has his foot in the door and Sitt is trying to push it closed. Now we need a huge push from the people of New York and the world to open the door all the way. Send a DON'T KILL CONEY email to Mayor Bloomberg, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, and City Councilman Domenic Recchia, who represents Coney Island. Do they want to go down in history as the city officials who presided over the death of the world famous People's Playground? Of course not!

Mayor
Michael Bloomberg
email :http://www.nyc.gov/html/mail/html/mayor.html
or phone 311 (1- 212-NEWYORK outside of the city) and
leave a "Comment for the Mayor"

City Council Speaker, Christine
Quinn
email http://council.nyc.gov/d3/html/members/home.shtml

City Councilman representing Coney Island,
Domenic M
Recchia Jr.email recchia@council.nyc.ny.us

Send a DON'T KILL CONEY email to select City Council members, especially members of the Brooklyn delegation, and powerful or sympathetic members from other boroughs, as well as the city council member who represents your district. Remember, the City Council has 51 members who usually vote with the council member who represents the district affected by the legislation. Recchia has shown support for Joe Sitt's redevelopment plan for Coney Island. The people of New York and the world can exert pressure on individual council members to save the People's Playground. Remember, many city council members are term limited, and will be running for other elective offices, including mayor, borough president etc. They will need your vote in the
future!

link to emails addresses of all New York City Council members:
http://council.nyc.gov/html/members/members.shtml
link at left side of page for Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, SI
& Bronx delegationsBrooklyn:
send to all Manhattan: Alan Gerson, Gale
BrewerQueens:
Tony AvellaStaten Island: Michael McMahon

Please
forward this letter to everyone in your address book.
Thank you so
much for helping us Save Coney Island

Tricia
http://www.myspace.com/saveconeyisland