This sign was taped to plywood encircling the now empty lot where the go karts used to be. Thor Equities has purchased Astroland and plans to “make it nice,” but no one really knows what their plans are. Rumors are circulating- will the wonder wheel stay or not? What about the cyclone? What is considered a landmark? This whole looming tragedy of the disneyfication of Coney Island reminds me of a recent argument I overheard between my co-workers concerning the Ratner arena project in Downtown and Prospect Heights Brooklyn. One was insisting that he supported the project because “the city has to expand.” The other was patiently explaining that “expansion” and “development” does not mean destroying peoples homes for stadiums and parking lots and building luxury housing and no schools. Or, in the case of Coney Island, destroying what makes Brooklyn Brooklyn to turn it into a theme park version of itself.
Monthly Archives: June 2007
Birthday girls!
Last weekend LJ and I celebrated our 6th birthday together with a picnic at Coney Island. 7 of us met up at the Owl’s Head Pier in Bay Ridge and rode there along the Shore Parkway greenway. It’s so nice to have a mostly car free ride, though then the greenway dumps you off in the Toys’R’Us parking lot and you have to fight through traffic the rest of the way. Felix said that our birthday parties are some of the only times he gets out to Brooklyn public spaces, which I took as a great compliment. The sand was hot, the water full of trash, the boardwalk crowded and the arcades loud. All told, it was a perfect Coney Island adventure. And since it’s the last season of it’s grittiness, I plan to be there often to enjoy it to its fullest. Going back home (on the subway) the N train went express, nonstop, to 59th street, drawing cheers from all aboard and causing Jason to remark it was “like having a limo.”
Killerfemme 