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Tropicana, Atlantic City

Coney Island looks like bomb hit it

By Gersh Kuntzman
The Brooklyn Paper
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Adrian Kinloch
Demolition continues in Coney Island to make room for a proposed Vegas-style amusement, hotel and residential complex.

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They paved paradise to put up … what exactly?

Despite open opposition from city officials to his plan to include luxury condos in a $2-billion Vegas-style amusement area, developer Joe Sitt is still bulldozing land he owns between Surf Avenue and the famed Boardwalk.

Most recently, Sitt’s demolition men tore down amusements east of Stillwell Avenue, including the “International Speedway” go-cart track and the much-loved batting cages.

Sitt’s Thor Equities wants to use the freshly cleared land — and the adjacent Astroland property that it also owns — for an all-year amusement complex whose 975 residential units would generate the revenue needed to underwrite the theme park.

“People who only come out in the summer won’t recognize the place,” said one local, who requested anonymity because he may want to do business with Sitt.

Other residents just wish Sitt could’ve left the area alone.

On Sunday, the poet laureate of Coney Island, Amos Wengler, will unveil a new protest song at 1 pm at the Polar Bear Clubhouse on the Boardwalk.

The haunting lyrics are meant to be sung by a group, he told The Brooklyn Paper: “Save Coney Island/Save Coney Island/Save Coney Island/Don’t let them take it away/The world wants it to stay.”

Wengler doesn’t speak for everyone, said Sitt’s spokesman Lee Silberstein, who confirmed that the land-clearing would continue.

©2007 The Brooklyn Paper

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