No News is Bad News on Coney Island

The Times has 1,391 words on the state of the Coney Island "redevelopment" process, but the diagnosis can basically be boiled down to just one: stasis. There's not much new here for those who've been following along with the various competing proposals for the amusement district and surrounding neighborhood, but the article is a pretty disheartening portrait of urban planning gone nowhere. Joe Sitt, the developer who has bought up most of the land and essentially evicted Astroland, isn't negotiating with the city anymore; their talks broke down around Thanksgiving. Meanwhile, nothing's being done besides a long-overdue repair of the Boardwalk, and fears are mounting that, given the economy, none of these grand plans will come to fruition, leaving local businesses in dire limbo. Charles Denson, executive director of the Coney Island History Project, tells the Times, "We might be looking at vacant lots for a long time to come. Everybody’s broke. These massive plans, these visions, don’t usually work. But I hope for the best." Photo: Barry Yanowitz on Flickr