Results tagged “thor”

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."

      

The servers at THOR, where chef Jesi Solomon (formerly the sous chef at Stanton Social) has now taken the reins, aren't afraid to gush about the menu items they love. To hear them tell it, the Maple Brined Pork Tenderloin is “a party in your mouth,” and the veal burger lathered in foie mustard is “silky and irresistible.” Certainly they're biased, but for the most part Solomon's “modern American” menu—with seasonal highlights and gastronomic weapons like pork belly, foie gras, and truffles—lives up to the staff's breathless hype.

Astroland, the Coney Island amusement park that seems constantly on the brink of extinction in recent years, appears to be shutting down Astro-fast and will close down for good this Thursday. Owner Carol Albert, in a letter published by today's NY Daily News, wrote that property owner Thor Management "has left Astroland no choice but to notify its employees that the amusement park will be closing permanently at the end of the season."

Last night’s Coney Island Public Scoping Meeting was the place to be, as activists like political performance artist Reverend Billy turned the meeting into a carnival, leaping up on a chair with repeated cries of “Coney-lujah!” Musician Amos Wengler stood up to croon his anthem “Save Coney Island,” and Savitri D., the Mermaid Parade queen who had been on a hunger strike since Saturday to spotlight the meeting, passionately derided the city’s latest proposal for Coney Island.

A nosy Post reporter may have cost Coney Island “Mayor” Dick Zugin his free apartment in a building he purchased with a 3.6 million grant from the city. Zigun runs his Coney Island USA sideshow and museum out of the Surf Avenue building, which the city helped his group buy last year. But when confronted with documents that report the address as his residence, Zigun admitted that he’s also been illegally living there, albeit humbly on a convertible sofa.

Last month the city announced that the space dedicated to amusements in the latest Coney Island rezoning plan would be cut from 15 acres to 9 acres. City officials explained that the downsizing was necessary to accommodate “local landowners” – the biggest of those is developer Joe Sitt, whose glitzy plans were previously derailed by the city for the express purpose of devoting larger space for the amusement park.

           

The festive factor was running high at last night's Taste of the Lower East Side, the 8th Annual fundraiser for the Grand Street Settlement. Forty neighborhood eateries pitched in to benefit Grand Street's programs that assist low-income Lower East Side residents, and they showcased some of their best dishes for the crowd of well over 1,000 people.

Another over-the-top Coney Island development proposal is in the works. Mayor Bloomberg unveiled a plan today to build the nation's biggest urban amusement park there, including 4,500 residential units (20 percent are set-asides for low- and middle-income housing) and some retail establishments. The proposal basically spells doom for Thor Equities' $1.5 million Vegas-style entertainment complex that can only get built if the city provides zoning for it. Don't worry, the Cyclone isn't going anywhere....