Photo via tomvu's flickr
This afternoon a press conference was held in Coney Island to discuss if Luna Park, Deno's Wonder Wheel Park, the Cyclone Roller Coaster, Jones's Alley Arcades and Side Shows would be able to open for the holiday. Earlier this week the area was closed after the AstroTower was seen swaying in the wind. But even though Dick Zigun, the "unofficial mayor" of Coney Island, said the swaying was nothing out of the ordinary, the nearby attractions were shut down and a decision has now been made to remove the top section of the AstroTower. Because of this, the other attractions will remain closed until further notice. What Zigun had dubbed a "false alarm" could turn into a huge blow for Coney Island during the busy 4th of July holiday.
Luna Park posted this update on Facebook:
"A decision was made to remove a portion of the Astrotower. This will happen as soon as possible so the areas of Coney Island that have been temporarily closed to the public may reopen. The Scream Zone at Luna Park, the Coney Island Raceway and the B&B Carousell are currently open to the public and are under normal operation."
The Coney Island Boardwalk also remains closed between West 10th Street and West 12th Street. While it is unclear how long this area of Coney Island will remain shut down, according to NY1 Luna Park officials and the city Office of Emergency Management said they hoped to remove the top part of the structure tonight, and as of now Luna Park workers are still supposed to show up for work tomorrow.
Either way, tomorrow's 98th Annual International Hot Dog Eating Contest at Nathan's Famous will still go down, as will FourthFest at MCU Park, and live music at Place to Beach along with free fireworks at night.
The AstroTower was last operational in 2007, and provided quite a view, albeit a terrifying one, as the tower swayed even more when you were 25 stories up:
