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Posts Tagged ‘Thor Equities’

Joe Sitt Plays in His Coney Island Sandbox

Posted in Real Estate, Redevelopment, tagged Bloomberg, City Council, Coney Island, Joe Sitt, rezoning, Thor Equities on July 21, 2009| 1 Comment »

Joey Sitt Plays with Bulldozers in His Coney Island Sandbox. Art by Tiny Tim

Joey Sitt Enjoys Playing with Bulldozers in His Coney Island Sandbox. Art by Tiny Tim

Some toddlers never grow up. Meet Joey “Bulldozer” Sitt, CEO of Thor Equities, largest landowner in Coney Island. After a City Council Subcommittee passed Mayor Bloomberg’s rezoning plan today, Sitt told the NY Post, “I’m the guy who controls this – it’s my sandbox.” He added that he would be willing “to share my sandbox with my friend Mayor Mike.”

Translation: Lawyers for Joe Sitt and the City’s Economic Development Corporation are wheeling and dealing behind closed doors. The deal is that Sitt would sell at least half of his Coney property to the City and keep the rest to develop or flip. With most favorable zoning of course!

Thanks to graphic artist Tiny Tim for sending us the photo collage of Joey demolishing Coney Island’s go-karts, batting cages, bumper boats, and mini golf. Creating empty lots in Coney is this CEO’s favorite outdoor activity. The Astrotower is still standing because Sitt said he “fell in love” with it and wants to keep it.

Hey, we love the Astrotower too. We also believe Coney Island is the People’s Sandbox, not Joe Sitt’s. Give it back to us, you bully.

Coney Island Hip-Hop Anthem: AMO1’s Fight for Your Right to Save Coney

Posted in Music Video, tagged AMO1, Coney Island, Fight for Your Right to Save Coney, Hip Hop, music, Save Coney Island, Thor Equities, video on July 19, 2009| Leave a Comment »

“You gotta fight for your right to Save Coney. A real landmark but they’re trying to make it phony,” raps Coney Island hip-hop artist AMO1. The anthem was written for the group Save Coney Island.

What makes this special is AMO1’s Coney roots. “They’re tryin’ to tear my land down…tryin’ to destroy a legend,” he says. “Don’t let it get destroyed by Thor Equities. Keep every acre of land for amusements.” The Cyclone roller coaster, Deno’s Wonder Wheel Park, the freak show, and cotton candy on kids’ faces get a mention in the vid. AMO1 pays tribute to the go karts, which were bulldozed by real estate speculator Thor Equities in 2007.

The first time you ever drove was at the go kart races
Get hungry and go to Nathans
Most been here their whole life cause it’s amazing
Let’s stop them from tearing it down to the pavement
Cause this is all we got for the youth so let’s save it.

If there was ever a time to fight for your right to Save Coney, it’s now or never. The City Council’s Land Use Committee is expected to vote on the rezoning plan this week. Perhaps even as early as tomorrow morning! The full Council vote is scheduled for July 29. In a last ditch effort to save the People’s Playground, Save Coney Island is asking New Yorkers to call their elected officials and request changes to the City’s plan.

7/20 UPDATE: we just received an urgent email from Save Coney Island that The Land Use Committee met today and recessed without making any recommendations. The Zoning and Land Use Committees are now scheduled to vote tomorrow, Tuesday the 21st, on revisions to the Coney Island rezoning plan:

WE NEED YOU TO ATTEND AND MAKE OUR PRESENCE FELT!
When: 10:30 am
Where: City Hall Chambers.
PLEASE, GET THERE EARLY TO GET THROUGH SECURITY.

Bring a sign! The last time, they gave us a hard time about anything bigger than 8.5 x 11. You can download one no bigger than that here(pdf).

The vote by the Land Use Committee is the last chance for the plan to be fixed. If council members choose to vote on the plan without significant amendments dealing with the amusement area, we will know that they ignored your calls and that they are indifferent to the destruction of the “People’s Playground”. The vote by the entire City Council is scheduled for July 29th.

Keep making phone calls! Call Quinn, Recchia, and your council member. Tell them that Coney Island amusements are a city-wide issue, and that the plan must be fixed. All the info you need to make a call is here. Call now!

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Upcoming City Council Vote on Coney Island: Of, By and For the People’s Playground?

Posted in Coney Island, tagged City Council, Coney Island, Redevelopment, rezoning, Save Coney Island, Thor Equities on July 18, 2009| Leave a Comment »

Councilman Domenic Recchia Reading "Save Coney Island" Brochure at City Council Hearing. Photo © Tricia Vita/me-myself-i via flickr

At the July 1 City Council hearing on the City’s rezoning plan, Coney Island’s Councilman Domenic Recchia took a moment to study Save Coney Island’s pitch. The brochure, which you can download here, urges people to contact their elected officials and ask them to fix the plan. Save Coney Island recommends expanding the area for open-air amusements, moving the high rises from the south side of Surf Avenue, landmarking Coney’s historic buildings, and protecting small businesses.

Will these proposals make it into the revised plan that a City Council subcommittee votes on next week prior to a full Council vote on July 29? No one from Save Coney can say with certainty. Although the group’s reps met with sympathetic council members, they’ve been unable to get face time with Speaker Christine Quinn or Land Use Chair Melinda Katz.

Says Juan Rivero of Save Coney Island, “There is no surer way to ensure that the outcome of a negotiation will not be to your liking than to fail to participate in the negotiations. And thus far, we haven’t been invited to the table.”

Among those who have been invited to the table are labor unions, affordable housing advocates and property owners, notably Thor Equities. ATZ is worried that the City, which failed to appease Thor with the current compromise plan, will come to an even worse compromise with Thor to pass the rezoning. For the past two summers we’ve been documenting the real estate speculator’s deliberate emptying out and desecration of the amusement zone in the flickr set “Thorland.”

Tables & chairs for Thor Equities flea market across the way from shuttered Balloon Race Game. Photo © Tricia Vita/me-myself-i via flickr

Tables & chairs for Thor Equities flea market across the way from shuttered Balloon Race Game in Thor-owned Henderson Building, Bowery at Stillwell in Coney Island. Photo © Tricia Vita/me-myself-i via flickr

No matter how the zoning goes, if anyone is under the misimpression that Joe Sitt will ever build anything here, just Google “Albee Square Mall” and “Thor Equities” and read about how he flipped the property and made $100 million after getting favorable zoning from the City. Just imagine how many millions Joe Sitt expects to make from selling the rezoned Coney Island!

The City Council hearing on the Coney Island rezoning plan was my first time inside City Hall. During the eight hour long proceeding— my two-minute slot didn’t come up until seven hours had gone by— I had plenty of time to contemplate a ceiling medallion that says: “A Government Of the People, By the People, For the People—Lincoln.” Apparently I wasn’t the only visitor impressed by this tribute to Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. Someone mentioned it in his testimony. Councilman Tony Avella, Chair of the Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises replied, “I hate to tell you how many times we don’t do that, but hopefully we can do it in this situation.” We hope so too.

A Government of the People, By the People, For the People--Lincoln. Ceiling of City Council Hearing Room, City Hall, NYC. Photo © Tricia Vita/me-myself-i via flickr