(waves breaking and children playing)
("(Don't Fear) The Reaper" by Blue Oyster Cult)
(siren wailing)
- We always call it a she.
She's okay, she's running good
Jane? How's she doing?
She's okay.
Every year I used to put it up.
All freshly painted, ready to go.
Lines used to just form for the people to ride on.
They used to love it.
- Every fair, wherever you go.
There's a Zipper.
You gotta have it.
A lot of fairs have it because it's a high ride.
People can see it from far away.
- A zipper like the top ride on the circuit.
At the time, like the Tilt-A-Whirl.
- [Eddie] Everybody used to stand there
and just watch the Zipper.
Everyone would just come and stand there and look up.
It's like they were riding the ride
because they were screaming just as much
as the people that were in the cars screaming.
- I remember when they see the ride come in the first time.
Them thinking, "What the hell is that?"
It was like a combination of the Sky Wheel,
and it had the cars almost like the Skydiver.
It was very fascinating.
- If you have somebody that knows how to mess with the ride.
Give you a nice ride.
That's the real, that shit gets your adrenaline going.
- (screams) I'm gonna die!
Oh my God.
(screams)
- (screams) Oh my God!
(riders screaming)
- I was born and raised in Coney Island.
And I started working the amusement business
when I was about 12-13 years old.
I was a go-fer boy. (chuckles)
Getting stuff for the bosses and the workers.
Then I worked in the dark rides.
Scaring people in the little haunted houses.
(maniacal laughter)
Then I worked in a go-kart track as a mechanic.
Then I became the manager of the track.
You have a lot of people that live in Coney Island
that actually worked in the amusement park.
There was a lot of gangs out here back then.
A lot of problems.
Wasn't the safest place to visit, but people came.
- Eddie and I, we knew each other since we were small.
And we just grew up together.
We became like blood cousins.
- Good morning.
- [Eddie] Joey,
Larry,
Jay, and Don,
guys that I grew up doning Coney Island,
since they were kids.
A lot more than 30 years ago.
- I know him since, God, about 1978.
He used to work on the go-karts next door,
and I worked on the Wonder Wheel.
- I used to work on the Himalaya for the twins in the 70s.
John had to know they used to see him everyday
coming to work with his little white T-shirt.
Those little shirts,
and he used to come in there and--
- We'll I'm half Italian.
- See back in the day I knew all the owners
and all the workers.
Cause that's how we were when we were younger.
We always hung out together.
Astroland and 12 street, Wonder Wheel,
Stillwell Avenue, El Dorado.
All the workers hung out with each other.
("Dusic" by Brick)
- Eddie called one day and he said he bought a Zipper.
If I knew anything about it.
I said, "Look, I know enough to get me by."
I'm not gonna lie to you and say,
"Yeah, I know how to put it together, take it apart, no"
So, he's like, "Alright, fuck it."
We put it together and we do what we have to do.
And that first winter I worked with him,
and we put lights on it.
We froze ass that first winter.
- [Eddie] The ride was really beat up when we got it,
and we put a lot of money into it.
A lot of love, a lot of cleaning and painting.
Thousands of dollars worth of parts
that had to be changed.
We made it to a workable ride.
Everybody always used to comeover,
"This is the best ride in Coney Island."
- [Voiceover] Coney Island, is the party over.
- [Voiceover] Legendary amusement park
is a little bit run-down after more
than 100 years in business.
It's the kind of place you don't expect to ever change,
but now condo developers
are salivating over its famed boardwalk.
- [Voiceover] Land developers have gobbled up
huge chunks of real estate here,
without saying much about what's to come.
A carnival and clams atmosphere that could very well
be swept away by the tide of progess.
- It was a rumor that was going around for years
before it actually happened.
That there was a company looking into buying the whole area.
First we thought it was Disney.
Come and build one of their big parks.
Then we found it wasn't Disney.
A lot of the rumors going back and forth.
I mean that the place was gonna
be bought up to build condos, not an amusement park.
Then we heard it was gonna be a big,
huge indoor amusement park.
As the years went by we continued to hear the same stories
that properties were being looked at.
And, finally it came true.
Our little spots started to be bought up.
And that's when the park started to fall apart.
- [Voiceover] Save Coney Island, save Coney Island,
Save Coney Island, save Coney Island,
Save Coney Island, save Coney Island.
- I come to you today with sand in my shoes and salt.
I'm still salty from the swim I took this morning.
(cheers) Where?
In Coney Island!
In Coney Island, Brooklyn, New York.
Why can we not keep the old Coney Island
that we all know and love.
(cheers)
I don't know.
No condos, no bullshit, alright?
- Condos or cotton candy?
That's the reality facing
many longtime Coney Island residents.
Developer, Thor Equities, wants the city to rezone
parts of the historic amusement district
to allow for condominiums.
- [Voiceover] Developers want to build timeshare units,
water park, restaurants, shops, movie theaters,
and hotels there, but the new plan
is still facing some criticism.
City officials and residents are worried towering apartments
and luxury condos would destroy
the character of the waterfront.
- What we do not want to have happen,
is to have condominium development for the well-to-do.
To have a great, white sand, south facing beach
as their own playground.
- [Voiceover] Thor Equities wants to invest $2 billion
in creating a vacation destination
similar to Vegas or Orlando.
- [Voiceover] People are going to complain.
- When poor people can't live in Coney Island,
they can't live in New York.
It's one of the last places we can still live.
(cheers and applause)
- I can see if it was something
that we can all actually benefit from it.
But it seems as though the haves
are gonna benefit more than the have nots.
- It is where a family can go and enjoy themselves for a day
without maxing out their credit card.
(cheers and applause)
We have enough malls, enough condo developments,
enough McDisney Coke-a-lands.
We don't need it.
We need to keep this alive.
To celebrate all the individual lunatics
that make New York the reason
all these people wanna bring their money.
(cheers and applause)
- What is going on at Coney Island?
Who is Joe Sitt?
- Joe Sitt, he's known mainly for building malls.
He is a developer who likes to let people know
that he's from Brooklyn, he's a hometown boy.
- Folks around Brooklyn call me Joey Coney Island.
If I call up a restaurant, if I go to Lou Collie's Pizza,
a lot of the downtown to Fire--,
I'll go in and if I make a reservation I'll go inside
and I'll say, "Joey Coney Island's here."
It's a name from years and years ago
that stuck, so to speak.
And all the more so with our activity in Coney Island.
Am I allowed to put it down now?
- [Voiceover] Yeah.
- Good, thanks, it's a heavy sucker.
I was a comic book collecter as a kid,
Was nostalgic collector of old
and interesting comic book characters.
One of them that they never quite focused on was Thor.
And the concept of the Nordic God Thor
was that he was a protector of the planet Earth
from the evil goblins.
And he was the guy that was protecting
all the buildings in the city, so to speak.
Myself as a city dweller,
somebody who was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York,
I kinda liked the whole concept of what that was about.
The character was really consistent
which what was the theme of our company.
Protecting the old and bringing it back
and restoring it to new.
- [Voiceover] His controversial plans wold be leveling
these old buildings, including Henderson Music Hall,
where Harpo Marx made his musical debut.
- He's erasing history, it's not just an amusement park.
It is an amusement park,
but this is the founder of all amusement parks
that are had in today.
Walt Disney came to talk to the Tilyou's.
They were way ahead of the time.
- Nobody believes in it,
it's forgotten about, you say Coney Island,
the word doesn't mean anything anymore.
I thought it would be a great project to polish up
this brand and bring it back alive,
and get New Yorkers to care about Coney Island.
- [Voiceover] Save Coney Island, save Coney Island
Save Coney Island, save Coney Island.
- [Voiceover] Can you tell me what you paid
and what you ended up with at the end?
- It's so many parcels that I purchased over the years.
From so many stakeholders.
I don't know, I can't say the numbers.
I don't have it off the top of my head.
I'd have to check to a piece of paper
and add it up with a calculator.
- He has paid about $150 million
to buy land in Coney Island.
In anticipation of a zoning change
which would obviously increase the value of the land.
What's the problem with that?
- City Hall just does not like him.
He was this history of being a flipper.
- I was a real estate investment banker
at Lehman Brothers for 23 years.
So, I respect Joe Sitt.
I think he's a very smart guy, and I think
he's done well from what I know for his investors.
Having some expierence in the real estate business
I would also tell you that one of the most speculative areas
that you can invest in in the real estate spectrum,
is land and then unentitled land.
Unentitled land is probably the most speculative
assest class in the real estate
investment arena of anything.
- Coney Island has a unique zoning.
It's called C7.
It allows only certain types of amusements
to be built on the land.
Thor made a bet that this area
was not going to remained zoned
as it's currently zoned forever.
And so, it has been buying up the land in an attempt
to assemble development parcels.
- He probably thought the city was gonna go with them.
They gonna zone the property for their benefit.
- You have to ask yourself,
what do you they think that they're going to be building
on the land that they've bought.
And the only thing that really makes sense,
in the amusement district,
at the prices that they're paying,
are condominiums and big-box retail.
- To a great degree at our cost of land,
amusements was a loss.
So the concept was, having a little bit of residents.
We're talking 200 residents.
We're sort of, our way, creating an economic driver
for one to pay for the other.
What's wrong with that?
That's helping, it's not just economic driver,
it's helping advance communities and neighborhoods
that would be left for dead like Coney Island.
- Before 2007, people were coming down there.
People were making money.
People were spending money.
Place was always packed.
As long as the weather agreed,
people were always down there.
Everybody came down.
We had all kinds of different people coming down.
Trains open up and everybody came out.
After 2007, properties were being sold
and everybody's being pushed out.
A lot of the games are closed up,
a lot of the food stands are closed up.
A lot of the stuff that was down there are gone.
When we lost Astroland,
that was a big crush to the whole place.
- [Voiceover] After 46 years of calling Coney Island home,
Astroland is tearing down and packing up its rides for good.
Its owners says they could not come to terms
with developer Thor Equities over a lease extension.
Co-owner Carol Hill Albert says
the developer forced her hand.
And gave her no choice but to shut down.
- It could be bulldozed and boarded up and darkened
and that's gonna really hurt
the remaining businesses in Coney Island.
- [Eddie] You still have a lot of people coming down.
A lot of people in shock of what they see.
- Thor Equities says that they wanna
do the right thing by Coney Island
and the amusement district.
I hope that that's true.
I think if you look at some of their actions,
it's hard to reconcile with that.
- This is what the what in my opinion.
He came down like a Hercules,
and he comes down and just wants to throw everybody out.
- It's down to nothing now.
- The go-karts are gone.
The Batting Range is gone.
For now it's just gonna look like a big ass empty lot.
It'll be used for fucking parking now.
- We've always maintained the position,
a very public position, that it is in our mind,
premature to have vacated or evicted
any of those operators.
It created vacant lots and blight conditions.
And that was, to us, really problematic
in how people view Coney Island.
Now I can't explain why Thor Equities did that.
You'd have to ask them.
- If you let me take out my Blackberry,
I'll tell you some of the tenants
that we had interest in bringing into Coney Island.
Ripley's Believe It or Not,
Dave & Buster's,
T-Rex that dinosaur concept, Bubba Gump,
Hard Rock Live,
GameWorks,
Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory,
Cold Stone Creamery,
Howie's Game Shack,
just lots and lots of interesting folks.
- He's done this all around the country before,
you know that right?
- Well and--
- He made big malls in Edmonton, Canada,
all over Minnesota.
- But he also has a reputation about buying property
and letting it go into waste.
- You know what stinks?
When I started this, nobody was out there with me.
I always told people we could revitalize Coney Island.
Make the housing developments better than what they are.
Keep the amusement district,
but also bring in other businesses, bring in jobs.
So when I ran for City Council in 2001,
this was my whole agenda.
And I won, and I was the lone dark horse.
No one ever thought I was gonna win.
And I set my plan in progress.
2002 I got elected, and at that time there
was an economic push for building
on city property and devloping,
but Coney Island was never in the original plans.
No one even thought about Coney Island.
And then,
what's my opinion,
I think the Bloomburg administration realized
that they have an opportunity,
and they saw an opportunity.
This could coincide with their agenda.
- One of the things that the Bloomburg administration
has done since coming into office,
has been to look around the city at various areas
that are underdeveloped.
To try to revive other economic development engines.
Coney Island is a perfect example of that.
- 92 rezonings have been adopted by the City Council.
92 rezonings proposed by the department of City Planning.
These aren't one or two or three blocks,
each one is about 100 blocks,
or more than 100 blocks.
There's an enormous spectrum
of economic development initiatives
which really has to do with up-zoning,
and chaning the zoning to encourage private investment.
- This week Mayor Bloomburg unveiled his own
redevelopment plan for Coney Island.
One that he says will transform the boardwalk,
without scrapping some of its most famous landmarks.
- When people around the nation, or the world,
hear the words, Coney Island.
They think of fun in the sun.
(big band music and fireworks)
- [Voiceover] High-tech, high-glitz,
Coney Island would be reborn as a year-round destination.
Under a sweeping new plan proposed by the mayor.
- We all recognize that Coney Island
isn't just what it could be.
It's fair to say that its amusements haven't kept pace
with changing times and taste.
For much of the year, activity in the area lags badly.
But rather than focus on
the faded glory of Coney Island's past,
or the unfilled potential of its present.
I think what we have to do is look at
how we can create a better future.
There could be a year-round water park and hotel
with slides, rides,
and awesome year-round aquatic attractions.
As well as a wide variety of restaurants and shops
to fit every budget and satisfy every taste.
Growth is coming from private development
and private investment is flowing
because city government has worked
with local communities to cast off
outdated zoning restrictions.
Let's take a look at our framework
for rezoning Coney Island.
It's a vision that includes major new opportunities
for retailing and thousands of new housing units.
We propose to map 15 acres of Coney East
as new city parkland.
And the effect of this would be dramatic.
We're also going to find a dynamic developer and manager
to whom the city would lease
the amusement park area in Coney Island.
And that's exactly what the amusement operators
in Coney Island have needed for many years.
We hope to achieve a win-win outcome for each of them.
Rezoning really is essential to realizing this Coney Island.
- The zoning is gonna change.
The zoning will definitely change.
The question is how do we go about it.
They could go ahead and say we wanna rezone this parkland,
but if the city does not own the property,
they can't make it parkland.
You can't make something that you don't own.
- Yeah, we have to work that out.
Dan, you wanna--
- What we mean by a developer is a developer
who has real world class experience in developing
a one in a kind, completely unique,
something that pays homage to the history
of Coney Island amusement area.
It's a very different business building a shopping center
than it is building a great amusement area.
- The land use has become a very
let's say athletic-political sport.
("You Really Got Me" by The Kinks)
- What did the city do this week.
- It was a bombshell--
- A bombshell?
- I don't think anyone really expected--
- [Voiceover] The city said its searching
for a new developer to lease the amusement area.
Challenging the role of current developer,
Joe Sitt of Thor Equities.
- The city has decided they're going to turn
a big portion of that area into parkland.
And find one amusement/concession area.
- Someone like a Disney or a--
- Someone with experience.
- Nobody, including the city, nobody cared
about Coney Island.
It took us spending millions and millions of dollars
on architectural drawings and desinged plans
to help the city have a vision
of what Coney Island could be again.
- It was the city that told Thor Equities,
do what you have to do to make the plan work.
And they asked about the condos,
said, "Put in everything you want,
"then we'll work from there."
- The amusement park must be next to the boardwalk.
It absolutely has to be next to the boardwalk.
And Thor owns that property.
They city has to take control of it
by mapping it as parkland.
And then it has to acquire it.
- [Voiceover] The city says it's working on a deal
to buy up 10 and a half acres of real estate.
The land is owned by developer Joe Sitt.
- [Voiveover] Is this city going to spend
hundreds of millions of dollars to pay for Joe Sitt's land?
- I don't understand how this works.
In other words, a guy buys land in Coney Island,
they city doesn't wanna work with him.
So they say you know what we're gonna get rid of you,
we're gonna bring in one of our guys.
Joe Sitt doesn't wanna sell it.
We have also been told now
that eminent domain will not be used.
But you tell me Rich Calder, a veteran reporter,
how the city can acquire land
if a land owner doesn't want to sell it.
- That is a very good question, Girsch.
And, I don't know of another way.
- If the city can't acquire it,
then Thor is only able to build
according the the C7 zoning.
- Folks talk about, are we builders or are we destroyers?
If you take a look at one of the only large sites
I still don't own, it's owned 50% by the City of New York.
You know what's there now?
Vacant weeds growing.
You know what's been there five years ago?
Vacant weeds.
10 years ago, 15 years ago, 20 years ago, 30 years ago,
it's just vacant for decades.
So, the only thing Joe Sitt hasn't touched is just vacant.
- The city in the past has made mistakes in Coney Island.
- What's going on right now?
It's like history, like I said, repeating itself.
This happened years ago with the Trumps.
- I grew up in Coney Island.
We used to spend our summers in Steeplechase Park.
I remember being with my father
the last day in Steeplechase Park
and turning around to him and saying,
"Daddy, why are they doing this?
"Why are they taking away all the rides?"
And he turned around to me,
he says, "Because someone bought the property.
"They're gonna build housing."
They knocked down the park,
but they never built the housing.
- So, when we first came to Coney Island
and spoke about wanting to do
a strategic plan for Coney Island and let them know about
this administration's commitment for Coney Island.
- I want Coney out, that's what you're thinking.
- It was not an easy first set of meetings.
The city is not in the business of doing amusements.
What we're doing in Coney Island is a huge risk.
We build mixed-use projects, affordable housing.
We build parks, public projects.
They don't teach amusements in college.
- This is a work in progress.
This is a commitment to work with the community
and to have Thor import.
- It is a people's paradise and it has to stay that way.
The boardwalk and the beach unite everybody.
The amusement district
and the people who live in Coney Island.
- This is a very large rezoning.
It's a very complicated one compared to others
that City Planning may have done elsewhere.
- [Voiceover] This is big money for the city,
not just in tourism, but in--
- And the taxes from all the housing that's gonna be there,
the population growth that we can accomodate there,
the retail, not just the tourists.
- The legacy of Coney Island belongs to everyone.
Where they lived in New York and made memories.
The Cyclone, the Wonder Wheel.
- The redevelopment, we want it.
We need it, our kids wanna see it.
I pray that I live long enough to see it.
- I do think the designation of any parkland
for amusements is a mitzvah.
And want to work with you in the coming battle
in the City Council and I know I will be called
down to speak on behalf of the city's plan.
And I want to do that with enthusiasm.
- I love to hear what people really dream of.
What they really want,
but then being a city official, I have to also look
at the broad needs of the city.
Whether it's more jobs, more housing,
more economic development,
I have to try to balance city-wide needs
with those very engaged
community based desires and aspirations.
- My landlord claimed we was never gonna sell the place.
He actually told me that he told them
that they could build around him.
(chuckles)
We just got the notices in the mail
that they were the new owners,
and that we had to leave the property by a certain time.
And that was pretty much it.
- [Eddie] Last ride, let's go.
- [Jay] Five dollars.
- Yeah, we got five dollars.
Last people ever to ride.
- Anybody wanna ride?
Last ride, let's go.
- That's the last ride.
(sighs)
- If you're gonna go you have to go now.
- It's safe right?
Cause I know somebody that flew off this shit.
- It's safe.
- Alright.
- Hold on to your glasses, cell phones,
hold on to these bars up here, enjoy your ride.
You are part of history.
- [Man in car] Ow! Ow!
- [Woman in car] You alright?
- Enjoy your ride
- Watch your head.
(siren wailing)
(fireworks booming)
(ominous depressing music)
- That's right, I was not scared.
- Last one, goodnight.
- [Voiceover] Visitors to Coney Island will no longer
be able to enjoy two of the rides.
The Spider and Zipper have been closed down for good.
- [Voiceover] And the suggestion in the story in the Post
is that there is more ahead as the efforts
to redevelop much of Coney Island move ahead.
- I think my days of Coney Island are pretty much all over.
It's sad.
We always figured it was gonna take
years and years and years before
they actually did anything there.
I figured we coulda been there a couple more years
while they settled their problems.
- It's very easy for people to point the finger at the city
as the culprit for contributing to the recent decline,
but the reality is that the decline was there long before
we ever came to the table with the idea of doing a rezoning.
- I think the ultimate proof is my track record.
Our passion is to be more visionist and preservationist.
And if somebody wants to call that speculation,
yes, what does speculation mean?
Somebody who invested something to make a profit.
If we can make a profit while
being preservationists, so to speak.
And bring things back to life
that were grand in the old days,
and bring them back in their authentic state again today.
Well, then I'd say I'm proud
to be a preservationist speculator.
(ominous depressing music)
- If you really wanna try and preserve,
and enhance, and leverage the iconic nature of Coney Island,
our view is the best way to do that
is to preserve the amusements
by keeping them on parkland
and change some of the uses of land
that surrounds the area.
- Two thirds of the development that we're proposing
would have nothing to do with the amusements.
- It's nothing that I would have ever expected,
the whole parkland concept, but it turned out it was
an economic driven thing for the city.
- To the west of the KeySpan baseball stadium
is a big parking lot.
That is actually mapped as parkland.
We looked at that land and saw an opportunity
to increase the value of the underlying land by rezoning.
- The state requires you that if you take parkland out
of the system you have to find replacement parkland
within the area of the equivalent amount acre by acre.
- So we've targeted here, Coney East, the amusement area,
as the place that will move
that parkland over to the east side.
- The problem is that the city doesn't own the land.
- I'm the City Council member.
I'm the one that has to show leadership.
I'm the one that has to be able to stand up to people
and say we have to meet somewhere in the middle.
I'm not gonna be a 100% happy
at the end of the day with this plan.
But you know what?
It's gonna be the best that we did
as a community and as a city for Coney Island.
(ballet music)
- You know for all the conflict that was involved,
if you look at mine and look
at their amusement park side by side,
you'll be hard pressed to find much of a difference.
- Only the city can make sure
it's the kind of amusement park that Coney Island is.
That it is has these fun, unexpected things.
It has old and crazy,
and Shoot the Freak and everything in there
that we've always expected.
It's not a Six Flags.
It's not some slick amusement park.
It's Coney Island.
- If we were successful enough to turn in to Six Flags?
What is Six Flags?
It's an unbelievable amusement ride park
with lots of good games and foods and cotton candy
and clowns and cartoon characters.
I can't figure out what would be so bad
to have a gigantic amusement park a la Six Flags over there.
- It never can be a gated amusement park.
It has to be beach boardwalk, open amusements.
- Nowhere did we ever say that we were opposed
to an open landscape urban environment.
And in fact, we believed financially,
we'd actually get a higher rate
by having it be an open landscape.
- How do you make this a year-round?
How do you make this actually worth
people's investment to keep it year-round?
- We fully expect there will be
a mix of carnival style rides,
more bigger amusement park theme rides,
indoor/outdoor uses.
There has to be that balance to make it work.
- You have to have indoor rides,
like tunnel of love and all the dark rides.
You should also be able to have like contemporary rides.
Virtual and virtual rides.
- Dave & Buster's is one the corporations
that Thor Equities wanted to bring in.
- Howie's Game Shack which is a gigantic game operator
that we think would have been great and be a city.
- We wanna bring in people like to be more interactive.
If they have shows, to be more interactive.
- Build-A-Bear Workshop, Nickelodeon.
- We're opening it up to include very limited beach related
and amusement related retail.
- We don't wanna bring in no big-box stores,
and Thor Equities never intended
to bring in any big-box stores.
However, the community would love a Barnes & Nobles.
- A Junior's Cheesecake.
- Maybe a Gap, maybe a Duane Reade,
maybe the things all of the Coney Island neighborhood needs.
- We need live theater in Coney Island.
My dream is to have the Shore Theater be brought back.
- B.B. King's Bottom Line Rock n' Roll Club.
- Where are you gonna have you Bar Mitzvah?
Coney Island.
- [Sitt] Two water park hotels.
- Midway attractions and theaters.
And remember, it's on the beach.
- Quicksilver for the beach.
- We don't want a shopping mall.
And you know what?
And people keep on saying
well Thor Equities wants to build a shopping mall.
They don't wanna a shopping mall.
They wanna bring in creative retailers, okay.
Let me give you an example,
Williams-Sonoma.
- We had lots of exciting folks
that we think would have been great
and we still think would be great.
- There is a way to have both.
Their way is to have nostalgia.
Their way is to have antiquate in rides.
And to have these old rides work in
with the new rides.
I'm not saying to get rid of the old rides.
What I'm saying is we can keep the old rides, okay.
And we could also bring in some new rides.
(up-tempo inventive music)
- Chance is, arguably, the largest manufacturer
of amusement rides if not in the United States,
possibly worldwide.
Our product line spans little park trains
all the way to major roller coasters.
- [Voiceover] Will the real Harold Chance please stand up?
(applause)
- His claim to fame and really what brought
the company along was his ability
to trailer mount amusement rides.
And that's what he's legendary for.
- Well the Zipper, probably, I've always said,
is the best one truck ride built.
I mean you can put it up and down in no time at all.
- [Dick] Two men, two hours.
- [Harold] Two men, two hours.
(chuckles)
- You told all the carnies that when you sold it to them.
- Well they believed me.
(laughter)
(riders screaming)
- It's a fast ride.
You gotta have a strong stomach for it.
- [Voiceover] There it comes, oh yeah.
(laughs)
This is what did it to him.
That machine right there.
- [Eddie] Cars just spin and spin and spin.
- [Voiceover] The boom turns the whole ride,
then the cable turns the cars,
then the third motion is the cars flipping.
So, it's really doing three motions at the same time.
- [Voiceover] It's like being like an astronaut.
Cause they flip you, they turn you.
They give you seven, eight G's.
- And you're coming down on a turn,
just look like you're gonna hit flat on your face.
- [Voiceover] But you're not.
You're just gonna flip and go right back up.
- The Zipper is extremely safe
so long as you follow the instructions on how to ride it.
No loose articles, no pregnant women,
nobody under the influence of alchohol or drugs.
And hold on.
- What are you scared?
- [Voiceover] I am.
- I'm not. (screams)
Woah!
- [Voiceover] Hold on, buddy.
- I wouldn't build anything I wouldn't ride.
I think you should ride everything that you build.
- [Voiceover] Are we going in reverse?
- [Voiceover] Yeah.
- [Voiceover] Ah shit!
(riders screaming)
- I think the screaming has a lot to do
with the repeat the rides on the thing.
(riders screaming)
I've always said a thrill ride is not any good
unless it makes you scream.
(riders screaming)
- Oh my God, get me off, get me off.
- "Get me off, get me off."
Once you stop the ride to get them off,
they don't wanna get off,
they wanna keep on going.
(riders screaming)
- There was no problem to get somebody to operate the ride
because the Zipper would strip
all the money out of your pockets.
- [Voiceover] Hey one of my quarters,
there goes one of my quarters.
- [Harold] One guy would be running the ride,
one guy would be down there
pulling money up off the ground.
- We put the cage on it.
We wanted to use expanded metal
that was big enough so the change could still fall through.
So the carnies could get their shakes.
- It's big enough for a quarter to fall out,
but not a silver dollar.
- They didn't get bill folds or anything like that.
- No, they didn't get bill folds, they just got the change.
- [Voiceover] Everything comes out, ching-ching-ching-ching,
coming out the side of the car, lighters, driver's license,
credit cards, metro cards.
- [Voiceover] Change, keys, wallets, pocket books.
- We're gonna paid like shit.
We had a Maxwell House can in there,
and we're getting rained with money.
- Yeah, it's a tough life.
They earn every penny they get, I'll tell you that.
- You wouldn't believe what would come out of there.
Wow, this is fun, shake me again.
(imitates change rattling)
- Teeth.
- Weapons.
- Woman's disposable stuff.
Not responsible for anything lost.
- The last time I rode one,
I hadn't secured my car keys.
And I was riding with a friend,
my keys began appearing in front of my face.
- Remember the time on the Skydiver
when the dildo fell out
because you had that hole in the car.
- A lot of funny things on that thing.
He had a lot of shakers maybe that--
- Your girlfriend loved you that night?
- That was just her analogy I guess, the shaking--
(hammer banging)
â™« I've been working on the Zipper
â™« All the long, long day
- No hand saw, come on.
Two guys, one on each side.
I've got your back, let's go.
- [Eddie] I added an extra thousand pounds
on this fucker worth of paint.
- Watch the pipe.
We're putting the rots in it.
(laughter)
- Okay, we're walking, we're walking.
- We're talking.
- We're tripping.
- Every couple weeks,
something else is moving out of here, you know.
It's sad.
There's an icon over here.
- Well, the truck should be here sometime this week.
Supposed to be leaving Friday morning,
going to Honduras.
That's where the ride is going.
- [Voiceover] Are you gonna miss it?
- [Eddie] Oh sure, I'll miss it.
Been here for years and years.
- At the beginning of all this,
I was having coffee with a friend of mine
who owned Thor Equities by the name of Joe Sitt.
- Domenic and I were friendly,
and I had conversation with him.
- Yes, we were just what's going on,
were talking about different things.
Then we start talking about Coney Island.
- He says, "If I could only get a developer
"that would be willing to do this."
- Before you know it,
Joe Sitt started buying properties in Coney Island.
And he assembled quite a large parcel in Coney Island.
He's a very involved community activist.
He was always there to help the community.
Thor Equities is a business developer,
they're there not only to develop it,
but to work with the community and hear what we have to say.
- Rich Calder, give us the overview.
What is going on at Coney Island?
- First of all, the mayor did an about-face
from what he initially announced in November.
15 acres of parkland has been shrunk to nine acres.
And he is actually now allowing the land owners
more say in what is actually going
to be built in Coney Island.
- The change that you're talking about today
is in the boundries of the new mapped park.
(shouts of disapproval)
The change results in slightly larger footprints
where enclosed amusements, entertainment uses,
limited freedom, hotels, and--
(loud shouts and boos)
- This deal sucks.
It sucks for you.
(cheers and applause)
It sucks for New York.
- Reducing 60 acres to nine acres is unacceptable.
60 of amusements people, 60 acres of amusements.
- Amusements can't make money today
because they cost so much.
The insurance is very, very expensive.
The upkeep of the rides are very, very,
and it's very hard to make money.
- Amusements could make money.
They actually do make money.
I think we were doing pretty good down there.
Everybody was making money.
Everybody's happy.
Everybody made a living there.
- [Domenic] You can't have more family restaurants
in that area.
There is no place for me to take my kids
and sit down and have dinner in Coney Island.
You can't have an Applebee's.
You can't have a Friday's.
- They can't a-privatize our souls.
And we say no.
- Hell no!
- Carnival stores,
not bigger malls.
- [Voiceover] The city is really trying
to push this through.
To reduce the size of the amusement zone,
and allow 30-story high-rises
in the center of the amusement zone,
backed up by a shopping mall.
We had great hope,
I didn't think the Bloomburg administration
would be the ones to kill Coney Island.
- The city has failed.
It has failed all of us as individuals,
as residents, as land owners.
- I am not against development,
or condos or retail.
I only ask for development
done in the right way, with consensus.
Nothing more, and nothing less
than the city's own plan just a few months ago.
- [Voiceover] The Coney Island thing in New York
is still going pretty much nowhere.
They have started to do open hearings,
and the locals have their opportunity to stand up
and say what they think.
Basically, they think that all the plans suck, so.
(laughs)
If anything ever gets redeveloped there,
I'll be shocked.
- [Voiceover] All I see in this plan,
is the amusement area getting smaller
and smaller and smaller and smaller.
- In one of the plans you saw
that there was less acreage for amusements.
What they're not taking into consideration,
there's gonna be more acres for entertainment.
Because one of my dreams,
Thor Equities is ready to move forward on this,
is to build an indoor water park hotel.
So, when you build that indoor water park hotel
that's gonna take up a large chunk of land.
So if you add up that, that's not included
in the acres that they wanna set aside
for the amusement.
So, you have more amusements.
- Honestly, in the beginning,
it was a compromise, but as we looked at it,
it made a better plan.
- This whole thing is a disaster.
We're all being screwed.
And you know what?
Money talks.
(applause)
- Next person is Kat Bacum.
- Step up to whatever huge big money interests there are
that are telling you to do something
that you know is not right.
And you know, because I know,
that love Coney Island also.
- We just wanna make a deal here
and do what we can to restore and revitalize
the amusements and then create a long term plan
that revitalizes the rest of Coney Island.
We've looked at every possible iteration
that I've been able to imagine so far.
We've talked about swapping Joe Sitt's land
for the parkland and letting the owner be a developer
of the residential on Coney West.
And decided they didn't like that idea.
We've offered to buy parcels of it,
they've said yes and then no.
They said we don't wanna do this.
We don't wanna partner with the city.
We wanna sell you everything.
We said that's fine, we'll buy it all.
We'll pay you more than what you paid for it.
We'll make you a fair deal.
We want to enter in to a negotiation
to pay a fair price to acquire the land.
That's what we wanna do.
(melancholic depressing music)
- [Voiceover] Order.
Roll call.
- [Voiceover] Dickens
- [Voiceover] Here.
- [Voiceover] Mulign.
- [Voiceover] Here.
- [Voicover] Eugene.
- [Voiceover] Here.
- [Voiceover] Fowlder.
- [Voiceover] Present.
- [Voiceover] Periera.
- [Voiceover] Here.
- [Voiceover] Mendez.
- [Voiceover] Here.
- [Voiceover] Mitchell.
- [Voiceover] Here, here.
- [Voiceover] Towson.
- [Voiceover] Here.
- [Voiceover] Hahn.
- [Voiceover] Here.
- [Voiceover] Recchia.
- Here.
- [Voiceover] Quiet please.
- This being the only stated meeting in July,
we have a large agenda today.
Let me start first with a few comments
about the Coney Island rezoning plan.
I think anyone would be hard pressed
not to admit that Coney Island has lost
a little bit of her luster.
And what we're doing today is hopefully
preserving what was great about Coney Island,
but also enabling it to move forward and expand
and again become a true recreation destination.
We've preserved amusements.
We've brought parkland.
We've also created important jobs
which will offer opportunity to area residents
at a time when it is critically, critically needed.
- For too long New York's most historic
and exciting neighborhood has been a shadow
of the glory and glamour it once held.
Today is truly a historic day.
By working together with Mayor Bloomburg,
his administration, and the community,
we are able to develop a rezoning plan
that will usher in a new era for this iconic neighborhood.
To all of the amusement operators
who when we first started this was extrememly skeptical.
We appreciate all that you have done for us
and your input will continue.
And we will work together to see that we get the right rides
and the amusement industry will stay there forever.
- I do want to compliment Council Member Recchia
because I think he's gotten a lot of amenities
for his district and his community.
I know he fought very hard to amend the plan.
Problem is, it was the city's plan.
It was never really a cooperative relationship.
The overwhelming concern I had
from residents of Coney Island
was expand the amusement area.
Reducing the amusement area,
is unfortunately going to kill
what is historically Coney Island.
I have to vote no.
We could do better. (cheers and applause)
- [Voiceover] Quiet please.
- This is a plan to make Coney Island more feasible
for the business community.
More attractive to the business community,
and not for the local grassroots,
indigenous people there
that are struggling each and everyday.
- Where are all these poor people gonna go?
Let's put things together.
Come on, let's be honest.
Is the American people stupid?
Are you stupid?
You have to understand,
people wanna put projects up there.
They wanna put condominiums up there.
- Concrete jungle.
- They could care less about
the amusement business, about Zippers.
So, let's put buildings up.
Let's make this a zoning for buildings.
Fuck the people that have amusement.
Fuck the people that have no money to come to the beach.
We wanna put buildings up to make billions of dollars.
That's all this is about.
About putting buildings up and making money.
- I'm encouraging my colleagues to do
what I know you're not gonna do.
Vote no.
- LU1136 through LU1142,
Coney Island Redevelopment.
- [Voiceover] Brewer?
- I vote aye.
- [Voiceover] Council Member Dickens?
- I vote aye.
- [Voiceover] Ulrich?
- [Voiceover] Aye on all.
- [Voiceover] Gerson?
- [Voiceover] Aye on all.
- [Voiceover] I'd like to congratulate
Council Member Domenic Recchia.
- [Voiceover] Aye.
- [Voicover] Aye on all.
- I vote aye on all.
- [Voiceover] Aye.
- [Voiceover] I vote aye on all.
- [Voiceover] I'd like to vote aye on all.
- [Voiceover] Aye on all.
- [Voiceover] Domenic, you have brough it home.
I vote aye.
- Down, down, down, down.
- May she rest in peace.
- Take six.
The Zipper is down.
- This is a day some people
probably thought never would arrive.
But lo and behold, here it is.
One of America's most famous destinations,
the one and only Coney Island is what we're talking about.
Reviving the magic and excitement of Coney Island
for the 21st century has been one of our administration's
top economic development priorities for a long time.
If people really keep trying,
both sides of any negotiation can get a good chunk
of what they want and not get hurt too much
in what they can't get it.
That's what democracy is all about.
That's what a good negotiation is about.
Before we could move forward
there was still one big piece missing.
And the big piece is ownership of the land.
And today I'm thrilled to announce
that achieved a major breakthrough.
The city has signed a contract with Thor Equities
to purchase 6.9 acres of land in Coney Island,
most of it along the waterfront.
This is the last major piece of the puzzle,
and it really marks the beginning
of a new era in Coney Island's history.
- [Eddie] I hate to see that ride
just to be pulled away.
It was heartbreaking to everybody.
- I've been kind of heartbroken all summer long
because this is the last summer.
- That day, you know, I shed a tear.
It's a machine.
I shed a tear when she drove away.
- When the ride was leaving,
and the guy is driving the ride up.
Jay runs out of the gate and he just starts chasing,
"Come back, come back!"
He's chasing the zipper down the parking--
"Come back, don't leave."
(laughs)
- I felt bad.
- [Bloomburg] It's my pleasure to introduce the person
who helped make it happen, Joe Sitt.
- Thank you, Mr. Mayor.
Thank you, Mr. Mayor.
This was one tough negotiation.
Bob Lieber says I was tough.
I'll tell you, Mayor Bloomburg, your team here,
by hiring investment bankers, they're tough.
Deputy Mayor Lieber should have been called Luca Brasi.
(laughter)
For what a henchman he was for the mayor.
- The city is purchasing three parcels
at a cost of $95.6 million.
A critically important investment in Coney Island's future.
And to encourage Thor Equities to start developing
the hotels and stores it plans to build
in its remaining land along Surf Avenue.
Our administration is investing more
than $150 million to improve Coney Island's infrastructure
with millions more coming in federal and state aid.
This is a strategy that we've used all across the city.
Rezone, reinvest, and reap the long term rewards
of private investment.
- Coney Island ruined.
Probably use that.
(laughs)
Of all the jobs I had,
this was my best job.
On a scale of one to 10,
it was definitely over a 10.
("Neopolitan Dreams" by Lisa Mitchell)
- It's being at the amusement park,
being by the beach, being by the water,
being with so many people, so many laughs.
It's just a big adventure down there.
You never know what you're gonna see
from one day to the next.
- The life,
it's all fun.
The smell of the food, the corn on the cob,
the knishes, the hot dogs, the cotton candy,
and popcorn going.
It always has an aroma in the summer
that you don't have anywhere else.
That's for sure, that's for sure.
- It's hard to get your sand out of your shoes.
Once you're in there, it's a sickness, it's a drug.
It's a spectacular place.
- You know, you miss the place.
And you miss the work.
And you miss the friends and the laughs.
You miss the people.
Yelling and screaming, the loud music,
the loud noises.
Coney Island's the best place,
so many things going on at the same time.
- [Voiceover] Whatever will be will be.
The little people, can't stop it.
- They took the life and the heart out of Coney Island.
By them doing what they did.
It's not gonna be the same.
No matter what you put there,
it's not gonna be the same.
(carnival noises)
("(Don't Fear) The Reaper" by Blue Oyster Cult in Spanish)