We found this posted by Astrolander at the Coney Island Message Board. It touches on the subject of what we’ll lose with a Coney Island re-do that treats Coney as a brand name and nothing more:

The likes of Coney Island as we know and love, we will never see again, either with condos/corporate retail or just a new “Coney Island Park”.

What makes it so special, today, in 2007, is its low-tech, classic, mom & pop owned, non-branded/non-corporate/non-commercialized, very timeless essence that is still anchored to its glorious and outrageous past. You don’t have to look hard to see the old ghosts that frolicked there once. Coney is run, patronized and admired by people who really care about Coney, and obviously not the money or exploiting it for profit.

It is easy to criticize Coney today by some – it’s “dirtiness, open space of vacant lots, lack of ATM’s, no extreme spectacular death defying virtual reality sound barrier breaking worlds tallest/fastest rides called something like the “Beast” or “Nitro” in 3-D, and lack of mass crowds. The more difficult position to take on Coney is to see it and celebrate it as a one-of-a-kind precious jewel, the poetic art that it is, just as it is.

…To me, development should add to the critical mass of Coney that is there, not destroy it. Development could slowly add some spectacular new amusements that are a revision of some of the great lost rides of yore. Development could be designing new rides that incorporate grace, style, and kitsch rather than a ubiquitous indoor water park.

The corporate retail real estate developers are not motivated or driven by the same purpose as those who run Coney now. They are only guided by profits. In this day and age, they will resort to any tactics in order to maximize profits. This includes, playing both sides of the fence (condos/mall AND amusements) and holding the prize hostage (only amusements IF we can build condos/mall). Can you name any other amusement areas that could only be built from the proceeds of selling condos/renting corporate retail on the same property? There are many available plots for this outside of the Amusement land.

If they were interested in only creating a new amusement legacy at Coney, they would certainly figure out another means to fund this effort other than holding the prospect of continued amusement hostage…

We couldn’t have said it any better ourselves.