The following are Dick Zigun's notes from his July 20th State of Coney Island Address.

·             Original CIDC Strategic Plan first of all, did no harm, and second of all did good via increasing current outdoor rides by an acre, trading “air rights” in Coney North and West in exchange for ground floor revitalization, commitment of south of Surf between Cyclone and Keyspan as a revitalized year round tourist attraction.  Plan had NO amusement industry experts whatsoever but had balance and merit even though a bitter pill to swallow for amusement park advocates.

·             First draft EIS shocked us when it backed off ground floor entertainment retail in Coney’s North and West resulting in a condo land-grab taking 2/3rds of the 61 acres not to mention apartheid retail that will harm Mermaid Avenue merchants.

·             Second draft EIS reduced open amusements parkland from 15 acres to 9 acres a 40% reduction and a shrinkage of current acreage which violated the “first, do no harm, rather do good” credo. Also with entertainment retail deleted from north and west there became a panic need to cram everything into Coney East and hardly any room is left for outdoor rides or legitimate, spectacular indoor amusements.

·             There is still no developer nor major tenant involved in this project who understands how the amusement industry works.  Therefore Joe and Dominic believe the misinformation or outright lie that rides do not make money… that state of the art “year round amusements” are hardly tourist attractions, rather bland cinemas and bowling alleys and Dave and Busters and entertainment retail.  Yes, they “own the land” but the amusement industry “owns the zoning”.

·             So I decided I owe you one and want to try and AGREE with your EDC/CIDC goals of indoor, year round amusements but I wanted to get away from the misinformation/lie that dismissed the amusement industry based on current Coney Island. It is so DISRESPECTFUL of 100 years of New York City history.  I wanted to get away from Astroland and Ruby’s etc. and go to Orlando a place where EVERYONE knows that rides make big money and where amusements operate indoors year round.  I worry that the current plan is no more then a 2/3rds landgrab for condos which might no longer be viable in this recession/mortgage crisis and that Coney East will end up a nice mall for South Brooklyn fronted by a small Nelly Bly sized amusement park.

·             Orlando as we ALL KNOW draws tourists from around the world as an amusement destination.  Paris has a success in EuroDisney and major new parks are currently being built in Dubai and China, etc.  Mayor Bloomberg himself has praised tourism as a very important industry to NYC in the 21st century and Coney Island is a name brand that if revitalized can be a major jewel for Brooklyn and the big apple.  I will be patient and supportive of redevelopment of Coney if we are truly working on a world class 21st century tourist attraction but will never put my name on any plan that harms the amusement park in favor of condos and malls.  I do not agree with fear-mongering that claims to know who the next mayor and boro president and councilman will be and how they will vote so I do not agree that at all costs we must let the city do over-compromised planning just so we can buy the 9 acres.  I want the right kind of development or doing no rezoning is better then doing very bad rezoning.

·             The appeal of Coney East must be a PEDESTRIAN fantasy land whether you call it the Magic Kingdom, whatever.  It must have a half dozen MAJOR attractions that pull in the tourists and that is not cinemas and bowling and Dave and Busters.  The high rise hotels and time shares (which I support) want to look down on BOTH the ocean/beach as well as the FANTASY architecture.  If the hotel rooms look out on mallish buildings and other hotels and condos you are not building a tourist destination.

·             How Orlando works: First of all off-site parking which means the fantasy is a pedestrian experience and tourists are committing a full-day or weekend to the experience.  There is a fun, innovative people mover.  The hotels and resorts are on the periphery and the fantasylands are at the core.  Within the core each major attraction has an attached giftshop and there are many opportunities for dining, adjacent rides, major theme restaurants and games.  Between the resorts and the fantasy are areas with entertainment retail as well as the current trend in the amusement industry: adult :themed areas whose primetime hours are 10 pm to 2 am.  DOWNTOWN DISNEY and Universal’s CITY WALK.

·             INDOOR AMUSEMENTS are the MAJOR attraction of Orlando.  The Haunted Mansion or Twilight Zone Hotel or new Simpson’s ride (opened 3 wks ago) or Spiderman or Men in Black or the Mummy are ALL INDOORS and all could operate year round in Coney Island even in February with snow on the ground given covered walkways.  Each park in Orlando has a Broadway scale live show be it Cirque de Soleil or Blue Man Group; also indoors.  These tend to be STAND ALONE structures with fantasy architecture and building heights and needs peculiar to the ride itself.  They cannot and do not fit within the cookie cutter mold or a standard shopping mall box development.  Major moneymaking auxiliary rides and food and souvenir stands cluster in themes such as NYC streetscape or San Francisco wharfs or Hollywood Blvd. and are DESTINATION AREAS that have the tourists walking back and forth through the entire fantasy park.  The major attractions often have wait lines of an hour or more and the clusters and bldgs. are designed for such lines.  To take in a half dozen of these clusters results in a full day of activity.