Question Du Jour: Does Thor Suck as Much as Forest City Ratner?

Despite our carping about Thor Equities plans for Coney Island and our suggestion that Coney Island is the New Atlantic Yards and that developer Joe Sitt is the New Bruce Ratner, we'd been waiting to see where the Coney plans were going before reaching any definitive conclusions. After yesterday's news that the Revere Sugar Refinery is going to be flattened by Mr. Sitt's wrecking ball, however, we are asking ourselves:

Do Thor Equities and Mr. Sitt suck as much as, if not more than, Mr. Ratner and Forest City Ratner?

We know that this is not a very nice question to pose, nor a kind statement to make nor a terribly intellectual way of voicing an objection, yet they do seem appropriate in light of demolishing a Brooklyn landmark without any community discussion and without entertaining any options that might have saved part of the structure.

We anticipate that the developer, whose motto seems to be something along the lines of "Don't worry, I'm from Brooklyn," will say that the economics of the situation forced demolition of the Revere factory and that there was no choice.

We understand that no one favors preserving a rotting industrial hulk in a state of rot. However, there could be thoughtful and economically viable ways to incorporate parts of that structure into a new project and to save something that symbolizes Red Hook.

In Coney Island, Mr. Sitt appears ready to demolish and vacate entire city blocks long before he ever gains permission to build a single thing. He seems to be doing the same thing in Red Hook, where he is leveling the Revere plant long before any plans are in place and before any zoning decisions have been made.

In this, Mr. Sitt has much in common with Mr. Ratner and others working on major projects in Brooklyn today: Tear it down before anyone can raise an objection.

On the bright side, at least it didn't burn down.