More Details on Sunday's Astroland Protest

Here's the press release about the Astroland demonstration scheduled for Sunday at Noon on what could be the Coney amusement park's last day ever:

Community activist and former Community Board 13 Chairman Brian Gotlieb announced that he would be leading a protest in support of Astroland Amusement Park’s efforts to remain open for the 2008 season. The protest is scheduled to held on Sunday, September 9, 2007 at 12:00 pm at the Surf Avenue entrance to Astroland.

First opened in 1962, Astroland Amusement Park is scheduled to shut its doors forever on September 9, 2007, for a lack of a new lease. Negotiations on a lease for the 2008 season have broken down and there is no resolution in sight. The breakdown apparently centers around the issues of Thor Equities' desire to secure zoning changes and increase Astroland's annual rent from $170,000 to $3 million.

In response to this situation, Gotlieb created an online and paper petition drive asking Mayor Bloomberg, Borough President Markowitz, each of Coney Island's elected officials, the New York City Economic Development Corporation, the Coney Island Development Corporation, and, Mr. Joseph Sitt, owner of Thor Equities, to join together and negotiate a fair and equitable lease with Astroland's owners that would permit Astroland to remain open beyond the 2007 summer season. To date, more than 5,000 people have signed the petition that can be found at: SAVEASTROLAND.COM or SAVEASTROLAND.ORG.

Astroland, which sits on property that was sold to Thor Equities in November of 2006, is to be replaced as part of a proposed $2 billion Coney Island make-over designed to transform Coney Island into a year-round tourist attraction with hotels and indoor attractions. Despite the sale, there has been hope that arrangements could be made to allow Astroland to stay open for the 2008 season and beyond while plans for the site were still being developed and approved.

According to Gotlieb, "Thus far, it seems as though Mr. Sitt is more anxious to pave paradise and put up a parking lot while the future of the site and community hangs in the balance."

Should be an interesting day.