One more Summer

WNYC excerpt -

The group of boardwalk businesses known as The Coney Island Eight that have been fighting the eviction notices they received last fall in court and may live to see another sun-soaked season.

Those close to the negotiation say the business group is in talks with their landlord, Central Amusement International, to stay open through November 2012. The deal would allow cherished holdouts such as Ruby's Bar and Grill to have one more summer.

The landlord said it decided not to renew the proprietors' leases so it could update the historic boardwalk and make it a year-round destination.

http://www.wnyc.org/blogs/wnyc-news-blog/2011/feb/16/coney-island-boardwalk-businesses-may-get-extend-leases-one-more-year/

Ringling Bros pulls out of Coney

Daily News excerpt -

The circus is pulling up its Brooklyn stakes.

Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus said it won't be in Coney Island this summer.

The circus drew more than 250,000 people to a once-vacant seaside lot in the past two years and was widely expected to return this summer.

It decided not to because of scheduling conflicts and the high price of running a show all summer, city officials said.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2011/02/26/2011-02-26_awww__no_circus_this_yr.html#ixzz1FAef9rc7

Walmart surprise meeting

Daily News excerpt -

"A few senior executives from the company met with Speaker Quinn," Walmart spokesman Steven Restivo told the Daily News. "Today's meeting was a good opportunity to answer questions and share information about the changes we have made as a company."

Quinn spokesman Jamie McShane said only, "There were productive conversations."

Quinn opposes the arrival of Walmart, arguing it underpays workers while killing jobs at surrounding neighborhood stores.

While Walmart has courted politicians as it eyes a site at the Gateway II shopping center in East New York, Brooklyn, it does not require Council approval.

http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2011/02/09/2011-02-09_walmart_in_surprise_chat_with_city_council_speaker_christine_quinn.html

CB13 in the Village Voice

Excerpt -

For its part, "CAI has hired over 100 people from the community, and they are hiring more. Everyone is looking forward to it," said Community Board 13 District Manager Charles Reichenthal. Coney Island has an unemployment rate more than twice as high as the rest of New York City, according to the city's Economic Development Corporation, which is working with CAI to bring in the new development.

Libby Langsdorf from the EDC told nyunews.com that those developments would upon completion "create more than 5000 new units of housing, more than 500,000 square feet of new retail and neighborhood services, [and] 25,000 construction and 6,000 permanent jobs." Zamperla can back up the talk too, announcing last week that two new roller coasters -- Soaring Eagle and Steeplechase Coaster -- in an amusement park called "Scream Zone" will open in April 2011 to the tune of $12 million.

Local politicians, the EDC, and the community board have all sided with CAI and Sodexo in their quest for boardwalk dominance, yet the Coney Island 8 decry the amusement-concessions union as another step towards gentrification and one more away from affordable entertainment.

http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2011/02/snow_drifts_on.php