After the city?and planning director Amanda Burden specifically?took some wind out of Thor Equities' sails by saying high-priced condos may not be such a good thing for a redeveloped Coney Island, Thor chief Joseph Sitt tried various approaches. First, he threatened to pull the whole $2 billion plan off the shelf. That made us seriously consider seppuku, so he scaled back the threats and instead tried to show the community how awesome Thor's plan is, while kinda-sorta hiding the housing thing. Now Sitt is on to Phase 3, granting a one-on-one interview with the Observer so he can attack the "bureaucracy" and criticize those who cannot comprehend his vision:
“It is not the uniform office tower or residential tower that a lot of these folks at the junior-most levels of government are used to dealing with,” Mr. Sitt said. “This is Coney Island. This is zany. This is different. When somebody says to me, ‘You want to be careful what you want to do with Coney Island; make sure you don’t do anything too freaky here,’ I say, ‘Are you aware of the fact that this was the place where there were people like the Fat Lady and the Skinny Man and the Bearded Lady? What do you mean, you don’t want any restaurants in Coney Island?’”Did you ever think Shoot the Freak would be equated with luxury high-rises? Of course you did.
· Sitt Buckles Into Coney Rollercoaster [NYO]
· Destructoporn: Thor's Hammer Starts Banging Coney Island [Curbed]