[city of heroes] MY NUMBER CRUNCHING TECHNIQUE IS UNSTOPPABLE

Issue 8 is out! Issue 8 is out! Hooray hooray, say City of Heroes/Villains players! Lots of new stuff was added to the game, including Veteran Rewards. For every 3 months you've had an active subscription to the game since its launch, you unlock a SPECIAL PRIZE FROM THE TREASURE CHEST! Oh my gooses! You get to DRINK FROM THE FIRE HOSE!!

Most of the rewards are extra costume pieces for all your characters (trenchcoats, wings, that kinda stuff) or something special, such as a unique weapon, or, if you've been a member for all thirty months total, a free little mini pet that'll follow you around, like the World of Warcraft collector's edition pets. It's not cumulative, so if you unsubscribe like I did and come back, you still get credit for all the months you've ever played.

Me, I got up to the level where you earn a set of samurai armor pieces. Putting two and seven together, I reached into my bag of tricks and pulled out

( a very special new friend to our neighborhood )

NO. NO NO NO NO NO. NO.

Thor Equities has recently made its presence known at Coney Island. They've been buying up parcels of land around Stillwell Ave (most recently a large block at Stillwell and West 12th) for development.

Thor has repeatedly said they want to "turn Coney Island back into an entertainment capitol" and they've sent around some very slick-looking press releases with imaginative and colorful concept art, but that's all they have -- concept art. And a price tag for their project that gets bigger and bigger every time they blow some more smoke.

Meanwhile, they're trying to buy up as much property as they can and get the city to rezone it for residential use. What good's an entertainment area if it's not zoned for high-rise condos, right?

No, I don't believe a word Thor Equities has said. I have no faith in their claims. I don't believe they wish to keep the amusements in Coney Island. Not when they claim their development will contain "the first roller coaster built in Coney Island since the Cyclone." (Hello, Jumbo Jet?) Not when their concept art is just that -- conceptual. And not when they're actively pursuing a giant mall/condo complex. Revitalizing a depressed area is one thing (and let's face it, Coney Island deserves all the revitalization it can get, especially year-round stuff) but not when it's one developer calling all the shots and buying up all the land.

Yes, all the land. Today I learned of a big purchase they just made. Thor Equities is finishing the job that Robert Moses started over 40 years ago and Fred Trump, Donald's father, tried to finish as well.

They're finally killing Coney Island.

( Thor Equities buys Astroland, will close at end of 2007 - Cyclone spared )

No word yet on Deno's Wonder Wheel Park, but with its boardwalk location between Astroland and the other pieces of land Thor has bought, it's pretty clear they'll stand in the way of this development. They could go at any time. We don't know.

Why couldn't Thor's development have included Astroland and Deno's? You know, for the "amusements"? Why not use the deserted land between Deno's and Keyspan Park (a lot of which Thor has bought up already) and leave the amusements where they are? Isn't that the point of having amusements?

Oh, because Astroland stands in the way of Thor's idea of having a resort/condo complex connected with the New York Aquarium. Well, so does the Cyclone, in that case. And when one domino falls and nobody says boo...

I'm sorry. I can't think of this development in any positive terms whatsoever. Coney Island will become like Myrtle Beach; full of beachfront high-rise condos and indoor shopping malls with maybe like a portable coaster thrown in to "re-create the feeling" of how fun things used to be, without being fun themselves.

Whatever.

I'm just glad poor Steve Urbanowicz, one of the true hearts of Coney Island, isn't around to see this.