Amusement district in danger
Coney amusement park owners say state ignored reopening proposal
BY ROSE ADAMS
The owners of Coney Island’s
amusement park say
they are “extremely in danger”
after COVID-19 restrictions
prevented them from opening
all summer, and are calling on
the government to grant them
emergency relief.
Any sort of assistance —
such as a lease extension, rent
forgiveness, loan, or tax abatement
— would signifi cantly
lighten the business’ fi nancial
burden, owners said, adding
that the state hasn’t responded
to their proposals since June.
“The fact that to this date
— we are now in the middle of
September — we have never received
not one piece of communication,
one precise feedback
about why we are not open, that
is really crushing,” said Alessando
Zamperla, the owner of
Luna Park, at a Sept. 15 press
conference. “The fi nancial situation
of our company is extremely
in danger.”
The pleas come months after
Zamperla and Dennis Vourderis,
COURIER L 12 IFE, SEPT. 18-24, 2020
the owner of Deno’s Wonder
Wheel Park, submitted a
plan to the state for the reopening
of the Wonder Wheel and
the Cyclone that included comprehensive
cleaning and social
distancing guidelines as well
as evidence from other states
that amusement parks haven’t
caused any super-spreader
events. But despite the proposal
and hundreds of thousands
of dollars of investment,
the owners still have not heard
a response, they said.
“We not only submitted the
plans in June, but we supplemented
those plans with science,
with hard data, from 45
states,” said Zamperla. “We invested
hundreds of thousands
of dollars to already implement
these safety measures to open
safely.”
Deno’s Wonder Wheel, which
celebrated its 100th anniversary
this summer, is particularly
well-suited for social distancing,
said Vourderis, whose family
has owned Deno’s Wonder
Wheel Park since 1983. “The
way it was designed and built
102 years ago during the last
pandemic, it was designed to be
socially distant,” he said.
Vourderis said that, while
loans have helped tide them
over, they’re not enough to sustain
the business.
“That carried us through
the season, but that well is running
dry now and we’re going
to need some additional help if
we are to continue,” he said, explaining
that the park had begun
an expansion in January
that it had planned to fi nance
with 2020 revenue.
Councilman Mark Treyger
(D-Coney Island) added that he
has urged the mayor to grant
the businesses a lease extension
and rent relief.
“The mayor has control of
contacts, the mayor technically
is the landlord,” he said.
“I’ve been in touch with his
administration, I’ve been in
touch with EDC more than
once. This is not new to them,
but I think this has reached a
boiling point.”
A rep for Gov. Andrew
Cuomo implied that the state’s
$62 billion defi cit caused by the
pandemic means that all fi nancial
assistance would have to
come from the federal government,
and said that there are no
plans to open any time soon.
“We appreciate that these
business owners want to plan in
advance to operate safely and will
work with them as that process
continues, but with the threat of
a second wave on the horizon, we
are continuing to monitor how
and when higher-risk industries
like amusement parks can safely
reopen,” said Jack Sterne. “In
the absence of federal funding to
offset our losses, anywhere the
state doesn’t reduce spending
will mean deep reductions in another
and we’re thankful these
owners and offi cials are joining
us in the call for that support.”
An EDC rep did not respond
to a request for comment by
press time.
Coney Island’s Wonder Wheel. Photo by Todd Maisel
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