[NYguy]

Originally Posted by NYguy

http://www.nypost.com/seven/02082008...lan_236590.htm

CITY TO DO THE LIGHT THING FOR CONEY LANDMARK

By RICH CALDER
February 8, 2008

Coney's Island's iconic Parachute Jump is getting a new lease on light.

Less than dazzled by a lighting system installed on the 262-foot boardwalk landmark two years ago, the city yesterday began soliciting proposals from companies interested in creating a brighter, more dramatic illumination of Brooklyn's version of the Eiffel Tower.

The project is being pushed by Borough President Marty Markowitz, who says the old lighting system needs some "blinging up" and hopes to revive the classic thrill ride.

"Hey, if the Giants can beat the Patriots, there's no reason we can't ride the Parachute Jump in this new century," he said.

Markowitz, according to sources, considered the system installed in 2006 by renowned lighting artist Leni Schwendinger too "artsy," failing to capture Coney Island's flash.

The new $1.5 million project also includes refurbishing the bottom panel of the Parachute Jump, which was moved to Coney Island shortly after the 1939 World's Fair in Queens.

The ride ceased operations in 1968. It was declared a city landmark in 1989 and is part of a revamped Steeplechase Plaza that the city is hoping to create.

Charles Denson, a Coney Island historian, called the lighting project "symbolic to Coney Island's survival."

Not the only Coney news of the day...

http://www.nypost.com/seven/02082008...rium_64396.htm

MARTY MAKES WAVES OVER NY AQUARIUM

By RICH CALDER
February 8, 2008

Charging that the New York Aquarium doesn't live up to its potential because it's saddled with a "guppy" budget, Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz yesterday called on the city to seize control of the Coney Island site, which has been long run by a nonprofit.

"It always pains me to think that more New Yorkers go to Mystic, Conn., than to our own aquarium in Brooklyn," he said during his annual State of the Borough Address at the Cruise Ship Terminal in Red Hook.

Markowitz added that the city needs to rethink a 1902 deal that put the aquarium under the control of the Wildlife Conservation Society, which also runs the Bronx Zoo.

He said he'd ask Mayor Bloomberg to work with his office on creating an independent Brooklyn-based board of directors to oversee the aquarium.

"Because [the society's] expertise is in the zoo area, the aquarium remains a perennial afterthought in terms of funding upkeep and program- ming," Markowitz said.

"[The aquarium] needs a whale-size investment - not a budget the size of a guppy."

The aquarium has an annual budget of $14.3 million. Its buildings and land are city owned - but its fish and other animals belong to the society.

"We have a written agreement with the city and have no expectations that either side would part ways," a society spokesperson said last night.