Today we went to Coney Island to see the Sand Sculpture contest. There wasn't really much. Maybe there were 10-15 sculptures in the sand. There were other mounds, unused, that no one claimed.
If you bought a place in the contest you got a tee shirt that said, Coney Island, Summer of Hope. Well, I wonder just what that is about. I know developers are coming in but I hope they won't turn Coney Island into a boring, homogenized bunch of condos and a strip mall. It's run down, it's somewhat tacky, but that is part of it's charm. I'd like to see it stay the same but that's probably a hope that won't be realized.
Bruce says the problem is, for many years people stayed away and didn't give Coney Island the attention it needed. It had become a bit of a no-man's land, and that's probably what attracted the eyes of the developers. Oh yes, they want it to be entertaining, but they'd probably clean it up, do away with the weirdness and freakiness.
I like the weirdness. I want the Mermaid Parade to go on, and Circus Amok to come visit and put on their zany political performances for years and years to come. So that's my hope this summer.
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