Mail From Mr. Sitt: Deliberately "Grassroots" Look?

January 29th, 2007 · No Comments

How do you hide the fact that you’re connected to the well-heeled developer proposing at $1.5 billiion project? You produce a flyer from an independent group that looks like it came off an underground printing press. On Friday, we noted that the a group calling itself The Future of Coney Island that is connected to Coney Island developer Joe Sitt’s PR firm, the Marino Organization, was sending out flyers touting the redevelopment of Coney Island to Brooklyn residents. (The URL thefutureofconeyisland.com, which is a “parked” web page, is registered to the Marino Organization.) Over the weekend, someone posted a scan of the flyer on the Coney Island Message Board. The results are below. All we will say is that given what the players here are capable of producing, one can only assume the faux grassroots community group look is deliberate. The mailer looks like it’s coming from local residents doing DIY organizing–against Mr. Sitt’s project, for that matter–rather than from an organization sponsored by or with very close ties to Thor Equities.