If you’ve been to Coney Island, or if you’ve read GL since January, you probably know about the huge fences thrown up by Thor Equities around its property in Coney Island. The one around the land where the go-kart tracks, batting cage and bumper boat ride were demolished, which is the equivalent of an entire city block–is a particularly ugly one. Although it’s been painted blue and there appears to be an effort to paint over graffiti when it appears, we’ve wondered why no effort has been made to upgrade it. We were particularly curious after we saw some of the colorful banners that Thor has put up inside the fence. We got an email yesterday saying that “the City would not allow Thor to hang the colorful banners they had made to cover the construction fencing and add a little color to Coney.”

Now, we realize that Thor’s “colorful banners” are, in effect, advertising for its redevelopment scheme and that this could be the core of the objection to it or that there is something in the building code that prevents it. Yet, it would also seem that the city should have worked to liven the space for the summer. There were early discussions of allowing street vendors on Stillwell Avenue. At one point, we saw vendors draping the fence with merchandise they were selling. (We assume the police put an end to the practice, as we only saw it once or twice.) All we’re saying is that the summer season is already more than half-over and the simplest steps haven’t been taken to liven the corridors that have been made dead as public street scapes by Thor’s demolition work.