Neil DeMause of the Village Voice offers an insightful look at the final days of Astroland and some thoughts about the future: “What comes next, no one knows. Thor has promised to bring in more amusements next summer, but its track record after a similar promise this year was less than stellar: a few battered county fair rides, which closed up shop for lack of interest by August. Conspiracy theorists — and in Coney, there’s no other kind — fear that Thor’s master plan is to bring in an amusement operator that’s set up to fail, and then appear to the city for a hardship variance from the zoning rules, on the grounds this proves that Coney is only fit for condos.”–Runnin’ Scared