Robert
Moses, New York City's famous planner, hated Coney Island.
He hated its "mechanical gadgetry" and certain unwholesome
promises and the fact that the masses, whoever they were and wherever
they came from, could easily get to Coney Island -- the terminus
of four subway lines, as a matter of fact. If you had ten cents
for a round-trip and some free time, you could go to Coney Island.
Moses,
in his elitist way, just hated rabble. When he designed Jones
Beach, he didn't give it public transportation access -- in fact,
his parkways were crossed with overpasses so low that city buses
couldn't clear them. You had to have a car to easily get to his
new "wholesome" pleasure center. A very subtle method
of weeding out the undesirable classes, yes, and that's Moses'
legacy.
The
man also rezoned much of Coney Island, and developers responded,
putting up soulless Corbusieresque highrises and effectively killing
off the soul of the place. Parking was (and is) an issue, meaning
those with cars much preferred to motor on over to Jones Beach
instead. The last of the three great Coney Island parks, Steeplechase,
closed in 1964. Astroland, which opened in 1962, remained, as
did Deno's Wonder Wheel Park, but the area was nothing like it
had been 50, 30, even 20 years before.
The
Parachute Jump had to be declared a City Landmark in order to
spare it from the wrecking ball. Otherwise it, too, would have
been eradicated in the name of "removing eyesores."
