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    • Joe Sitt’s Summer Plans For Stillwell Avenue In Coney Island


    by on Apr 6th, 2012

    Source: w00kie via Flickr

    While we didn’t plan on doing another Coney Island story today, with summer on its way and Coney Island still in a transitional period, there’s simply an above average amount of chatter out there. With so many changes on the horizon, we want to give Bensonhurst Bean’s readers a heads up on what to expect at the beach this summer.

    Coney Island developer Joe Sitt – who has become very unpopular with preservationists in recent years – says the suburban mall-like building erected by his firm Thor Equities on the Stillwell Avenue site of an historic structure he had demolished is only temporary, and is just one of many changes (shudder) in store for the People’s Playground.

    According to a report by NY1, the vacant lots leading up to the beach on either side of Stillwell Avenue will no longer be hosting flea markets, and will instead be home to amusement rides, food vendors, and games.

    From NY1:

    “We’ve got a great operator who’s coming now on this section so that both sides of Stillwell Avenue from Bowery to the ocean will be fully fueled with entertainment, rides and food and fun,” Sitt said.

    That operator is BK Festival, the same group that brought the flea markets here last year and over to Aqueduct before that. Rides are now being set up and are expected to be up and running this Sunday.

    “I think there’ll be enough new activities, new excitement, new rides, new entertainment, that I think everybody’s going to be very excited,” said Sitt.

    One bone Sitt is apparently throwing the “old Brooklyn” crowd’s way is the arrival of Grimaldi’s Pizza – considered by many a pizza lover to be a Brooklyn institution – which will maintain an eatery on the north side of Surf Avenue, across from the amusement area.

    “We were actually the ones to bring Grimaldi’s here for the first time. We really see ourselves as the ambassadors for Coney Island,” said Sitt.

    Also on the way according to the “Sitt-uation”? A movie theater with stadium seating, restaurants and hotels.

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    • Alan from Gravesend

      Will this move by Joe Sitt signal a pizza war for south Brooklyn? Will Spumoni Gardens, Totonnos, Knapp Street, DiFaros, V&S just sit by as Grimaldi’s makes its move? In homage to the 40th anniversary of The Godfather I present the following scene:

      Michael Grimaldi: My credit good enough to buy you out?
      Moe Greene: Buy me out?
      Michael: The oven, the sauce. The Grimaldi Family wants to buy you out.
      Moe Greene: The Grimaldi Family wants to buy me out? No, I buy you out, you don’t buy me out.
      Michael: Your pizza loses money, maybe we can do better.
      Moe Greene: You think I’m skimmin off the toppings, Mike?
      Michael: [Michael shakes his head] You’re unlucky.
      Moe Greene: You goddamn &^)(&& you really make me laugh. I do you a favor and take Freddie in when you’re having a bad time, and now you’re gonna try and push me out!
      Michael: You took Freddie in because the Spumoni Family bankrolled your cheese, and the Totonno Family on the Coast guaranteed the crust. Now we’re talking business, let’s talk business.
      Moe Greene: Yeah, let’s talk business, Mike. First of all, you’re all done. The Grimaldi family don’t even have that kind of pizza dough anymore. The Piemaker is sick, right? You’re getting chased out of New York by Dominos and the other Families. What do you think is going on here? You think you can come to my neighborhood and take over? I talked to Spumoni – I can make a deal with him, and still keep my pizza!”

      • http://bensonhurstbean.com Joe Teutonico

        LMAO!

      • Local Broker

        Thats hilarious!

    • Paul A. Toomey

      Who the HELL does Joe S-itt think he is kidding? He has more faces than Medusa had snakes for hair. I can’t wait to see the crap that he and BK festival are going to try to foist over the people. Maybe “Coney Island Joe S-itt” will to blow up all the inflatable rides that he tried to put in Coney the last time. This greedy, money grabber wouldn’t know the truth if it bit him on the ass.

    • Anonymous

      Grimaldi’s is for people on tour buses from Manhattan. People who know pizza don’t eat there.

    • nolastname

      Ambassador Stitt Shit. Can a heart attack be in his near future.