No Sitt, Astroland Will Be Back!

After back, back, forth and forth about whether the Astroland amusement park will close to make way for a vacant lot while developer Joe Sitt and the city figure out what they can build on it, Sitt agrees to allow the Coney Island institution to stay open one more year:

Thor Equities, the real-estate giant that bought the land under the amusement park from owner Carol Albert in 2006 and gave Astroland one final season this summer, announced on Wednesday that it had reached an agreement with Albert to keep her rundown park’s 35 rides operating for one more season.

“Thor is fully committed to keeping amusements and games as part of the fabric of Coney Island for decades to come, and today’s agreement — reached after discussions with Albert and the community as a whole — represents the first step in that direction,” said Joe Sitt, Thor’s president, who would not reveal the financials of the deal.

After all, attendance was only up 30 percent last season! (Telling people you’re closing forever has a way of spurring that.) But what did we give away in the process?

Location Scout: Coney Island Amusement Core.

The Live Poultry Escape Clause: You Make It, You’re Safe Then

The cow who bolted is the latest animal to find amnesty at the Farm Sanctuary upstate:

A Queens bovine who turned city cops into cowboys is heading for her new home – the sprawling Farm Sanctuary in upstate Watkins Glen.

“Their working days are over when they get here,” said Wendy Hankle of the animals in the sanctuary.

She said the cow — who is living temporarily in an Animal Care and Control shelter — will be named “Maxine” once she gets to the shelter, a five-hour drive away.

While nobody has claimed the cow, Patrick Kwan, of the Mayor’s Alliance for NYC’s Animals, said Maxine likely escaped from a slaughterhouse.

“She’ll now be able to live her life and not end up as somebody’s steak,” he said.

“The cow is in custody,” deadpanned Police Commissioner Ray Kelly. “The Emergency Service officers, they’re used to corralling all sorts of different wildlife.”

New York Times To Tear Down Wall; Lovers Of Freedom Expected To Focus Next On Finishing Bud Select And Holiday Inn Select Brands

Thank god — everyone can stop using my login now that the Times has come to its senses:

The New York Times will stop charging for access to parts of its Web site, effective at midnight Tuesday night.

The move comes two years to the day after The Times began the subscription program, TimesSelect, which has charged $49.95 a year, or $7.95 a month, for online access to the work of its columnists and to the newspaper’s archives. TimesSelect has been free to print subscribers to The Times and to some students and educators.

In addition to opening the entire site to all readers, The Times will also make available its archives from 1987 to the present without charge, as well as those from 1851 to 1922, which are in the public domain. There will be charges for some material from the period 1923 to 1986, and some will be free.

The Times said the project had met expectations, drawing 227,000 paying subscribers — out of 787,000 over all — and generating about $10 million a year in revenue.

“But our projections for growth on that paid subscriber base were low, compared to the growth of online advertising,” said Vivian L. Schiller, senior vice president and general manager of the site, NYTimes.com.

What changed, The Times said, was that many more readers started coming to the site from search engines and links on other sites instead of coming directly to NYtimes.com. These indirect readers, unable to get access to articles behind the pay wall and less likely to pay subscription fees than the more loyal direct users, were seen as opportunities for more page views and increased advertising revenue.

“What wasn’t anticipated was the explosion in how much of our traffic would be generated by Google, by Yahoo and some others,” Ms. Schiller said.

State Law Stops The Inexorable Flier

A state law went into effect yesterday that allows property owners to opt out of receiving unwanted fliers and circulars:

If menus madden and advertisements annoy, city dwellers will soon be able to stop them before they land on their doorsteps, thanks to a state law that hit the books yesterday.

The pizzeria, barber shop or delicatessen down the street will be banned from dropping its advertisements at buildings that post a sign saying unauthorized fliers are not welcome. Violators will rack up fines ranging from $250 to $1,000 per violation.

Sponsors of the law say the circulars not only create litter but are also a safety hazard. “You leave your house for three days, you come home and there’s 11 fliers on your lawn,” said Assemb. Mark Weprin (D-Little Neck). “Then people know nobody’s home.”

The city will wait to enforce the law until the Legislature reconvenes in the fall, Weprin said.

That’s because city lawmakers want to modify the law for multifamily buildings. Under the change, if some tenants still want menus, the owner can post a sign indicating how many residents want the advertisements and where they should be dropped.

From Books To Balls, The Borough Of Barganza Does It All

In a week of pace setting, Queens continues to outdo itself:

Jamaica resident Ashrita Furman, 52, takes the old saying ‘records are meant to be broken’ to the next level.

Furman, who has set more than 150 official Guinness world records and currently holds the most records by an individual with 65, added to his total on Sunday, August 12 when he broke three more.

Furman set new records, which Guinness representatives have to verify, by doing 36 deep-knee-bends on a Swiss ball in one minute, throwing and catching a water balloon with a partner 74 feet, which shattered the previous record of 60 and his personal favorite, running a mile while bounce-juggling three balls — with zero drops. Furman utilized the track at Queens College for his final record finishing in a time of 9 minutes and 9 seconds.

“Nobody has ever done that before; it’s a new category that Guinness approved,” Furman told The Queens Courier. “Of all three I am most happy about this because I really think it’s going to catch on. I feel like I have established a new sport.”

While his interest in the Guinness book started when he was growing up in Kew Gardens, Furman said he was not an athletic kid and never imagined he would ever break a record — until he met his spiritual teacher Sri Chinmoy.

After participating in meditations conducted by Chinmoy, Furman experienced an epiphany in 1978 while participating in a 24-hour bicycle race in Central Park and decided he wanted pursue a quest to break records.

Less than a year later, Furman began his record-breaking by setting a Guinness world record for most consecutive jumping jacks — 27,000, which was previously set at 20,000.