The New York Daily News reports that a lawyer for Thor Equities – the primary landowner of Coney Island’s amusement district – admonished the president of the Coney Island Development Corporation  for inaccurately characterizing and discrediting the developer’s plans for the area. At an MAS panel discussion on Coney island last week, the CIDC warned that Thor’s track record thus far in Coney Island is punctuated with half-baked attempts at providing summer amusements and the preservation of vacant lots until the City’s proposed rezoning is approved.

The New York Observer reports that the proposed rezoning of Willets Point passed almost unanimously at the City Planning Commission this morning, only the Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum voted against.  The rezoning must now be addressed within two months by the City Council, the majority of which has already publicly rejected the application as it now stands.  MAS testified before the Planning Commission on Willets Point and will continue to monitor it during the public hearings of the City Council.

In other news, employees in Willets Point are uncomfortable with the City’s job-training program, which is geared toward hotel and service industries. Workers would prefer to continue to exercise their skills as auto-mechanics and move with their relocated employers (Crain’s New York Business).

A State judge protected a NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission decision to designate two Upper East Side tenament homes (New York Times)

The City Council will vote today on the Whitney Museum’s proposed expansion in the Meat Packing District (New York Sun)

Lighted signs will grace the former New York Times Building again (New York Times)