Bill de Blasio's COVID carnival gets worse

 

NY Post

 A giant Ferris wheel is coming to Times Square — and the idea is to roll out a welcome for tourists as the city looks to bounce back from the pandemic.

The massive amusement ride — which will stretch 110 feet high, the equivalent of 11 stories — will start getting assembled as soon as Thursday and be ready to hoist passengers high above the Crossroads of the World beginning early next week, The Post has learned.

The outsize attraction will be located just west of Duffy Square on Broadway between West 47th and West 48th Streets for about a 22 days, according to Vito Bruno, who heads up the Brooklyn-based entertainment company that’s behind the project.

“The city needs something fun, happy and nostalgic that brings you back to your childhood,” Bruno told The Post.

He added that he approached the Times Square Alliance about the idea several months ago, “and it’s been a sprint ever since,” with a myriad of permits, inspections and signoffs from multiple city agencies.

The hope is that the wheel will give Times Square a boost while area businesses and restaurants wait for Broadway shows to reopen in September. Foot traffic has been steadily returning and is nearly two-thirds of what it was pre-pandemic, according to the Times Square Alliance.

The Ferris wheel “fits perfectly into the mayor’s overarching summer of fun campaign which includes the five borough concerts and Five Boro Bike Tour,” Alliance president Tom Harris told The Post. “We want to give people that ‘wow’ moment to show them Times Square is back.”

The wheel no one wanted

From Curbed:

Developers behind Staten Island’s ambitious New York Wheel have officially pulled the plug on the project, ending months of speculation about its future. Staten Island Advance broke the news of the development, which is a startling turn of events for a project that was once touted to usher a renaissance for the North Shore section of Staten Island.

For over a year now, the observation wheel project has been beset by infighting, construction woes, and more recently, legal troubles. The developer, New York Wheel LLC, was battling its former contractor Mammoet-Starneth on ownership of some of the Wheel’s parts, and last month a court granted the developers an extension to hire a new contractor and show that it had enough funds to procure those parts.

However, two of the lead investors in the development—Lloyd Goldman and Jeffrey Feil—later expressed skepticism about the project moving forward without significant city funding. Both mayor de Blasio and the city’s Economic Development Corporation had previously stated that project didn’t seem like a sound investment for city funds.

EDC picked a real winner in Staten Island

From the NY Post:

The cost of the New York Wheel project on Staten Island is nearing $600 million, more than $300 million over its original estimate.

The opening of the 630-foot Ferris wheel on the St. George waterfront, initially slated for early next year, is now scheduled for 2018.

Problems getting funding for what is expected to be the world’s tallest Ferris wheel and a major tourist attraction contributed to the delays, said a source familiar with the project.

Sandy won't slow down big wheel

From the NY Post:

While New York City grapples with rebuilding after Superstorm Sandy, developers are pressing ahead with plans to build the world's largest Ferris wheel on the shoreline of storm-torn Staten Island.

Sandy's flooding spurred some changes to the nearly $500 million project, which includes an outlet mall and hotel. But developers haven't slowed it or scaled it back.

Supporters say Staten Island needs the boost now more than ever.

Some residents have asked whether it makes sense to push ahead with a tourist attraction, set partly in a flood zone, before officials take a comprehensive look at how to build smarter after Sandy.

Wheel developer Richard Marin says the project stands to provide a one-of-a-kind boon that Staten Island "would have no other way of getting right now."

I know a few folks from Staten Island. Not once have I heard any of them say that what their borough really needs is the world's largest Ferris wheel on the waterfront.

The Washington Post has more.