what will happen to my coney island baby?

If this is true, I am crushed. The New York Press reports that Coney Island will soon be the latest object of gentrification run amok.

At the end of the summer, thanks to some shortsighted city planners and no-sighted developers, everything you love about gritty old Coney Island is going to be swept away. A few token landmarks may be spared for the sake of postcard sales—the Cyclone, the Wonder Wheel—but you can say goodbye to the souvenir shops that rent beach chairs, the fried clam stands, the Boardwalk Nathan's and—god help us all—Ruby's Bar. And with them the characters who made Coney what it is—namely, one of the last bastions of rabid individuality left in New York.

According to the city, those decaying eyesores need to go in order to make room for the spa, the indoor swimming pool, the hotel, the shopping mall and the fancy cafes.

Nauseating. I can only imagine Shoot the Freak won't make the cut. For a compelling history of Coney Island, don't miss Rem Koolhaas's Delirious New York: A Retroactive Manifesto for Manhattan.

Later: More on Coney Island's Future: Flashy, Pink, Anodyne!