Even as New York restaurants, gyms, barbershops and bowling alleys got to reopen with various restrictions, amusement parks have been left out in the cold. They’ve given up hope for the year, since the season ends in October — but they’re begging for action in advance of March, when the new season begins.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo didn’t include outdoor amusement parks in his reopening scheme, though several owners submitted plans for social distancing and added sanitization.
Long Island’s Adventureland had updated its protocols and was prepared to welcome guests again by July, when most other states had already reopened parks. But rules for reopening even iconic New York sites like Coney Island’s Wonder Wheel and Luna Park never came, and owners now fear they’ll be sidelined for a second straight year.
At best, a March reopening will make it over 18 months since these businesses — many small and family-owned — have had any income. Luna Park alone employs 1,200 workers, some of whom have already moved out to find work.
Families like the Zamperlas, who own Luna Park, have watched museums, ski resorts and movie theaters reopen. Why can’t their open-air attractions?
In September, six park owners wrote an open letter to Cuomo asking for answers. Three months later: silence.
This rank injustice again shows the arbitrariness of the state’s pandemic rules. Why can New Yorkers sit in a movie theater but not on the Wonder Wheel? At the least, the gov owes these people an explanation.