Newspaper photographs Coney Island's Luna Park filling water ride from fire hydrant

spokeswoman Chloe Gallo said the park “maintains good standing with paying all its water utilities.”

It's probably not to hard to keep up on the bills when your stealing it. :-p

How frugal of them.

An FDNY spokesman said anyone caught cracking open a city hydrant could receive fines of up to $1,000. Chronic users could receive 30 days in jail.

The chronic? That could explain why they stole the water.

I was there a few weeks ago. Despite posted hours saying they were open until 11pm, they closed two hours early. This didn't stop them selling me non-refundable ride points at 8:45pm.

I personally hope they get more than a slap on the wrist for this one.

It's Coney Island tradition. It's documented that Dreamland in it's brief existence got all of it's water for the chutes and dark rides from city hydrants that were within the walls of the park.

Vater said:

The chronic? That could explain why they stole the water.

A fire hydrant? That's a bad case of "cottonmouth" right there!

Right in broad daylight too, that's pretty brazen. Or just really stupid.

True, gator...stolen snacks at the local convenience store would make more sense.

When I worked for my local newspaper a few years ago, someone I knew, a secret source, took photos of a water company employee stealing water from a fire hydrant, using a water company truck, to fill his pool. The photos anonymously ended up in my employers mail box, and a story exposing the crime was put on the front page of the paper.

Because of the story, the water thief ended up paying for the water. No jail time; no fine, just a slap on the wrist. If he had got away with it, the missing water would have been paid for by everyone who lived on my street. Our water bill would have gone up for that month so it could be paid for.

As for Coney Island, we don't know what their agreement is with the City Water company. Perhaps, because the park is owned by the city, use of the water is free. Maybe they don't get a water bill.

However if they do pay for the water that they use, this is stealing, and they should get reprimanded for it, in my opinion.

Always remember: Big Brother is watching you!

How very ironic that we've become our own big brother. In our fascination with smart phones and social media, somebody is indeed always watching.

LostKause said:

If he had got away with it, the missing water would have been paid for by everyone who lived on my street. Our water bill would have gone up for that month so it could be paid for.

Your water bill is based on the meter at your house. Fire hydrants don't affect that, same as if a house down the street from you burns down... your personal bill doesn't increase.

Not saying what they did was right, it just wasn't costing you anything.

Just because regular people have cameras on them doesn't make them Big Brother. It's a metaphor for the government; Big Brother would only be watching if the NYPD had installed security cameras and captured the crime that way. Normal citizens have always self-policed their neighborhoods, cameras or not.

Real classy, that newly renovated Coney Island.

And here we were afraid that Coney Island was losing its "charm" with the recent renovations. I have this picture in my head of Paulie Walnuts and the rest of the Soprano gang syphoning from the fire hydrant out of a large hose.

bunky666 said:

Real classy, that newly renovated Coney Island.

Hey, they've got a LOT of class. It's all low, but they've got a lot of it, Bunky.

bjames, I made my comment partly out of jest with regard to john peck's comment, and partly because the concept of us self-policing with a zillion camera-capable phones isn't that different from the most basic concept of Big Brother. I know that the concept was coined in reference to the government, but really, we're doing pretty much the same thing.

I thought Coney Island was at least owned in part by the city. If it is, why is all this stink going on?

kpjb said:

Your water bill is based on the meter at your house. Fire hydrants don't affect that, same as if a house down the street from you burns down... your personal bill doesn't increase.

Not saying what they did was right, it just wasn't costing you anything.

That may be true for someone else, somewhere else. I was very very close to the news story. I knew everyone involved, and was allowed knowledge of all the secret, unprinted details. Maybe it works differently here in the rural wooded hills of West Virginia than what you are familiar with. If you are correct, perhaps the water company that told us that everyone would pay for the water was lying for dramatic reasons?

Would kinda suck if your house burned down because there was no pressure in the system while Luna Park was filling up its flume. If, as some claim, they're allowed to do that because they're a tenant of the city, then why do they have water meters installed in the first place?