Iconic Coney Island Cyclone needs a new operator — but there’s one big catch

🔮 The city Parks Department started accepting bids this week for the rare opportunity to run the beachfront amusement attraction and other nearby rides for the next two decades, a job that will likely call for pumping lots of cash into the aging infrastructure.

🔮 The white bird was snapped in a papparazzi-esque picture this weekend, titillating neighbors who are apparently impressed that he got such a sweet new Uptown pad without even having to interview with a co-op board. “It’s always fun to see what kind of wildlife we can get living near Central Park, but this was far more unique and exciting,” said a woman who snapped a picture of the owl from her West 76th Street and Central Park West patio, who asked to be identified only as Ms. Williams.

🔮 Hermann Merkel was the first to document the blight in 1904 — writing that “unless some radical measures are taken, or a natural enemy of this fungus develops, it is safe to predict that not a live specimen of the American Chestnut will be found two years hence in the neighborhood of the Zoological Park,” the former name of the Bronx Zoo. The blight would go on to decimate nearly 4 billion American chestnut trees across North America, rendering it “functionally extinct.” But the 20 saplings aren’t exactly the same trees whose canopy once blanketed the US — the 3-foot-tall trees planted Monday are a hybrid mix that horticulturalists hope will make them stronger against the blight they expect to eventually creep onto the trees. “These trees most likely will get the disease, and it will impact them.

🔮 The 1-liter steins and never-ending costume opportunities could be why just 16% of New Yorkers statewide pledged to participate in Sober October this year, compared to an average rate of 26% nationally, the survey found.

🔮 What may have won Kraft, 25, the title, however, was the sidestep dance moves Styles is known for — and that students he spent the summer working with mistook him for the former boy bander.

🔮 It’s not clear when the animals would have scurried into the package, but tracking data shows that it was passed off to five different USPS locations across its four-day journey from Miami to the Upper East Side — including a night at a Midtown distribution center after the mail carrier pushed back its delivery day.

🔮 The City Council is considering a slew of bills would tighten enforcement on the high-powered scooters, but Mamdani administration officials argued at a hearing Wednesday those laws could unfairly target food delivery riders they bizarrely dubbed “deliveristas” — “many of whom are immigrants.”

🔮 “[Islam] told me this job comes with a lot of stress, but at the end of the day you could help lots of people, whoever needs your help, and you’ll feel good about yourself,” said Ahmed.

🔮 Additionally, 9/11 Memorial & Museum Chairman and former Mayor Michael Bloomberg revealed he would match all contributions to The Never Forget Fund, up to $25 million to mark the anniversary of the tragedy. “From the very inception of our organization, our mission to commemorate, educate, and inspire has been central,” said Noah Rauch, senior vice president for education and public programs at the 9/11 Memorial & Museum.

🔮 You used to be able to walk through there by the jetty,” said Hazzard Ho, 32, who was shocked to find that he couldn’t traverse the beach with his Labrador mix, Chef.