A letter to the editor
Five years ago, when Eustace Mita purchased Wonderland Pier, he promised to work alongside Jay Gillian to ensure Ocean City’s crown jewel would remain a premier family attraction. Three years later it closed.
Now Mita is using the media to announce that the property he owns, and should have been maintaining, is deteriorating, and he is attempting to use the issue to create pressure in his negotiations with the city for his high-rise resort proposal.
He conducted a personal tour of the damage for the press, telling the Ocean City Sentinel that a wall beneath the raised ride deck was collapsing, the deck was buckling, cracks were approaching the Ferris wheel, and pipes near the log flume were bursting. He said, “The urgency from a safety factor just went up tenfold.”
If the condition is as dangerous as he claims, who allowed it to reach this point? All signs point to him.
As recently as fall 2024, the Ferris wheel was safely carrying children 144 feet into the air. Now we are told it is too dangerous to remain standing, and its welded repairs over the years mean it cannot be salvaged and must be cut apart with torches.
Why was Mita not monitoring and maintaining the property? Why was he not inspecting the Ferris wheel, deck, and supporting structures? Was it always an empty promise that the Ferris wheel would be saved?
Most importantly – what do broken promises from 2021 say about the promises he’s making today?
Mita wants Ocean City to trust him with the future of one of the most important properties on our Boardwalk. He promises that the new design is 50 feet shorter than the original presented to the public in the fall of 2024. Yet when recently asked how tall his proposed hotel would be, or how many rooms it would contain, he refused to offer direct answers. Instead, he offered comparisons to other buildings.
When asked how much entertainment will remain on the site, Mita was equally evasive beyond citing a public plaza with firepits and saying he will not provide any additional details about the proposal until negotiations with the City are concluded.
Those details matter. Sharing them is what will allow Ocean City to truly understand what is being proposed and how it contributes to the Boardwalk beyond a few hundred hotel rooms that studies have indicated that we don’t need.
Mita repeatedly describes himself as a friend of Ocean City, his beloved “hometown.” But a friend of our city would not refuse to answer basic questions. A friend would maintain and keep safe the property he promised to preserve. A friend would work openly with the community and his neighbors rather than disclose only those details that advance his proposal.
Instead, that “friend” has broken his promises. The iconic Ferris wheel must supposedly be demolished. The log flume must come down. Much of what remains of the amusement park may have to follow—all of it being reduced to rubble.
And that “friend” is now using that neglect as another argument for urgency to leverage his hotel proposal. That cannot be allowed to happen.
An owner should not be permitted to use the deteriorated condition of his own property to pressure the City into changing its zoning, abandoning proper studies or accepting a project it otherwise would reject. Public safety and land-use policy are separate issues.
The City should require Mita undertake whatever demolition, stabilization, cleanup, and security measures necessary to make the property safe. If much of Wonderland must come down, then it must come down. The cleared area can remain temporary open space while Ocean City conducts the market, traffic and planning studies necessary to determine the right long-term use.
Demolition does not create an entitlement to a hotel. Neglect does not create an entitlement for zoning changes or government funds.
Council must stop allowing Mita to control the timetable and the narrative. Council must require him to make the property safe. Then develop the right plan for Ocean City, without rewarding neglect or surrendering to urgency.
Games of chance like these have always been forbidden on the Ocean City Boardwalk. Council must not allow them to continue.
