EDITORIAL
A crisis demands of us total transparency
Transparency is the cure
Readers: Not the playgrounds!
COURIER LIFE, APRIL 3-9, 2020 27
The city will close four Brooklyn
parks Tuesday after revelers repeatedly
violated social distancing, according
to Mayor Bill de Blasio.
Hizzoner ordered the closure of
the two playgrounds in Fort Greene
Park along with Middleton Playground
in Williamsburg and Brighton
Playground in Brighton Beach
as part of 10 renegade recreation
grounds citywide, where park-goers
have failed keep a safe distance to
stop the spread of COVID-19.
“Those are playgrounds that had
crowding multiple times. They will
be shut down, they will be locked,
there’ll be signs put up, there’ll be
enforcement,” the mayor said at a
press conference in Queens.
Readers experssed themselves
online:
Close the coney island handball
courts, the people don’t care and play
there daily!
Alex Skills
Communities that do not have
enough parks getting punished for
not having enough parks!
Aline Marie
It is more so the people let’s behavior
that is getting punished.
Mitchell Rentzler
People not listening is the problem
Dawn Tagliarini Millea
Use all resources!
As area hospitals struggle with a
surge in coronavirus cases, at least
one southern Brooklyn politician is
calling on the governor to utilize a
defunct Bay Ridge medical center to
expand hospital bed capacity.
Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis,
who represents Bay Ridge
and Staten Island, wrote to Governor
Andrew Cuomo on March 26
urging the state to consider it using
the shuttered Victory Memorial Hospital
at Seventh Avenue and 92nd
Street, which she says could accommodate
254 hospital beds.
“Right now, expanding hospital
bed capacity is a priority,” Malliotakis
said. “This 254-bed site can provide
relief to nearby hospitals and I
continue to urge that it be explored
to meet the demand we face.”
The medical center was closed in
2009 after nearing bankruptcy, and
was sold to a real estate developer for
$45 million. It has sat mostly empty
since, except for an urgent care center
operated by SUNY Downstate on
the ground fl oor.Readers experssed
themselves online:
Having space is pointless if these
facilities can’t get PPE and ventilators.
Shame on the federal government and
the president for only today forcing GE
to start making vents. Will probably
take 60-90 days to start seeing results,
New York will be in crisis before that.
Joe Romano
It should’ve NEVER closed in the
fi rst place. But then again, neither
should have Peninsula, Parkway, Mary
Immaculate, Our Lady Of Mercy, St.
Vincent’s, and the 2 dozen other hospitals
that fell under Bloomberg. Too
bad Mary Immaculate is already torn
down. Jamaica needs help.
Paratus
Need I say it again...GREAT idea...
likely an easier retrofi t than turning
hotels or convention centers for that
purpose..just a guess...they have the
infrastruct.
Ron Guido
Why cut medical funding!
Governor Andrew Cuomo’s administration
proposed signifi cant
cuts to the New York State budget
last month that could lead to a $38
million funding decrease for central
Brooklyn hospitals — just as they
reel with fi nancial hardship from
the novel coronavirus outbreak.
Lawmakers are scrambling to
put together a workable balanced
state budget by April 1, and Cuomo’s
untimely proposed budget cuts
present the latest sticking point that
threatens to derail the process.
“The proposed cuts to our hospitals
in central Brooklyn are cruel,
inhumane and unacceptable,” wrote
State Sen. Zellnor Myrie and Assemblywoman
Diana Richardson in a
letter to Cuomo.
This is what corporate Democrats
do.
Vincent Garofalo
Cuomo’s proposed budget includes
$38M in cuts to Brooklyn hospitals -
Brooklyn Paper
Nancy Weaver
Cuomo would rather dismantle
#Medicaid and deprive hospitals of
much-needed funds than tax the 95+
billionaires who live in NYS
LET US HEAR FROM YOU
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Colin Mixson, Edi tor, Courier Life,
1 MetroTech Center North, Brooklyn,
NY 11201, or e-mail to editorial@
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property of Courier Life.
SOUND OFF TO THE EDITOR
LETTERS AND COMMENTS FROM OUR READERS
for “fake news,” and
that’s especially true
during a time of crisis such as
the coronavirus pandemic.
With so much misinformation
being circulated on
social media about coronavirus
and the response to it,
it’s up to all those involved —
government, hospitals, the
press — to present the facts
as they are and let the people
know what’s happening.
It is no secret to any New
Yorker what the hospitals of
this city are currently going
through — overwhelming
numbers of coronavirus
patients, dwindling supplies
of equipment, exhausted
and emotionally drained
staff, bodies of virus victims
stored in refrigerated
trucks-turned-morgues.
The situation is universally
dreadful, and there’s
no way to spin it otherwise.
We’ve invited health care
workers across the city to
tell their story to us, even if
they choose to do so confidentially.
Some are afraid to go on
record because they fear retribution.
This shouldn’t be.
The readers need to be
told these stories to get a
grasp on the situation at our
hospitals today. They should
know the dangerous consequences
of the coronavirus
spread, and the incredible
risk taken to save the lives
of strangers.
Not only should the readers
get this straight scoop,
but so should those responsible
in this state of emergency
for ensuring every hospital
has the staff and resources
they need to meet the challenge.
And while we feel the city
and state governments have
done their best to keep us all
informed, more can be done
toward greater transparency
— especially at City Hall.
For instance, it’s been difficult
for news outlets to get
facts from the Department of
Education about the number
of infected staff. The New
York City Police Department
has provided daily updates
on the number of sick officers,
but the FDNY hasn’t
replicated that effort.
When the city Health Department
published a heat
map last week on coronavirus
testing, the map was a
mess of indecipherable districts
and data. The Health
Department issued a new
heat map for coronavirus
testing on March 31 based
on ZIP codes, but that only
showed the percentage of
those tested — not raw numbers.
“Sunlight is the best disinfectant,”
the late Associate
Supreme Court Justice Louis
Brandeis once said. We can’t
use the light of fact to stop
coronavirus, but we can use
it to neutralize the misinformation
in our midst.
/schnepsmedia.com