8 Brooklyn Paper • www.BrooklynPaper.com • (718) 260-2500 March 27–April 2, 2020
Coney amusement parks postpone openings
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NEW YORKERS:
benefiting
By Rose Adams
Brooklyn Paper
The Coney Island amusement
district will postpone
its opening because of the
coronavirus outbreak, officials
announced.
“In response to the evolving
circumstances around
COVID-19 and in an effort
to slow the spread of the virus,
we at Luna Park in Coney
Island have made the decision
to postpone our opening
day until further notice,” said
representatives at Central
Amusement International,
Inc., a corporation that operates
Luna Park, the Scream
Zone, the Cyclone, and many
surrounding shops.
Deno’s Wonder Wheel
Amusement Park will also
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Commissioner
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AND OTHERS
• Keep at least 6 feet between
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OVERCROWDING
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from peak travel times.
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• Stay home if you have
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Convenient Office Hours & Ample Parking
and insurance plans accommodated
delay its April 4 opening —
dealing a tough blow to its
owners, who were planning to
celebrate the Wonder Wheel’s
100th anniversary.
“We saw the writing on the
wall a couple of weeks ago,”
said Dennis Vourderis, who
owns and operates the wheel
and its adjacent amusement
park with his brother, Steve.
“Of course, we have to take
into consideration what’s going
on in the world. It’s not
about us right now.”
The indefinite closure of
the amusement district will
inevitably hurt the seasonal
businesses in the area that
rely on the park’s attractions
for revenue, said a local business
advocate.
“The consequences of
not being able to make the
amount of money that stores
in Coney Island make from
April onward is going to be
detrimental to the community,”
said Alexandra Silversmith,
executive director of
the Alliance for Coney Island.
The postponement comes
as many Coney Island businesses
are already struggling
to survive due to the area’s
seasonal economy and rising
rents. The People’s Playground
has double the average
New York City vacancy
rate, with nearly 16-percent of
storefronts sitting empty, according
to a city report.
To make matters worse,
the MTA announced last
month that it would suspend
F train service between
Church and Stillwell Avenues
on most weekends this
summer and through the end
of 2020, and will replace the
trains with free shuttle bus
service. Business leaders
slammed the decision, claiming
that the suspension would
lessen ridership and weaken
the local economy.
Transit officials are postponing
the start of construction
along the F line, which
was slated to begin on March
20, but will reevaluate the
start date once the threat
of the virus has passed, the
MTA announced.
However, Luna Park and
Deno’s have no choice but to
postpone the start of the season,
since the city ordered on
March 15 that all entertainment
venues close.
On March 20, Gov. Andrew
Cuomo implemented
a state-wide “stay at home”
order, which requires all
non-essential businesses to
shutter.
Still, Vourderis said he
that the Wonder Wheel’s
100th anniversary celebration
is still on for May 23
should conditions improve.
And now, the party will celebrate
not only the wheel’s
centennial, but also the end of
the coronavirus threat.
“We want to open up
with a celebration, not under
these circumstances,” he
said. “We’re thinking positively
and looking forward to
Summer is now a little further away. a post-pandemic party.”
By Rose Adams
Brooklyn Paper
A hodgepodge of handy
Brooklynites have banded together
to make face masks for
hospital workers — and have
already delivered more than
200 to workers in need!
“It’s just a neighborhood
push, and we want to help any
way we can,” said Dani Finkel,
a Boerum Hill resident.
“There are doctors and nurses
at these hospitals that are desperate
to get their nurses and
staff something.”
The effort comes as hospitals
across the city are running
out of personal protective
gear, jeopardizing the
lives of healthcare workers
and patients. Some medical
centers are already ouA group
of workers at NYU Bellevue
say they have less than one
week’s supply remaining.
To help fill the gaps, around
March 20, a group of local
seamstresses decided to start
the South Brooklyn Mask
Making Project after they first
posted about their mask-making
efforts in a Boerum Hill
Facebook group. Soon, the coalition
came together.
“I started making face
masks because I saw there
was a need for them and to
keep some of my seamstresses
busy,” said Yvonne Chu, who
owns a boutique called Kimera
on Atlantic Avenue. “A
couple of us got started separately,
but we ended up finding
each other online.”
Yvonne and other local
seamstresses began recruiting
neighbors through
the group, and found volunteers
willing to coordinate
their efforts, make deliveries,
and sew more masks. Within
hours, the group’s small team
of devoted workers was posting
mask-making instructions
for volunteer sewers — and
reaching other people.
“It’s a great thing to do if
you have some time on your
hands,” said Finkel, a digital
media strategist who volunteered
to be the group’s coordinator.
“You can get up to
speed in a couple of days practicing
it.”
The team makes masks
with and without filter inserts,
as well as folded masks
— all of which are washable
and reusable. The team’s creations
are not as effective as
N96 masks, but they still provide
needed protection.
“A lot of people know
someone who’s working at
a hospital or people desperate
for these items,” Finkel
Photo by Yvonne Chu
said.
The Mask Making Project’s
efforts have spread via
word of mouth, and at least
seven other hospitals in need
have requested shipments so
far, including New York Presbyterian
and Mount Sinai in
Brooklyn. On March 23, the
team delivered 245 masks to
carous hospitals.
Locals willing to help can
drop off cotton fabric donations,
such used t-shirts, outside
the Kimera store at 366
Atlantic Avenue.
“We’re working on a Go-
FundMe so that we can include
masks in some of their
deliveries,” Finkel said. “Every
mask counts.”
Locals sew face masks
Volunteer sewers work to help supply city’s hospitals
Yvonne Chu and a group of local seamstresses are
creating face masks for hospitals in need.
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