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Closing the
book lender
Coney Island library shuttering
for four months starting in April
BY JULIANNE MCSHANE
The Brooklyn Public Library’s
Coney Island branch will close
for four months this spring
and summer to undergo more
than $1-million worth of renovations,
reading-room leaders
announced.
The construction will result
in a larger space that will
provide locals with even more
room to kick back and relax
with their favorite titles, according
to regional librarian
Sharron Lahey.
“Because it’s going to be a
more fl exible and bigger space,
I think we’ll have more opportunities
for more members of
the community to come and
use our space,” Lahey said at
a Feb. 11 meeting of the local
Community Board 13’s Education
and Youth Committee.
The two-story, more than
century-old library on Mermaid
Avenue at W. 19th Street
will fully shutter for approximately
120 days on April 1,
when workers will begin asbestos
abatement and demolition
work, according to Lahey.
Contractors will then renovate
and expand the branch’s
second-fl oor meeting room,
and install a new heating-andcooling
system in that space.
The makeover will also
transform the library’s second
fl oor into a tech hub with
more than 20 laptops, which
locals will be able to borrow,
and additional electrical outlets,
among other features.
And redesigning that fl oor
GETTING UPGRADED: The Coney
Island Library, seen here when it
reopened in 2013 after repairs following
superstorm Sandy, will fully
close for four months on April 1 for
new renovations.
File photo by Elizabeth Graham
will allow librarians to turn
the branch’s entire fi rst fl oor
into a dedicated children’s
space, according to library
spokeswoman Fritzi Bodenheimer.
Reading-room leaders hope
the fi rst-fl oor transformation
will be done by August, and
plan to reopen that level to patrons
while contractors spend
the next fi ve months polishing
off the second fl oor, according
to Lahey, who said the upper
story’s work should wrap by
early 2020 at the latest.
Staffers will continue to
host the library’s regular family
and kids programming —
including its weekly storytime
and homework-help
WHEE!: Parks Commissioner Mitchell Silver took a ride down the slide during the unveiling of the new playground
at Asser Levy Park. Daniel Avila/NYC Parks
A FRESH LOOK
FOR LEVY PARK
New playground, amenities unveiled inside meadow
BY JULIANNE MCSHANE
They’re in love with this
park!
Local pols and offi cials
celebrated Valentine’s Day by
unveiling a $4.75-million renovation
of a beloved Coney Island
green space.
The upgrades to Asser
Levy Park, on W. Fifth Street
between Surf and Sea Breeze
avenues, will ensure that
Southern Brooklynites can
enjoy the meadow for decades
to come, according to the
city’s chief green thumb.
“The park is one of the
hidden gems of Coney Island,
and thanks to these improvements,
it has been renewed
for generations to come,” said
Parks Commissioner Mitchell
Silver.
Councilman Chaim
Deutsch (D–Sheepshead
Bay), Assemblywoman Mathylde
Frontus (D–Coney Island),
and Councilman Barry
Grodenchik (D–Queens) —
the chairmain of Council’s
Parks Committee — joined
Silver to cut the ribbon and
reopen the park’s refreshed
playground, which includes
two separate play areas and
swing sets, with one section
boasting equipment for 2- to
5-year-olds, and the other re-
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