12
BROOKLYN WEEKLY, APRIL 14, 2019
BATHROOM
Continued from page 1
INFECTION
DION
tour, and my new album
coming later this year,”
said Dion.
Tickets will go on sale
on Friday, April 12 at 10
a.m, Would-be concert-goers
can point their browsers
at Ticketmaster.com ,
or at www.barclayscenter.
com .
The show is not to be
missed, said one producer
of the tour.
“We’ve been thrilled
to be working with Celine
for these last 16 years in
Las Vegas, and we’re even
more delighted that for the
fi rst time in more than a
decade, she will be bringing
her show to her fans,
all around the world, starting
here in North America
this September,” said John
Meglen. “Celine is a treasure,
truly a voice for the
ages.
Celine Dion at Barclays
Center (620 Atlantic Ave. at
Pacifi c Street in Prospect
Heights, www.barclayscenter.
com). Feb. 28–29, 2020 at
7:30 p.m. $100–$150.
TOP $ PAID
FOR JUDAICA
COLLECTIBLES
HOUSE
CALLS
SAME SAME DAY
DAY
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SERVICE
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CALLS
SERVING BROOKLYN
AND THE ENTIRE
TRI-STATE AREA
ANTIQUES AND ESTATE BUYERS
WE PAY $ CASH $ FOR
ALL GOLD, GOLD & STERLING SILVER
COSTUME JEWELRY, ALL COINS, PAPER
MONEY & STAMP COLLECTIONS
ALL GOLD...BROKEN OR NOT
PRE- 1960 FURNITURE, CLOCKS & WATCHES
(WORKING OR NOT) TIFFANY,
BACCARAT, LALIQUE
The List is Endless
YERS
SEE OUR AD IN THE SUNDAY POST
ASK FOR CHRISTOPHER
www.AntiqueAndEstateBuyers.com
for Antique
ANTIQ
ES
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Collections Wanted
Swords, Knives,
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ANTIQUES AND ESTATE BUYERS
We buy anything old. One piece or house full.
WILL TRAVEL. WE MAKE HOUSE CALLS.
FREE
Estimate
WILL TRAVEL
ENTIRE TRI-STATE
closed for the past quartercentury
due to a lack of water,
gas, sewer, and electric
services inside the structure,
according to Maher, who
added that those utilities lie
outside the playground and
that the agency did not secure
funding until recently
to pay for the underground
construction required to
restore those services to
the building.
Parks Department
spokeswoman Maeri
Ferguson added that
Mayor de Blasio allocated
$650,000 to pay for
the project, and Borough
President Adams chipped
in $250,000.
The renovations will include
a pair of new toilets
inside the comfort station,
along with new doors, windows,
interior tiling, toilet
partitions, sinks, hand driers,
baby changing tables,
and lighting and heating
systems, according to Ferguson.
Honchos hope construction
will begin by
next spring, and that the
structure will open for use
next summer.
But even though the majority
of board members
voted in favor of the plan,
one local charged that it was
far too costly for only two
new toilets, which he said
were not enough to serve
the thousands of residents
of the nearby Marlboro
Houses who frequent the
playground.
“You’re only putting in
two toilets, basically, for a
million bucks,” board member
Jeff Sanoff said to Maher
at the meeting.
But the price tag on the
public toilet house is lower
than the citywide average:
an investigation by The City
found that the Parks Department
spends an average
of more than $3 million
on each public bathroom it
builds in city parks — a cost
Silver blamed on market
forces beyond the department’s
control.
Maher told Sanoff that
the building’s 400-squarefoot
size, coupled with the
accessibility guidelines outlined
by the Americans with
Disabilities Act, meant that
there is not room for more
than one toilet per gender,
adding that the agency also
lacked the funding required
to add more toilets.
“Because of the codes
and requirements, there
will wind up being one toilet
in each gendered bathroom
— there’s nothing
anybody here can do about
that, that’s the amount we
can fi t. We always try to do
the maximum,” he said.
“We would love to say we’ll
put in three or four toilets,
but there’s not room in the
building for that, and there’s
not the budget for that.”
Ferguson did not respond
to an inquiry about
how much each toilet cost to
procure and install.
And when Sanoff asked
if offi cials could at least
add a porta-potty to the
playground so locals could
relieve themselves in the
meantime, Maher said the
department also lacked the
cash for that.
“No, there hasn’t been a
porta-potty for the past 40
years — I don’t have money
in the budget for that kind of
thing,” Maher said.
Christian Lillis became
a leading fi gure in the fi ght
to spread awareness of the
bacterium known as C. diff
after his mother fell ill with
the infection following a routine
dentist’s visit, and within
days perished due to fatal
complications caused by the
ill-understood germ.
“It was horrifi c,” said Lillis.
“From the time that we
took her to the hospital until
she was gone was probably 36
hours.”
C. diff — a bacterium that
can be ironically activated by
anti-biotic — affl icts about
a half million people every
year , of whom an estimated
29,000 perish 30 days after
their initial diagnosis, reaping
an annual death toll on
par with motor-vehicle collisions,
according to the Center
for Disease Control.
After Lillis’s mother died
in 2009, the Slope resident created
the Peggy Lillis Foundation
to spread awareness to
the little-known, but lethal
infection.
Now, the Kings County
man works with other organizations
to host an annual
C. diff summit, where experts
share potentially life-saving
information about the deadly
microbes.
The fi rst two summits
were hosted in New York
City, but the event moved to
Washington, D.C., last year,
and was followed up by a day
of intense lobbying, where approximately
two dozen advocates
met with nearly 50 lawmakers
in both houses, many
of whom had never heard of
the illness.
“Only three of them had
every heard of the disease,”
Lillis said.
And this year they’re
heading back to ask Congress
to approve new programs to
spread awareness for the obscure
killer, enhance regulations
around reporting the
illness, and increase funding
to study and fi ght the illness.
“All these advocates have
appointments with their Congress
members and senators,
who will be gong to offi ces
sharing their stories, and
things congress can do to
make a tangible difference,”
said Lillis.
Continued from page 1
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