East Meadow
WINNER oF
18
HERALD
AWARDS Page 8
Coliseum lease deal moves forward
Neighbors help drive out hunger
EMFD puts out kitchen fire
Page 5
Page 12
Page 18
Vol. 20 No. 35
AUGUST 27 - SEPTEMBER 2, 2020
$1.00
We’re all in this together
A group of four patrons of AB Fitness Center worked out with trainer Pete Khatcherian on Monday afternoon, the day gyms were permitted to resume operations in New York under Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s reopening protocols. But at AB Fitness Center, customers were outside, amid temperatures in the mid-80s, in the shade of a tent set up in the parking lot of the East
Meadow business’s new Massapequa facility, which opened in February. Owner Anthony Bevilacqua and his staff created the outdoor training area, dubbed the “muscle pit,” roughly a month ago, when it was still unclear when gyms would be able to resume indoor activities. Patrons of the East Meadow facility were also welcome to book training sessions in Massapequa, because the gym on East Meadow Avenue lacked the space for an
outdoor training area of its own. Both AB Fitness Center locations are keeping their indoor facilities closed until further notice. While he was excited to hear Cuomo’s announcement on Aug. 17, Bevilacqua found the governor’s guidelines confusing and not one-size-fits-all. “You can’t just open your doors and let people work out,” he said. “I don’t want to open just to Continued on page 3
BE
ER
CE
EA
MEADO ST
M
A
bstieglitz@liherald.com
East Meadow
rald.com www.lihe
W
By BRIAN STIEGlITZ
ow East Mead
Living in
dd 1
EME Cover.in
photographers, graphic artists, advertising account executives, press operators, drivers and managers. Now, more than ever, we are relying on you, our readers, to support us, as we have supported you through this crisis. Please consider taking an annual subscription to the Herald. See our subscription ad in this week’s paper on Page 19. If you are already a Herald subscriber, thank you for your support. We hope you are pleased with our coverage, and if you are, you might consider taking a two- or three-year subscription. If you’re new to the Herald, then you must know that our mission HERALD is to cover all the news of your neighborhood, from the schools to the Little Leagues, from houses of worship to veterans organizations. We also want to hear what you have to say about the issues affecting East Meadow. Please share your story ideas with Editor Brian Stieglitz. Finally, you can make a taxdeductible donation to the Heralds to help support our newsgathering efforts by going to liherald.com/donate. CH
East Meadow gyms are back in business, but not as usual
2020-2021
Brian Stieglitz/Herald
PETE KhATChERIAN, A trainer at East Meadow’s AB Fitness Center, set up an outdoor workout station behind the gym’s Massapequa facility on Monday. While gyms in New York state began accepting clients indoors that day, AB Fitness Center still had not met all of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s reopening guidelines.
All of us at the Herald Community Newspapers were frightened by the coronavirus pandemic when it reached Nassau County in early March. Some of us were sickened by Covid-19, and some were even hospitalized. But we had a job to do. We were, as Gov. Andrew Cuomo called us, “essential workers,” relaying vital information people needed to know to stay h e a l t hy a n d s u r v ive t h i s potentially deadly disease. So we did what we knew h ow t o d o — reported the news, day in, day out, for weeks on end. Suddenly, we were no longer a weekly newspaper. We were a daily, publishing the news online at liherald.com and in our daily newsletter. Hundreds of thousands of people came to our website for the latest news. The pandemic stretched us to our limits, but we never broke. We were with you throughout, and our pledge is to remain with you until all of us return to normal life — or whatever our lives will be in the new normal. Producing the news, however, is a costly endeavor. We must pay the salaries of reporters, editors,
R O F CO M
M
PM 8/14/20 5:06