Brooklyn gets the gold medal for heart.
Manhattan’s stance remains unclear, but the County of Kings staked out a decisive position against childhood cancer when Coney Island’s Parachute Jump “went gold” on Sept. 5 for Pediatric Cancer Awareness Month.
In August, anti-cancer advocates asked the Empire State Building’s management to light the iconic skyscraper in solidarity with childhood cancer patients, but the building’s operators snubbed the request. So Councilman Mark Treyger (D–Coney Island) got the amusement mavens at Zamperla, which runs Luna Park and the Jump, to light up “Brooklyn’s Eiffel Tower” in gold — for the kids.
Treyger said an anti-cancer beacon in Brooklyn’s backyard beats anything that could happen in that other borough across the river to the west.
“We don’t need the Manhattan skyline to validate how important this cause is,” he said.
The Empire State’s silver-tongued spokesman told the Daily News the building wouldn’t shine gold because operators receive too many applications to grant every request. So the Empire State Building twinkled “green, blue, and yellow sparkle in honor of the finals weekend at the US Open,” according to the building’s website, on the night the Parachute Jump glittered gold to take a stand against childhood cancer.
One Bay Ridge pediatric cancer activist said the Coney Island ceremony solidified his faith in the city’s greatest borough.
“Nothing has ever made us prouder of calling Brooklyn our home than seeing the Parachute Drop lit gold,” said Matthew Kabel, whose daughter Sally “Sunshine” Kabel was diagnosed with leukemia a little over a year ago, “not only in support of kids like Sally battling childhood cancers, but the seven children who die from it daily.”
Kabel said the Coney icon’s example is even more important after the Manhattan landmark’s snub.
“We want to thank Councilman Treyger and Zamperla for saying ‘yes’ when the Empire State Building said ‘no’ — leading the way for the rest of New York to go gold.”
