4 FEBRUARY 9 - FEBRUARY 15, 2018 BROOKLYN MEDIA GROUP
Senior center at Angel Guardian gets
three-month reprieve; fight continues
BY MEAGHAN MCGOLDRICK
MMCGOLDRICK@BROOKLYNREPORTER.COM
The Sisters of Mercy have
shown at least a modicum
of sympathy for close to 100
Dyker Heights seniors who, until
today believed they were being
forced out of their beloved Narrows
Senior Center months earlier than its
original end-of-lease date.
The Sisters’ mercy, however,
wasn't apparent before center-goers,
local politicians and neighborhood
stakeholders alike could rally in
support of the center – the last
remaining lease-holder within the
14,000-square-foot, block-long Angel
Guardian Home, which was sold in
September by its owners, the Sisters
of Mercy, to a still-mysterious buyer.
The senior center – operated by
Catholic Charities Brooklyn and
Queens – was once safe until June.
However, as dust settled from the
property’s hush-hush sale in September,
the Sisters issued the center
written notice that it would have
to vacate the property, instead, by
February 2.
That time frame has now been
extended. According to a typed and
printed statement made by the Narrows
Senior Center and shared with
the public by Brooklyn Daily reporter
Julianne McShane, Catholic Charities
entered into a verbal agreement with
the Sisters agreeing to vacate by the
end of April, or May 15 at the latest.
McShane later confirmed that the
center will now have until June 4.
News of the extension came just
an hour after the passionate rally
(organized by loyal center-goer Pauline
Castagna), participants of which
braved the bitter cold to voice their
disappointment in the Sisters.
Even with a reprieve, however, the
center's supporters are not satisfied.
The center’s inevitable move, they
said, will bring seniors to Catholic
Charities Stedman/Minkin Senior
Residences (located at least 10 blocks
and two avenues away at Ninth Avenue
and 53rd Street) – a new location
that protesters, however grateful,
fear will not suffice.
“To ask these seniors to go
a mile down the road with no
parking, in a basement that’s not
handicapped-accessible, is just plain
wrong,” said State Senator Marty
Golden. “I thank them for opening
their door but it is not right for our
seniors here at the Narrows Senior
Center and we’re not going to stand
for it.”
However, Catholic Charities —
which made an unsuccessful effort
to acquire the property, following a
request for proposal (RFP) issued last
year — is hopeful.
“We feel once the move takes place,
the seniors will be happy with their
new home,” its statement read.
And that's not the only issue to
roil protesters, who further claimed
Friday that the Sisters had promised
that their choice would be one that
reflects the needs of the community
– something locals say, with the buyer
still under wraps and only the worst
assumed, the congregation has doubled
back on.
“The Sisters of Mercy put out an
RFP and they didn’t listen to their
own agreement,” asserted Golden.
“Part of that agreement was that
affordable senior housing be built
at this location. They did the wrong
thing, and that’s why we’re here.”
“They entered a contract with
somebody we don’t even know. .
.we’ve been left totally in the dark,”
said Dyker Heights Civic Association
President Fran Vella-Marrone. “That
is a big, big problem.”
For his part, Councilmember
Justin Brannan – who wrote to Sister
Patricia Vetrano, current president
of the Sisters of Mercy Mid-Atlantic
Community, in January – wondered
what could possibly prompt the Sisters
to want to kick the seniors out in
the first place.
“The sale is not even complete! We
don't even know who is buying the
property or what they plan to do with
it,” he said during the rally, adding
that, by forcing out the seniors, the
Sisters “are spitting in the face of this
community."
Brannan was particularly incensed
by the early close date for the
senior center which, he said, “should
be allowed to stay here at Angel
Guardian until their lease, which
everybody agreed upon, runs out in
June. You wanna kick us out to bulldoze
this place and build more luxury
condos? Knock yourself out. But
we will not let you kick our seniors
into the cold and whatever happens
to this property, the community will
be watching.”
According to Golden, Brooklyn
Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio actually
penned a letter to the Vatican requesting
that the Angel Guardian
Home remain intact and be put to a
use that serves its surroundings –
something, Assemblymember Peter
Abbate urged, that should be taken
a step further to include a reevaluation
of the current state of the Sisters
of Mercy.
“Those nuns who are there today
are a disgrace to their order. Those
poor nuns who built this foundation
here are probably turning in their
graves,” he said. “We should write to
the Pope asking to disband the order
since they no longer believe in their
own charter.”
Prior to the home's sale, Dyker residents
and stakeholders had argued
for such things as affordable senior
housing and a new school at the site,
which was built in 1902, according to
city records, and served as an extension
of the Convent of Mercy, housing
hundreds of orphans and eventually
acting as a formal adoption agency
until the 1970s.
In 2003, the Angel Guardian Home
merged with St. Mary’s of the Angels
Home to form the MercyFirst network
of agencies. Up until late 2016,
the campus housed the offices for the
Sisters’ foster care program as well as
the senior center.
The Dyker Heights community
bid adieu to the foster care program
at a November, 2016 goodbye party,
during which employees, former
volunteers and past residents were
able to reminisce in preparation
for Angel Guardian’s office’s eventual
move to Industry City in Sunset
Park.
Among those also in attendance at
the rally were former Councilmember
Vincent Gentile; Councilmember
Carlos Menchaca, whose district
encompasses the block in question;
Patrick Lewis, outreach coordinator
for Public Advocate Letitia James;
Max Rose, a candidate for the Democratic
nomination for Congress;
Ross Barkan, a candidate for the
Democratic nomination for State
Senate; and Andrew Gounardes, also
a candidate for the Democratic nod
for State Senate, who spoke on behalf
of Borough President Eric Adams, all
of whom joined their voices to echo
community concerns about the fate
of the senior center and the property
as a whole.
“Obviously, we’d like to do a re-bid
on this property,” said Golden.
“This is our fight,” contended local
senior Jean Detorre. “We want this
and we’re not gonna back down until
we get it. Who do they think they
are?”
BROOKLYN MEDIA GROUP/Photo by Meaghan McGoldrick
Fran Vella-Marrone addressing the crowd.