2 MAY 11 - MAY 17, 2018 BROOKLYN MEDIA GROUP
Senior center at Angel
Guardian shuts its doors
BY MEAGHAN MCGOLDRICK
MMCGOLDRICK@BROOKLYNREPORTER.
COM
The Narrows Senior Center
– the last remaining
lease-holder within the
storied 140,000-square-foot,
block-long Angel Guardian Home
– closed its doors on Tuesday, May
8 so that the site’s sale could push
forward.
The home, located at 6301 12th
Avenue, was sold at the end of last
year by its owners, the Sisters of
Mercy, to developer Scott Barone
who, after month of anonymity,
finally came forward at the end
of April with plans of everything
from affordable and senior
housing to a school and
even a new senior
center (pending
approval, of
course).
Though, no
matter what’s
coming down
the pipeline,
the center must
close – at least for
now.
“It is what it
is,” said Pauline
“Doll” Castagna,
a longtime
supporter of
the Narrows who, prior to its
final end-of-lease date, had organized
a trio of public protests
against the center’s closure and
the site’s sale. She was joined at
each by politicians from both
sides of the aisle and members of
the Guardians of the Guardian
– a grassroots group of Dyker
Heights residents – in calling on
the New York City Landmarks
Preservation Commission (LPC)
to expedite the calendaring of a
Request for Evaluation they’d
hoped would lead to the designation
of Angel Guardian as an
individual landmark.
If nothing else, she said, she’d
hoped to save the center – its
eviction date in what seemed to
be a state of constant flux. “First it
was June 4, then February 2, then
May 15, now May 8,” Castagna told
this paper, adding that, in all of
this, stakeholders
have been
“playing with
the seniors’
heads.
“They said
they needed time to pack and
move,” she went on. “Being that
I live directly across from the
center, I will feel it the most.”
And so, some center-goers wore
black Tuesday to mourn their last
day at the space. Though, however
bittersweet, it was at least in
part a celebration of many years
of wonderful memories.
“It’s always been a feeling of
home here, and of family,” said
one longtime center-goer who's
been attending Narrows for at
least 15 years. The same center-goer
said she’d tried other centers
– some more flashy than the Narrows
– but none compared.
“Everybody is friendly,” she
said. “When you miss a day or two,
people notice. They ask where
you were. It’s a feeling of home
that, I think, a lot of other centers
don’t have.”
From here, Castagna told this
paper, many residents will go
to the Moose Lodge, 7711 18th
Avenue, another center operated
by Catholic Charities. “We hope
to remain there,” she said. “The
people were very nice to us and
welcomed us with open arms.”
Down the road, Dyker Heights
Civic Association President Fran
Vella-Marrone said at the group’s
May meeting, another Catholic
Charities center, Monsignor Joseph
F. Stedman Senior Housing
or, "Stedman Housing," at 930 53rd
Street, may eventually serve as
the center’s new location.
As for the developer’s alleged
plans, the seniors are optimistic,
though cautiously, the majority
in agreement that, no matter how
nice a plan sounds, “you can never
be too sure” of what will come.
For now, many seniors will give
the Moose Lodge a try, though
some couldn’t make the same
promise.
“They say all good things must
come to an end,” one center-goer
said. “I guess this is the end.”
PRESERVATION KUDOS
Two Brooklyn landmarks – the Child's
Building and Ford Amphitheater in Coney
Island and Public Bath No. 7 in Park Slope –
were among the winners of this year’s New
York Landmarks Conservancy Lucy G. Moses
Preservation Awards.
The ceremony, held on Tuesday, May 8
at St. Bartholomew's Church in Manhattan,
recognized individuals, organizations and
building owners for their extraordinary contributions
to the city. The Lucy G. Moses Preservation
Awards are the conservancy’s highest
honors for excellence in preservation.
HELP FOR STALKING
VICTIMS
In collaboration with the Mayor’s Office to
Combat Domestic Violence (OCDV), a successful
program that has increased the response
to stalking incidents in both Staten Island and
Queens is being launched in Brooklyn.
The Coordinated Approach to Stalking
program (CAPS), Brooklyn District Attorney
Eric Gonzalez explained, is a initiative
between the district attorney’s office, OCDV
and the NYPD to increase the identification
and reporting of intimate partner stalking
cases, enhance stalking arrests and prosecutions,
and connect victims to services.
After its respective launches, the CAPS
program led to a 177 percent increase in
stalking arrests in Queens and a 233 percent
increase in Staten Island.
CHARGES IN PARK
SLOPE PEDESTRIAN
DEATHS
A Staten Island woman was slapped with
a 10-count indictment which includes manslaughter
on Thursday, May 3 for allegedly
mowing down pedestrians in a Park Slope
crosswalk last month, killing two children.
According to the investigation, 44-year-old
Dorothy Bruns, who suffered a seizure at the time
of the collision, was instructed not to drive after
being hospitalized less than two months earlier
after crashing her car into a parked vehicle.
On March 5, at about 12:40 p.m., Bruns was
behind the wheel of a Volvo sedan, driving
westbound on Ninth Street, when she stopped
at Fifth Avenue. Then, the investigation says,
while the light was still red, she pressed the
accelerator, striking a group of pedestrians.
Abigail Blumenstein, 4, and Joshua Lew, 1,
died from the impact while their mothers and
another pedestrian also suffered injuries.
Bruns faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted
of the top charge.
-- Meaghan McGoldrick
Photos courtesy of Pauline “Doll” Castagna
The move begins.
Pauline “Doll” Castagna
with another member of
the center.