State Sen. Tony Avella joins Brownsville Cultural Coalition’s fight to save Our Lady of Loreto
Ocean Hill-Brownsville church is threatened with demolition
Madonna mia!
Our Lady of Loreto has a new protector: State Sen. Tony Avella.
The Queens Democrat — and mayoral candidate — has stepped forward in the face of fresh threats by a Catholic Charities of Brooklyn and Queens subsidiary to demolish the shuttered century-old church in the Ocean Hill section of Brownsville.
Avella has joined a campaign by the Brownsville Cultural Coalition and the group’s long-time supporter, Assemblymember Latrice Walker (D-Brownsville), that calls for the landmarking of Our Lady of Loreto and its adaptive reuse as a cultural center.
Why has Avella gotten involved in the effort to save a church that’s not in his state senate district, or even his home borough?
“I have a long-standing reputation of being a preservationist dating back to my days in the City Council,” he told the Brooklyn Eagle Thursday afternoon before a press conference outside the cast-stone church at 124 Sackman St.
“A number of groups reached out to me [about Our Lady of Loreto]. When anybody asks me for help, I go.”
Catholic Charities Progress of Peoples Development Corp. (POP), which is now threatening to tear down the church, was going to do so several years ago in order to build low-income housing.
But following protests by Brownsville activists, the state Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation determined that Our Lady of Loreto and the rectory next to it were eligible for listing on the State and National Registers of Historic Places.