Fort Hamilton

Close Fort Hamilton Army Base, says blog

June 8, 2018 By Raanan Geberer Brooklyn Daily Eagle
Photo courtesy Fort Hamilton
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Every few years, the U.S. military looks at a list of facilities that could be closed, and the Bay Ridge community and its political allies raise a hue and cry to make sure Fort Hamilton isn’t on that list. However, the local blog Hey Ridge, in a move that is sure to be unpopular in the neighborhood, says “The army base should close” and take its military personnel with it. The idea goes back as far as 1906, when the West End Board of Trade of Brooklyn wanted to turn it into a park. However, then-Secretary of War William Howard Taft put a damper on the idea, saying Fort Hamilton was necessary for the defense of New York Harbor. In 1926, it was suggested as a location for what is now called Brooklyn College, but eventually the current site at Nostrand and Flatbush avenues was chosen.  The Hey Ridge writer said military police who are assigned to live on the base are “re-creating the city in the image of suburban America: calling ICE on the pizza delivery guy, eating fast food from chain restaurants and driving everywhere.”

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