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.