BY JESSICA PARKS
The Fort Hamilton Senior
Center is set to reopen on Sept.
13, ushering in a return to
normalcy for the hundreds of
members who have gone without
its services for 18 months.
The Bay Ridge senior center
did not reopen in mid-June
with many other facilities
across the city, as it is operated
by the city Parks Department
and Mayor Bill de Blasio’s
edict only made way for
the reopening of centers operated
by the city’s Department
for the Aging.
Since its pandemic-related
closure in March 2020, the
senior center has been used
to house a Learning Bridges
program, a daycare for the
children of essential workers,
followed by a Summer Rising
program, a free school-based
summer camp for kindergarten
to eighth-grade students,
which seniors and elected offi -
cials both claim had very few
kids by summer 2021.
Local electeds further
claim that the city’s Department
of Education had plans to
continue using the center for
after-school programs through
the 2021-2022 school year —
shutting out local seniors for
at least another 10 months.
But, Councilmember Justin
Brannan and state Sen.
Andrew Gounardes — area
pols who, earlier this summer,
called for the center’s reopening
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— say they didn’t let
The Fort Hamilton Senior Center. Photo by Jessica Parks
that happen. Instead, the two
pushed the city agency to fi nd
another location, and allow
seniors to return to their beloved
center at full scale.
Now, the center is set to reopen
Monday Sept. 13, and stay
open from 9 am through 5 pm
Monday through Saturday.
“It’s offi cial: the Fort Hamilton
Senior Center is back! I
appreciate the Parks Department
working with us and
keeping their word,” Brannan
said in a statement to Brooklyn
Paper. “Nothing keeps an
elected offi cial on their toes
more than hearing what our
seniors are thinking. They
don’t call it the Greatest Generation
for nothing! I can’t
wait to see them again!”
The politicians’ advocacy
was in direct response to the
persistence of their senior
constituents, who also fought
hard for the senior center’s
reopening. Many called their
elected offi cials, circulated petitions
and placed calls to local
agencies — which, Brannan
and Gounardes said, spurred
their fi rst letter in support of
the seniors back in June.
Richard McLaughlin Sr., a
resident of Dyker Heights and
member at the Fort Hamilton
Senior Center, previously described
the facility as a “social
mecca” for seniors who
sometimes live a solitary life
in their old age — providing a
sense of community as well as
a variety of health benefi ts.
“There are seniors that
need the camaraderie,”
McLaughlin previously told
Brooklyn Paper. “Some rely
on the center for socialization,
there are always groups doing
all sorts of activities there.”
CENTER
STAGE
Fort Hamilton Senior Center to
reopen after 18 months on Sept. 13
Immediately
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