Catholic Church and City Stick It to Fort Greene
Here’s a rumor straight out of The Da Vinci Code…The eight-story pre-war building on the corner of Clermont and Greene has been home to a group of priests for years. According to a tipster who lives nearby, the priests began moving out last week to make room for the building’s new occupants: 155 juvenile delinquents….
Here’s a rumor straight out of The Da Vinci Code…The eight-story pre-war building on the corner of Clermont and Greene has been home to a group of priests for years. According to a tipster who lives nearby, the priests began moving out last week to make room for the building’s new occupants: 155 juvenile delinquents. The Catholic Church reportedly has leased the entire building to the City which obviously feels that Fort Greene is getting too nice. After a neighborhood has spent a couple decades pulling itself up by its heels, why not throw up another roadblock. Anyone have further details?
Update: It appears that the Church is partnering with a non-profit group called ANCHOR to create an urban boarding school, 15 or 20 of whose students will be housed in this building. It’s unclear if the rest of the building will continue to house priests.
Wow, Brownstoner, you come across looking REALLY bad here, there’s just no way around it. So what neighborhood, in your opinion, deserves this “roadblock”? Jeez.
I think this is exactly what the Catholic Church is supposed to be doing.
At 3PM I’m at work in an office. At 2AM I’m trying to sleep and being awakened by overgrown post-teenagers breaking bottles, shrieking, puking ,etc after too many maritini’s after they depart their oh so trendy clubs,hip bars etc.
are you kidding me with this? looks like a great bldg and a great idea to give these guys a new shot. honestly, you better move to the upper east side if this kind of thing bothers you
Not quite like having a jail next door.
Enought with the NIMBY stuff folks. Who are we to say what’s okay to inhabit our neighborhod? And who are you b’stoner to tell another property owner what to do with their property? Smells like the same issues we are dealign with relating to Ratnerville. And btw, one of the things they are looking to demolish over there is an emergency housing bldg for families on Dean Street. Should we now equate Ratner’s proposals with progress as a result of more rich people coming in to that nabe. And where exactly should teens in need live??
yeah, well back in my day we didn’t even have subways! we burrowed under the streets ourselves with nothing but an ordinary soup spoon.
Here’s a wild stab in the dark. The Catholic Church is a religious/charitable organization. These organizations are mission-driven. There’s probably not enough priests to fill the building, so they are going to use it for a purpose related to their mission, a condo conversion not being one of them. Also, don’t people think that juvenile delinquents tend to come from less than stellar neighborhoods and it just might be a good thing to have them be in a nicer environment? And yes, I have lived near 2 highschools and a meth clinic & a group home & would do it again.
Anyone who thinks that equating Brooklyn High Schools with Halfway Houses and Methadone Clinics is wrongheaded has obviously never been on baord the C train at 3:00 PM on a weekday. This experience is so jarring as to cause even the most philanthropic amongst us to lose faith in mankind. I found myself wishing for a firey derailment or a sudden appearance by a pack of hungry werewolves – anything to quell the infestation of screeching, bullying, gum popping teenage subhumans.