Since Hurricane Sandy destroyed its original location in 2012, a Coney Island community center has struggled to find a replacement home. The HeartShare St. Vincent’s Services community center, attached to the Surfside Gardens development, has now been forced to move five times since the storm. The nonprofit has been waiting for the New York City Housing Authority to complete the $61-million recovery project at its center. Although the center initially thought it could organize its own cleanup and repairs after Sandy, that turned out to be impossible, amNewYork reported.
“The center was completely flooded. There was water damage. There was sand. It was completely destroyed,” said Brooke Rosenthal, vice president of youth development at the center.
The center has relied on community support and donations to maintain its programming schedule since. Councilmember Mark Treyger, who represents Coney Island, blamed “government bureaucracy and incompetence” for the delayed reopening, but without a hard deadline, the center doesn’t expect their new home to open soon.
