WILLIAMSBURG — The long fight to save a Williamsburg community center hit a roadblock Friday after Gov. Andrew Cuomo vetoed legislation aimed at protecting it.
Assemblyman Joseph Lentol and State Sen. Martin Dilan have been pushing a bill to help the Swinging Sixties Senior Center, at 211 Ainslie St., after its landlord tried to evict the 40-year-old community center.
The law, which passed through the House and Senate earlier this year, would have given the state the power of eminent domain to buy the center at market rate.
But the governor vetoed the bill, saying it didn't give the landlord "due process," Cuomo wrote.
The law also did not say how seizing the property aligns with the Empire State Development Corporation's "stated mission of promoting the State's sound growth and development," Cuomo wrote in his veto.
Cuomo's decision came as a blow to hundreds of residents and local elected officials who have been fighting to keep the center open since new landlords Victor and Harry Einhorn tried to push it out.
Nonprofit St. Nicks Alliance, which runs the center with the Conselyea Street Block Assocation, has been fighting the eviction in court for months. Locals have also been protesting its potential closure since 2013 in hopes of pressuring city officials to take more action.
Seniors have called the center "a second home," and community board meetings are regularly held at the 211 Ainslie St. space.
"I am very disappointed by the Governor’s veto," Assemblyman Lentol, who sponsored the bill, said in a statement. "There was absolutely no fatal flaw in the legislation that went before him. He could have signed it."
State Sen. Dilan, who also sponsored the bill, echoed Lentol's statements, saying that the community center that's long been subsidized by the government deserves to remain open.
"The governor may not be concerned about the seniors, the children at the daycare or that this building houses the heart of the community," he said in statement, "but my constituents and I most certainly are."
Both vowed to continue fighting to keep the center open.
Lentol said he believes Cuomo's veto "invites continued dialog and negotiation on this issue." He plans to reintroduce similar legislation next year, with negotiations beginning in January.
"The Senior and the Day Care center have been a safe and nurturing haven for moderate to low income families who in one way or other are fighting the pressures of New York City’s high costs," he said. "I will not let them lose a place where their children can be cared for reasonably and responsibly or where seniors can go to get at least one good meal a day."
