Five days a week, 79-year-old Alik Edelman makes his way to the Haber House Senior Center, a beloved second home he now fears is in imminent danger of shuttering its doors for good.
For Edelman, the impending closure—the stuff or gossip rather than an official announcement—still hits hard.
“It’s a catastrophe,” he said.
The leader of the center’s chess club, Edelman grew up in Romania, then traveled to Muldavia, then to the Ukraine, and when World War II suffocated the region, fled to Eastern Asia. He came to Brooklyn in 1993, and now lives in the Bernard Haber Houses, a public housing development for senior citizens.
“The meals, the programs—they’re important to us,” he said.
Rumors of the closure have built in intensity since the Manhattan-based Council of Senior Services sent out a mailing detailing the New York City Housing Authority’s (NYCHA) $195 million budget shortfall. Of that money, $70 million of that goes toward community services and $30 million goes to the senior centers that are housed in city-owned property overseen by NYCHA, the letter reads.
Edelman, whose wife Ester is disabled, said the center is not only conveniently located, it is a last resort for many seniors who are unable to get around as well as they once did.
“Please do not close our center,” Edelman urged.
The good news is that there are no plans—at least for now—to shutter the center, according to Howard Marder, a NYCHA spokesperson.
“We’ve made no announcement about closing this or any other senior center at this time,” Marder said.
“Does NYCHA face a huge budget deficit? Yes. But this is not new news,” he continued. “We are working on a solution to the budget deficit.”
Still, in testimony to the City Council in May, NYCHA Chairman Tino Hernandez said that because of monetary constraints, he would like to cut senior centers in public housing, whether operated by his agency or the city’s Department for the Aging.
Etty Friedman, the director of senior center, said Haber House, now in its 17th year, and boasts 1100 members.
The center, which is sponsored by the Jewish Community Council of Greater Coney Island, serves 150 breakfasts and 150 lunches daily, and offers a broad range of services—from chair yoga, art classes, birthday parties to stress management lectures.
“Basically, this is an extension of their homes,” she said.
Friedman said the rumor is that the center’s closure could happen in six months—a disturbing potentiality that weighs heavy on minds that have already seen much in this life.
“The seniors aren’t stupid. Haber is in a NYCHA development, so if NYCHA has this big budget crunch…of course the seniors are nervous,” she said.
“We are sort of their family,” she said.
