Two Excerpts from the West Side Rag Article

Here are two excerpts specifically about our efforts fromt the West Side Rag article:

"Here’s what some people are doing to try to stop or slow the process:

• David Saphier, who lives near PS 199, has started a site called 199 Demolition: Community Share Center that has lots of information on the proposals, a fuill library of documents, and regular updates about the project and meetings about it. If you’re at all interested, it’s definitely worth checking out the site and getting on his email list. Saphier has also created  a petition that already has more than 400 signatures (they’re aiming for at least 500) asking the city to stop the process. “We are asking that the proposal to demolish P.S. 199 end and that a more appropriate solution to our neighborhood’s needs be developed in close cooperation with the Lincoln Square community,” the petition says.You can read and consider signing it here. Saphier says that if you contact him through the site, he can send paper copies of the petition."

and

"One quick note: we have heard from some people that there is no other room for new schools in this area. But private schools have found all sorts of space: The Mandell Schoolleased a large space in The Aire on West 67th street, and Collegiate is building a new schoolbetween West 61st and West 62nd. The city, meanwhile, has failed to prepare for the influx of new children after a huge building boom in the 2000′s, notes Saphier. These demolition plans will add more kids, and there are few indications that the new schools will be much larger than the current ones. Says Saphier:
“The city is not broke now but it does have a problem in that much real estate development was encourage by the Bloomberg administration with no provision for additional education resources. The PS 199 school district had a population increase of nearly 50% between 2000 and 2010 (Manhattan as a whole increased 3%) and yet tax breaks were given to developers with no provision for addition classroom space. The city and the DOE are now trying to correct their poor planning on the backs of an already over burdened neighborhood and the school children involved.”

Read the Full Article