Protests are Starting Against the DOE Proposal for the East Side School

From yesterday's Daily News:

Uptown parents, students and politicians are calling on the city to halt an under-the-radar proposal for private developers to knock out a school for luxury apartments. 

The Department of Education quietly floated the proposal earlier this year to demolish East Harlem’s High School of Cooperative Technical Education along with two upper West Side schools, to make room for high-rise apartment buildings that would house new schools underneath. 

The upper West Side locations averted demolition, but the city is still shopping the E. 96th St. vocational school to developers. 

Co-Op Tech students, parents and educators said they will demonstrate in front of the East Harlem school on Friday morning, joined byBorough President Scott Stringer, to call on the city to halt the project.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/uptown/school-selloff-sell-east-harlem-parents-article-1.1384670#ixzz2XWCqKayw

Demonstrations will begin today at the High School of CTE outside the school on E. 96th between 1st and 2nd Ave at 10:30.

Meeting about the Future of Beacon High School

Will Beacon be a temporary location if PS 191 or PS 199 are demolished and redeveloped?  Will Beacon become a new middle school?

Important CEC 3 Meeting to Attend

DNAinfo.com Article about plans for the Beacon HS Building

DNAinfo.com has an article about plans for the Beacon High School building.  A new Beacon High School is being built and the DOE is working on plans for the old building.

One possibility mentioned in the article:

But the planned walk-through, which does not yet have a scheduled date, has sparked concerns that the Department of Education may be eyeing the Beacon building as a new home for P.S. 191, if the city goes forward with its proposal to tear down both P.S. 191 and P.S. 199 and replace them with privately developed high-rises.

Promises have been made concerning the process for PS 191 and PS 199 but as far as we know nothing  has been put into writing:

In response to parents' concerns about the proposed demolition of P.S. 191 and P.S. 199, Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott committed at a recent town hall meeting to get more feedback from residents before moving forward with the plans. Walcott assured anxious parents that the DOE's Educational Construction Fund, the arm that proposed the two school sites for private redevelopment, was not on the verge of issuing a request for development proposals, said Shuffler, who attended the town hall."[Walcott] did state very clearly that he would allow community input before the RFPs went out," added Maack, who also attended the meeting.

Read more: http://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20130422/upper-west-side/new-committee-plans-future-of-beacon-high-school-building#ixzz2RCLtwaHE

A Note from Chancellor Walcott's Town Hall

A note from Chancellor Walcott's Town Hall.  There was no new news but an assurance was made - verbally, nothing in writing:  The Chancellor promised that the community would be engaged before the next step, if there is a next step, the next step being a Request for Proposal (RFP).

The form of such engagement was not specified.  It must be remembered that the DOE has total control over this process.  The ECF has been granted that control by law.

BUT:  Remember, it is an election year and our voices and concerns matter this year more than most.

After the meeting, we had the chance to briefly speak with the Chancellor and give him a copy of our Petition.


Here is the follow up letter from Mark Diller, Chair of CB7 to Chancellor Walcott.

Amended Community Board 7 Resolution

Below is the wording of the Resolution asking the DOE to engage the community before taking the next step of releasing an RFP.

"THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED THAT Community Board 7/Manhattan calls on the

Department of Education, the School Construction Authority and the Educational Construction Fund to:

1. Prior to the formulation and release of any RFP relating to these sites, work with CB7 to conduct immediate,

consistent and meaningful public outreach to all constituencies in the affected community

and solicit public comment and concerns relating to all phases and aspects of the proposed

redevelopment;

2. Recognize and work with CB7 to establish a structure for regular and on-going discourse between DOE and community stakeholders (parents, teachers, administrators, local residents), agencies (DOE, DOB, City Planning, etc.), and elected City, State, and Federal officials regarding any concepts and/or proposal related to the proposed sites.

3. Provide a written commitment that the key aspects of any redevelopment proposal for these

sites be subject to ULURP."

Comments on the NY Daily News Story / Problems with ECF/DOE Projects

This comment was made in the article:

“There is so much misinformation,” said Douglas MacLaury, senior vice president of the Mattone Group, one of the developers vying for the PS 199 site. “The neighborhood gets a brand new school paid for by the residential development that rises on the site. This is a win-win for the neighborhood, children, city, and the developer.”

Not really true.  The latest ECF/DOE projects were poorly planned and are over crowded. After 4 years of displacement, the last ECF project, PS 59, opened with 1st grade and kindergarden wait-listing and a scrapped pre-K program. See the following articles:

http://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20120522/midtown-east/ps-59-scraps-pre-k-program-amid-overcrowding

http://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20120403/murray-hill-gramercy/waitlists-stretch-first-grade-at-ps-59

http://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20120319/murray-hill-gramercy/kindergarten-waitlist-expected-at-new-ps-59-building-midtown 

Moreover, the developer lost financing and is only now looking to complete the project, see the Wall Street Journal article.

You can read more background information on our start here page.

Wall Street Journal Highlights Problems with Past ECB/DOE Projects

"The World-Wide project came a result of a complex public-private partnership. The site actually is owned by the city's Department of Education, which in 2006 agreed to lease it to World-Wide for 75 years. As part of the deal, World-Wide agreed to rebuild two aging schools now on the site: an elementary school and a 1,400-student high school. 

The agreement was billed by the city as an innovative way to pay for new schools, given that the proceeds from the lease—which the city in 2006 said would be worth $325 million—would more than cover the price tag for the school construction.
After the downturn hit, the tower plans were put on ice. But World-Wide went ahead with construction of the schools, which were built on the same property in a way that also left space to build the tower. The schools, which were paid for by the city, opened in the fall, and the developer also built adjacent retail space that now holds a Whole Foods."

This development raises the question of how the school was paid for when the developer postponed the building of the tower when they lost funding.  Did the city go out of pocket contrary to the so called advantage of this pubic/private development?

Go to the Full Article

Candidates Roundtable for Seniors

Meet City Council Candidates

Sunday April 7th at 11:30am, Lunch and Live Music

Club 76 - Senior Center

120 W. 76th St, 3rd Floor Ballroom