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 

See our Coverage in the West Side Rag

PETITION AND BILL AIM TO SLOW OR STOP PROCESS OF DEMOLISHING UWS PUBLIC SCHOOLS

Posted on April 3, 2013 at 10:19 pm by West Side

New efforts are underway to stop or slow the process of demolishing two local public schools so that developers can build high-rises with new schools in their place.

Parents and local residents near PS 199, on West 70th street, have been especially active trying to stop the plans. And State Assemblyman Daniel O’Donnell has introduced a new bill that would make the city use a public process to get the developments approved.

First, some background: months ago, the city put out a“request for expressions of interest” (RFEI) to developers asking them if they were interested in building new high-rises on land that currently houses PS 199 on 70th street and PS 191 on 61st street, as well as a third school on the Upper East Side. The Department of Education didn’t tell parents at the school that it was doing this. The new buildings built on the sites following demolition of the current schools would have new public schools inside them, paid for using tax-exempt bonds backed by taxpayer funds. Lease payments from developers would help fund the bond payments, meaning the city would presumably spend much less money than if the school was built using just public money.

According to drawings, parts of the new schools would be located underground — at PS 199, part of the school would be on the same level as the building’s parking garage. The residential portion of the building on 70th could be as tall as 34 stories, or 46 stories with a special permit. At the one on 61st, the building could be 20 stories, or 36 with a special permit.

Go to Full Article

Statement from Ken Biberaj, Candidate for CIty Council, District 6

West Side City Council Candidate Responds to City’s Plan for Demolition and

Redevelopment of P.S. 191 and P.S. 199

New York City (April 3, 2013)- Democratic City Council Candidate (6th district - Upper West Side), Ken Biberaj, issued a statement about the news that the City is entertaining plans to tear down P.S. 191 and P.S. 199.  It was recently reported that the Department of Education had requested proposals to demolish P.S. 191, P.S. 199, and a school on the Upper East Side and replace them with high-rise apartments and new schools on the ground level.  The initial report came as a shock to our neighborhood.  While more details continue to emerge about the plan, our students, parents, and community deserve full involvement in this process.

“Like many on the Upper West Side, I have serious concerns about the plan to demolish P.S. 191 and P.S. 199 and that the community was not approached at the outset.  Public education in our neighborhood is reaching a crisis point and while we have a desperate need for more quality seats for our growing family population, it has to be balanced with over development on the West Side” said City Council candidate Ken Biberaj.  “Any plan to rebuild these schools within a new development must be done in a responsible and transparent way. The community must be involved in the decisions that are made so that we ensure that if there is a development it creates additional school seats, provides affordable housing and addresses the serious concerns about increased density. Far too much development has taken place over the years on the UWS without our community getting enough in return. This practice needs to stop. “

Statement from Noah Gotbaum, Candidate for City Council, District 6

STOP THE DEMOLITION OF OUR COMMUNITY SCHOOLS

By Noah Gotbaum | West Side Spirit | February 28, 2013

Concerns that the Department of Education has offered PS 199 (West 70^th St) and PS 191 (West 61^st St) as development sites to be demolished and then rebuilt inside of luxury apartment towers has spread like wildfire through our community.  And with good reason.  DOE’s consultants drafted and distributed a detailed 80-page “Request for Expressions of Interest” memorandum for developers interested in the sites - and subsequently received dozens of draft plans – which could hugely and negatively impact thousands of children, families and community members without so much as a phone call to our elected officials, Community Board 7, Community Education Council (CEC3), and the affected school communities.

And while ensuring multiple and attractive “benefits” to the prospective developers – including “markets starved of luxury housing” – the DOE memorandum is far less concerned with the negative impacts on our schools and community. The memorandum neither requests nor proposes a definitive and clear plan or discussion of the developers’ (or the DOE’s) responsibilities to our families and community during construction or even where those displaced students would go. Equally troubling, the proposal expects that the new schools will be no larger than the current schools. This despite significant overcrowding district-wide – including at 199 as well as 191 – and a district-wide push for new seats, especially at the middle school level. Incredibly, the DOE proposal doesn’t even require developers to provide additional space for the influx of hundreds of additional school-age families who inevitably will be drawn to the new developments which actively market our schools as a key amenity.

Noah Gotbaum Campaign Kick-off at PS 199 this Saturday

Campaign Kickoff

Saturday, April 06, 2013 at 12:00 PM

PS 199 in New York, NY

Join Noah, his children, former Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum, parents, community members, and Chubby the English mastiff, for Noah’s Campaign Kickoff.

Note:  This is not an endorsement but it is an opportunity to show support for the opposition of the PS 199 proposal and to hand out flyers!

News from the West Side Rag

TONIGHT - APRIL 10TH, A CHANCE TO GRILL SCHOOLS CHANCELLOR DENNIS WALCOTT

Posted on April 1, 2013 at 3:36 pm by West Sider

Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott is coming to the Upper West Side on April 10, and the local community education council wants to hear your questions. They’d like to get the questions by April 1, so think fast!

The District 3 Community Education Council is asking District 3 Parents and Guardians to submit their top 5 concerns for District 3 to CEC3@schools.nyc.gov by Monday April 1st in preparation for the Town Hall.

Maybe, just maybe, Walcott will answer all of the myriad questions that the DOE has failed to answer about the plan to demolish PS 199 and PS 191 and replace them with high-rises with schools inside.

Info on the town hall below:

Joint Town Hall Meeting
With Chancellor Dennis Walcott
And the
Community Education Council District 3

■

April 10, 2013
6:00 PM – 7:00 PM
Wadleigh Educational Complex
Auditorium
215 W. 114th St.

Go to Article

Press Recognition

Our efforts are starting to get some press recognition:

The Real Deal

Curbed

The Architecture of PS199

Public School 199

270 West 70^th Street between Amsterdam and West End Avenue
Edward Durell Stone 1963

PS 199, officially named the Jesse Isador Straus School, stands stoutly at three stories high in the shadow of the Lincoln Towers Complex.  The school was built in a Title One redevelopment area, which included Lincoln Center and the Lincoln Towers.  The Board of Education commissioned well-known architect, Edward Durell Stone, to design PS 199.  Stone’s first major commission was in 1937 for the Museum of Modern Art, which he designed with Philip L. Goodwin.  

Then, beginning in the 1950s, Stone’s architectural aesthetic changed.  In a “move toward elegance,” Stone broke with the International Style and started designing sleek buildings with classical aspects.  The U.S. embassy in New Delhi was Stone’s first major work after this transformation and it is one of his most intricate and memorable designs.  PS 199, although not quite as elaborate as the embassy, is representative of Stone’s new aesthetic.  The school’s 166 thin, glazed white brick piers are faithful to Stone’s love of repetitive columns and are evocative of a grand colonnade.  

Classical patterning is illustrated in the concentric squares inscribed beneath the roof’s overhang.  Keeping in mind that people would be looking down at the top of the school from the surrounding apartment buildings, Stone tried to make the roof clean and aesthetically pleasing.  He cut out the center of the roof creating an open-air play space on the third floor of the school.  The building’s materials are simple: brick, glass, and metal.  However, the combination of shiny glass, dark brick, and white glazed piers create a striking contrast.  PS 199 has undoubtedly increased in significance because of the fate of 2 Columbus Circle.  

Stone’s 1964 design for the Gallery of Modern Art at 2 Columbus Circle was radical and innovative for the time and unfortunately has been lost.  PS 199 continues the neoclassical spirit of Stone’s unique form of Modernism on the Upper West Side and should be preserved in its own right and in memory of 2 Columbus Circle. 

Thanks to Landmark West for providing this description. 

Letter from Mel Wymore, Candidate for City Council, District 6

Historical Information on PS199

Thanks to Landmark West we have added newspaper clippings and historical information about PS199 and it's architectural significance to our document library.  You can find the documents under the 199 History and Landmark folder towards the bottom of our documents page.