Appliance Store Sues Board Of Ed. Over School Site

According to lawyers for Stevens Appliance, Sipos Realty, LLC., the SCA and the BOEs actions "have been under color of state law, arbitrary and in bad faith and have caused an obvious injustice to their company, entitling them to injunctive and compensatory relief pursuant of the law."
The plaintiffs claim that the BOE and SCA concealed the fact that since December 1999, the education system was aware that the Stevens site was not vacant, but in the process of being converted to a modern appliance and electronic retail store for P.C. Richard & Sons, under a thirty year lease with Sipos.
They also claim that the BOE and SCA conducted an illegal transfer of some of Stevens property with neighboring businesses, and former opponents of the school plan.
The lawsuit points out that the Construction Authority and the Board ignored safety precautions in making the decision to build its school on Queens Blvd., the deadliest road in New York City which claimed over 74 pedestrian lives over the past seven years.
Repeated phone calls to the BOE went unreturned by press time.
"The BOE is not following their own analysis," said Tom Butler, spokesperson for Sipos Reality. "They know the site is not environmentally safe. They know that Queens Blvd. has the most traffic accidents of any road in the City, and they know that the community has adamantly opposed this construction in the past year. They also know that there are at least two other sites which provides sufficient space and safety standards to build the school. They are completely neglecting their own analysis."