Legislator Calls For Schools, Not Shelter
Local elected officials took aim at school overcrowding and amendments to the proposed Capital Plan during the Community Education Council District 24 (CEC 24) meeting last Tuesday, Dec. 16, at P.S. 113 in Glendale.
City Council Member Elizabeth Crowley urged School Construction Authority (SCA) representatives in attendance to build a school at the Cooper Avenue site where a homeless shelter is currently planned.
“We are, by far, the most overcrowded school district in the city, second to none,” Crowley stated, “It is becoming increasingly difficult and unfair to our children who are in these overcrowded classrooms.”
Crowley stated that her “Christmas wish” would be to see a school built at 78-16 Cooper Ave. and two adjacent properties: the former Hansel ‘n Gretel deli meat factory and Independent Chemical Corporation, which is rumored to be relocating next year.
“I am urging the School Construction Authority to take advantage of this opportunity to purchase this land and build a state of the art campus and school,” she said. “This opportunity will not present itself again.”
According to Crowley, the Cooper Avenue site would be the ideal location for a 10-acre campus.
“This site could serve the entire school district. It is very much accessible from the rest of Queens,” the Council member added. “We have the funding in the budget.”
Crowley explained that the current overcrowding is due, in part, to the influx of new families flocking to newly constructed apartment buildings and co-ops within the district. As a result, according to Crowley, the needs of District 24’s growing population of school children are going unmet.
“The SCA and Department of Ed. said we need roughly 10,000 seats in School District 24. I think that’s underestimated,” she stated. “It is frustrating to stand here tonight when there is a site not far from here that is right for development. It presents a great opportunity for our kids and can really alleviate the overcrowding here.”
CEC 24 Vice President Peter Vercessi echoed these concerns: “Middle Village has a need of 1,800 seats. If somehow the SCA could work with the city, that site could easily hold 1,800 seats.”
Crowley named Assembly Members Andrew Hevesi, Mike Miller and Catherine Nolan, as well as State Sen. Joseph Addabbo, as fellow advocates for a school at the site.
“I wanted to make sure I came here tonight to bring attention once again to this site,” she explained. “I’m not going to give up and will continue to fight for this community.”
SCA Director of External Affairs Mary E. Leas praised Crowley’s efforts and responded to her request.
“I agree with everything you said,” Leas stated. “I love the location. It’s a big piece of property, three pieces actually. It would provide an opportunity to deliver a lot of seats.”
However, issues with the property owners have put a damper on that possibility.
“One of the buildings didn’t want to sell to us, which is obviously where they want to build the homeless shelter,” stated CEC 24 President Nick Comaianni. Guidelines mandate that the SCA would have to purchase the site in its entirety, not only the portions willing to sell.
During a site visit last summer, members of the SCA, as well as Crowley and Comaianni, were only granted access to the defunct Hansel and Gretel site. The SCA was able to perform a preliminary environmental review, or “phase one” as Leas called it.
“We had things that were brought to our attention, some things of concern,” she stated. “But nothing so horrific that we would have walked away.”
The owners of the other two buildings, including the former chemical plant, refused to grant access to Leas and her team.
“There are issues that have come to our attention if we’re going to build on property that has those prior types of usage,” she explained. “We’re not going to seize property through eminent domain if we don’t know what we’re getting.”
Leas explained that the SCA was looking at the site as more of a potential high school campus, as opposed to an elementary or middle school, due to safety concerns over traffic on busy Cooper Avenue.
“There’s a lot of activity there,” she stated. Leas felt that high school students would be more adept at maneuvering the busy streets.
“We do have the funding for high school seats,” she explained, “But until we have cooperative sellers, there’s nothing much more that we can do.”
Overcrowding in Corona
Assemblyman Michael DenDekker, CEC members and parents all spoke out in favor of the creation of new school buildings to ease overcrowding at P.S. 19 and P.S.143.
Parents of students at P.S. 143 expressed outrage over the fact that their children had to attend classes in transportable classroom units (TCUs) located in the schoolyard.
“How long do we have to wait for an actual school building?” one parent asked.
“P.S. 19 and 143 have been on our radar for quite a while,” Leas replied. “It’s now one of the top priorities in your district.”
Vercessi also advocated for the construction of annexes in place of the existing TCUs: “I can tell you from hearing from numerous parents that they would gladly trade a schoolyard for another school building.”
He proposed removing the TCUs and using nearby P.S. 315 as a temporary swing space site for displaced students.
“Clearly, P.S. 19 is overwhelmingly overcrowded,” he added. “Let’s consider building a separate, stand-alone school in the yard.”
DenDekker spoke in support of this plan: “I advocate wholeheartedly to remove the transportable classrooms and build an annex on the site. It would be the perfect place.”
Plans to build a school or annex on land next to P.S. 143, however, must first receive approval from the Parks Department, as the land in question belongs to them.
“We’ve had an ongoing conversation with the Parks Department,” Leas explained. “There aren’t very many parks. They don’t give up land easily, as I would not expect them to.”
Capital plan amendments
Leas spoke in favor of a proposed amendment to the fiveyear Capital Plan for 2015 through 2019. The amendment was introduced in November 2014, and requests a change in the budget from $12.8 billion to $13.5 billion, an increase of $700 million.
The proposed $13.5 budget would be split, with $4.5 billion going into the capacity program, $5.3 billion to capital investments and $3.7 billion to mandated programs. The proposed $4.5 billion in capacity program funding could potentially create an estimated 40,800 seats citywide.
According to the proposal, the bulk of the capacity program funds, roughly $3.45 million, would go to the new capacity program and the creation of roughly 33,000 new seats. An estimated 4,045 seats were funded for District 24, including 608 seats for Maspeth and Middle Village. An addition to P.S. 125 will result in an additional 728 seats, while the addition at P.S/I.S. 49 in Middle Village brought with it 333 extra seats.
However, 4,425 seats in District 24 still remain unfunded. According to Leas, an estimated 941 seats are needed in Maspeth, while 1,853 seats are needed in Middle Village.
A proposed $210 million would be funneled into the Pre-K Initiative for the creation of 2,900 new seats. 180 of these seats are designated for a Pre-K Center slated to open on Myrtle Avenue in September 2015.
Finally, $783 million would also be allocated from the Smart Schools Bond Act, pending NYS Smart Schools Review Board Approval. This money could potentially fund technology enhancements, removal of TCUs and creation of additional Pre-K seats.
The Community Education Council of District 24 generally meets on the fourth Tuesday each month at 7 p.m. at locations across the district. For more information, call 1-718-418-8160.
