In a democracy, the voice of the people must be heard regarding projects planned in a community. Recently, the City Council voted to construct a school on the Keil Bros. property in Bayside, the neighborhood that I have known for more than 82 years.
Why weren’t the people of my community informed that a hearing was going to take place at City Hall regarding this project? We would have come in force to express our opposition. It is outrageous, disrespectful and undemocratic that we were bypassed. I consider the Council’s approval vote on this matter null and void, and I cannot understand why Councilman Dan Halloran (R-Whitestone) and Councilman-elect Paul Vallone support this project against the will of the people who live in this community.
There were dozens of residents at the community board meeting when the city School Construction Authority came to make its presentation about building a new school on the Keil property. The people said this school cannot go behind the backyards of 31 homeowners on the block. The Keil property is behind and between the homeowners’ fences. This school
cannot be a curb away from MS 158. PS 31 is a short distance away on Bell Boulevard and a Korean school is over on 211th Street.
Such a concentration of schools cannot be found in any other area. This school cannot go on a busy bus route surrounded by blocks with narrow streets and limited parking.
And did the SCA give the public at the meeting an idea of how big the school would be, how it would be situated on the Keil property or who would be using the school and what the hours of operation would be? No. The two representatives from the SCA were useless, and then they turned around and made the community board the scapegoat with some problem they had after the meeting. Instead of investigating the matter, the city schools chancellor punished the community.
Yes, new schools and more seats are needed in District 26. But what about PS 130, at Francis Lewis Boulevard and 42nd Avenue? That is in District 26. Why does District 25 get to use it? No doubt District 25 needs new schools as well.
If new school sites are so hard to come by, has the SCA ever considered taking a small piece of Cunningham Park, on Oceania Street and Long Island Expressway, for a school site? The city has no qualms about letting a developer build a mall on land belonging to Flushing Meadows Corona Park.
The bottom line is that my neighborhood is always treated poorly by the city, which regards it as an area of borderline poverty and therefore finds it acceptable to dump on it. Where else do you find so many car dealerships and auto repair shops in a residential area? Why does the city Board of Standards and Appeals approve the placement of undesirable businesses in my community and why does the city Department of Buildings not enforce certificates of occupancy?
Where else do you have a sanitation garage in a residential area? Where else do you have such acute drainage problems and other neglected and intolerable street issues? Where else do you have such a concentration of schools? You would not find these in Douglas Manor, Bayside Gables, Bayside Hills or any other neighborhood I can think of.
Is it because of the ethnicity of the people who live here? It smacks of racism. Just look at the way the zoning lines are drawn in my community. Commercial overlays in many sections intrude further into the residential areas than in other neighborhoods. Some businesses even take more space than they are entitled to, which badly affects my neighbors. The creatures in Alley Pond Park and the wetlands have more zoning and environmental protection than people living in my community.
In summation, as a community and civic leader, there must be some redress regarding the injustice of approving a school project when the public did not get their chance to speak at the Council. It has nothing to do with the Keil family, who have served our community well. It has to do with the Council, the SCA and other city agencies and a DOE, a chancellor and certain elected officials who are arrogant and think they can impose their will over the taxpayers who pay their salaries and who they are supposed to represent.
They do these actions from their offices far away. They should be coming to the community to face us and hear the voice of the people. That is what democracy is about.
Mandingo Tshaka
Bayside
