PS 9 is holding a rummage sale through May 19 at the former Swan Dry Cleaners on 84th between CPW and Columbus. Check out the details below, and to see our list of school fairs click here:

Kids bikes, scooters, car seats, Maclaren Twin stroller, small furniture, kids bed with mattress.
Toys for all ages, games, puzzles, books, dvds, clothing in all sizes, sports equipment including ice skates and bike helmets. Jewelry, new perfume and make-up.

Fill up a bag of clothes for $20. Also designer clothes, shoes ( Tods, Michael Kors, Kenneth Cole)  and purses including vintage Gucci and brand new Kenneth Cole. Clothing is all good quality  and for all seasons. Stock up on fall and winter clothing now. GREAT PRICES!

Lots of household items too- dishes, shredder, coffee maker, Cute pirate table and chairs. 66 west 84 between CPW and Columbus. Former Swan Dry Cleaners. Until May 19. 830-6

By Maria Dering

PS 191 and PS 199 parents and neighbors voiced their opinions at a meeting Monday about the Department of Education’s plans to consider tearing down the schools so a developer can build high-rises with new schools inside of them. No one from the Department of Education showed up to the meeting despite being invited. The information vacuum has been filled with questions and anxiety.

At the heart of the issue is a Request for Expressions of Interest issued by an Education Department agency that offers up three schools, including PS 191 (61st/Amsterdam) and 199 (70th/West End Avenue), to developers as  “prime development sites.”

The Executive Summary of the RFEI states: “The three sites are truly special opportunities as they present sizable developments within submarkets having limited available land for any substantial development, and are located within neighborhoods exhibiting exceptionally strong residential market fundamentals. … Prospective respondents are invited to bid on one, two, or all three sites.” We broke the story and explained the issue in detail here.

“We feel in the dark about the potentially game changing situation at P.S. 191 and 199,” said Noah Gotbaum, co-chair of the CEC3 Overcrowding Committee. “We have not had adequate response to our questions.” According to an April 25 letter from the DOE distributed at the May 13 meeting, “ … no decisions have been made on any sites — we are addressing whether there is interest and ability to build at these locations.” Since no representatives of DOE attended the meeting, Gotbaum will take questions back to the department. CEC3 will also ask for discussion and comment on the following issues, among others:

1. Before the RFEI was released, there was no educational impact statement or notice to schools and parents. Developers were notified first.

2. In terms of process, there is no mention of an RFP (a Request for Proposals, which would let developers send out final proposals for the sites). Would there be opportunity for public comment? At present, there is no clear indication that the DOE would issue an RFP.

3. The issue of “movement of schools” would be left to developers rather than parents or the community. Current school buildings must be demolished and students moved to other locations temporarily. Would students be kept in their current catchment areas?

Mark Diller, Chair of Community Board 7, said the Community Board would like the community “to have robust input before an RFP is issued. The community needs to shape what the project looks like, and must have input before the ULURP process begins.” Diller then answered several questions from the floor about the RFEI, whether the land under P.S. 191 has been sold (unknown), and whether P.S. 199 has applied for Landmark status. (Council Member Gale Brewer wrote to the Landmarks Preservation Commission on April 8.)

Other developments:
The Manhattan Borough President’s Office has asked the DOE to identify which community would be affected by possible redevelopment. They would like to work with a single community rather than trying to work with three. However, the Borough President has not taken a position on which school site should be chosen.

Several other elected officials, including Linda Rosenthal (Assemblymember 67th District) and District 6 Council Member Gail A. Brewer have also voiced their concerns about the RFEI, community input, and decision making. In a brief appearance, Council Member Brewer stated, “No way should 191 be anything other than the current building,” which met with loud applause. Brewer would also like to see the environmental issues at P.S. 199 addressed, and is very concerned about having “another tall building” in the neighborhood.

Following comments from civic leaders, Gotbaum turned to comments from attendees.

Comment #1: David Saphier, leaderWebmaster, www.199demolition.com
He is also working with P.S. 191 and wants what is right for the school and the community. There have been no questions about what the community wants; no educational impact studies have been done.

The proposed schools won’t accommodate many more students than are already in schools on the current sites. He doesn’t know what will be accomplished. Only the developers benefit, though tax breaks and bond issues.

Comment #2: Parent, P.S. 199
Has two children now in P.S. 199. Not against redevelopment although there are many problems with the RFEI. She sees redevelopment as a possible opportunity to get grades K-8 in the space. Cited the “overwhelming need for seats. If we can achieve this in partnership with a private developer, that is not an evil.”

At this point, Councilwoman Brewer arrived and made the following comment: “No way should 191 be anything other than the current building,” which was met with loud applause from the 100+ people in the audience. Brewer would also like to see the environmental issues at P.S. 199 addressed, and is very concerned about having “another tall building” in the neighborhood.

Public comments resumed.
Comment #3: Parent and PTA co-president, P.S. 199
The RFEI process is terrible and flawed. She wants community input and stressed the dire need for more seats in school. In June, she hopes to see more ideas. “We will weigh in once we have a sense of what is out there.”

Several other audience members, mostly parents, commented on the conflicting information given by various offices and wondered how to solve the problems facing the schools and their communities. One parent questioned how the DOE would accommodate new residents in new developments, when those residents have more children than the developers anticipated.

Laurie Frey, a member of CEC3, made a series of final comments, ending with this: “If you are not in favor of tearing down your stand-alone school … now is the time to stand up and say no.”

For more on the developments, check out advocacy sites for PS 199 and PS 191.

There are some important local education meetings coming up.

The first is on Friday at PS 191 on 61st and Amsterdam, for people fighting the demolition of PS 191.

Stop the proposed  PS 191 Museum Magnet school Redevelopment

When:  Friday, May 10^th,

8:05 – 8:45am

Where:On Amsterdam Ave in front of our school

Between West 60th Street and West 61st Street

Bring your voices and let’s be heard!

The other three are detailed in the flyers below.

May 13, 530: PS 191, PS 199 update meeting in PS 191 Auditorium.

May 15, 6:30: Middle and High School Choice meeting, also at PS 191.

May 16, 6:30: Beacon High School planning meeting, at Goddard Riverside.

We have been hearing quite a bit about the fight to stop the demolition of PS 199 on West 70th street as the city considers redeveloping the school building as a high-rise with a new school at the bottom. But PS 191 on West 61st is also potentially going to be torn down and redeveloped, and there didn’t appear to be an organized opposition movement there. Some community activists worried that 191 had less political power to fight the plans because the parents there live in the Amsterdam Houses projects and would be overlooked. (The idea of demolishing 191 is particularly strange because there’s another new school being built inside a luxury high-rise at Riverside Center literally one block away.)

But in the past few days, a new website and petition have gone up to fight the plans at 191. The opposition movement is being lead by teachers at the Museum Magnet School inside 191, according to David Saphier (who has been leading the fight on this issue).

The petition from the Museum Magnet group says:

“Building a high-rise will negatively affect the lives of the community residents, particularly in the Amsterdam Houses, as well as negatively affect the Museum Magnet School students and staff. We are strongly opposed to this development plan because we believe it will negatively affect the quality and cohesiveness of instruction at the Museum Magnet School, and will displace our school children. We are dismayed that there has been a lack of effort on the part of the DOE and the ECF to allow the community to be involved and educated in this process.”

You can sign the petition here. The blog about the efforts is here.

For background on the plan, read our initial story that broke the news, and the subsequent follow-ups. In short, the city says this is a good way to get new schools built without committing city funds, but opponents argue that the city is giving away land to developers, actively usurping the traditional development review process, and keeping parents and neighbors out of the planning process. Kids at 191 and 199 would be moved to other locations during the demolition, and then given spots in new schools that would be built within the high-rises.  There’s no clear timeline of when developers will submit final plans to rebuild the schools, but demolition could start in 2015 if plans get approved.

School fairs are a great way to support local schools and find out more about them if you’re looking to move into the school district. There are generally lots of fun events for kids of all ages. Here are some of the school fairs coming up in the next two weekends. If we’ve missed any, email us and let us know. (Apologies for the funky formatting. We cut and pasted.)

Update: See comments section for more fairs.

Saturday, May 4

Calhoun Carnival

Location: 433 West End Ave. at 81st St.

Time: 11am-5pm

Ticket Prices: free admission; tickets for rides, games, craft activities and food, from $1-$4.

Raffle: Tickets on sale at the carnival; purchaser’s presence not required

More here.

Saturday, May 4

The PS 199 Stoop Sale!  Saturday May 4, 2013 from 10-3pm in the PS 199 Cafeteria,  270 West 70^th Street between West End Avenue and Amsterdam.  Free Admission.  Rain or Shine!

Saturday, May 11

From 11:00am – 4:00pm
The Museum Magnet School at 61st and Amsterdam Avenue
In the Heart of Lincoln Square
Just steps away from the Columbus Circle A/B/C/D/1 Trains

Come join us for an afternoon of activities that will be fun for all ages! Featuring a very special performance by JOANIE LEEDS! Admission is FREE for everyone and activities range in price from $1 to $5. With Inflatables, Face Painting, Arts & Crafts, Carnival Games (including a Dunk Tank if the weather is right!), Music, food and refreshments by local vendors, and more, this event promises to be THE best way to spend a Spring afternoon in the neighborhood. This family-friendly event benefits the MMS PTA, which funds enrichment programs for the entire school community.

Saturday, May 11

WHAT: The West Side Montessori School annual Spring Fair featuring a fun-filled day of games, live entertainment, arts and crafts, face painting, a moon bounce, trolley rides, a maze, plus tons of delicious food and drinks.

WHEN: 11am – 4pm. The Fair will take place rain or shine.

WHERE: West 92 Street between Riverside and West End

NOTES: Admission is free; individual tickets cost $1 a piece and are for children’s activities only. Activities require 2-5 tickets each. Children’s pass (wristband) is $40 and includes lunch and a beverage. Food and beverages are cash only.Celebrating its 50th year, West Side Montessori School is an independent early childhood Montessori school serving more than 200 children, age 3 to 6 years. 100% of the proceeds from the Spring Fair benefit the West Side Montessori School scholarship fund.

Saturday May 11

32 West 92nd Street btwn (Columbus & CPW)

PS 84 The Lilian Weber School (Playground)

11am-5pm

Activities Include: Giant Slide, Bouncy Castle & Inflatable Obstacle Course, Featuring the Famous PS 84 Box Maze, Face Painting, Fun Games & Crafts

Food: Hamburgers, Hot Dogs, Sausages, Pizza and International Cafe Neighborhood Vendors & More

Musical Performances

Cost $1 per ticket for games, rides and food

All proceeds benefit go to the PS 84 PTA for school programs

* Spring Fair will be held inside PS 84 in event of rain

Saturday May 18

PS 163 Spring Fair

This fun family fair features craft and game booths, rides, food from the grill plus treats, and a rummage sale.

Saturday May 18

Photo via Calhoun.

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.

Because the sites are owned by the city, development proposals wouldn’t have to go through a public hearing process to be approved. And the DOE is considering plans to potentially build on all three sites, depending on the quality of the bids. Those facts are spelled out clearly in the RFEI. In the weeks since then, a DOE official (who has since left the agency) said that they plan to only build on one of the sites, and that they plan to allow some public review of the proposals. But none of that appears to be in writing, and the DOE would not confirm any of it in response to our questions. Our initial story, which broke the news about the issue and has more of the initial details, is here.

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.
• While PS 199 has an active parent group looking at the proposal, we’ve heard less from PS 191, despite attempts to contact parents there. Activist Batya Lawton worries that PS 191 is more likely to be demolished because parents there mostly hail from the Amsterdam Houses housing project and might be overlooked.
• State Assemblyman Daniel O’Donnell has also introduced a bill that would make the city go through a public review process called ULURP to allow the public to have a say in any development plans. “[The bill] would legally require full community involvement in the decision-making process. The bill would make the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP) mandatory in all similar circumstances, and add parent and community involvement requirements before the city may sell any school building or property.” The text of the bill is here.
• Mel Wymore of Community Board 7 has called for the community to be included in discussions before ULURP, because once the process has started it’s usually a done deal. The other City Council candidates have also called for the process to be stopped or slowed down.
• Community Board 7 Chairman Mark Diller says he is forming a working group to look at the issue and keep everyone informed. We’ll let West Side Rag readers know if we hear more about that, and if there will be an email list.
• Borough President Scott Stringer has called on the DOE to commit in writing to a public process and to keeping the school communities together if they have to move.
• The issue is getting national attention; well-known education reformer Diane Ravitch linked to our stories and wrote about it: “While millions have been spent to renovate these three schools in recent years, the Bloomberg Administration quietly asked New York City’s finest developers whether they would be interested in tearing down these schools and building multi-million dollar, high-rise luxury towers. The only requirement is that the developers provide some space in the basement and/or lower floors for a school to move into space below the upscale residential buildings.”
• Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott is coming to the Upper West Side on April 10. Expect some questions there about the proposal.

We’ve posted Stringer and O’Donnell’s letters below.

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 School leased a large space in The Aire on West 67th street, and Collegiate is building a new school between 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.”

O’Donnell Bill Requires Community Involvement in Sale of School Buildings 031413

BP Letter to DOE Re ECF Proposal 3.18.13

The Department of Education waited three weeks to fix a light bulb that was leaking toxic chemicals at PS 87 on 77th street, and didn’t tell parents for almost three months, according to Assembly member Linda Rosenthal. PCB’s are a carcinogenic chemical that was used in lighting fixtures until the 1970′s. Eight Upper West Side schools have been found to contain the fixtures. The city has said it will spend the next decade getting rid of the chemicals, but local officials have tried to speed up the timetable. Rosenthal has sponsored a bill making the city dispose of the chemicals in two years.

Of the recent leak, Rosenthal wrote:

“Though a malodorous and smoking lighting ballast was discovered on December 7, 2012 while children were in a classroom on the third floor, the ballast was not removed until December 28, nearly three weeks later. Adding insult to injury, the DOE then broke the law when it did not notify the principal or parents of the dangerous toxic leak. Parents learned of the incident this week, nearly three months later, by accident.”

The city is supposed to notify parents within seven days. The DOE didn’t get back to us with a comment. In a letter sent home with parents the department apologized, according to DNAinfo.

“‘We apologize for not notifying you sooner,’ Deputy Schools Chancellor Kathleen Grimm wrote.

Grimm explained in her letter that the leak caused a ‘burning odor,’ and forced administrators to evacuate the room.

The room was ventilated for three days and students returned on Dec. 10, she said, adding that students were allowed to return to the room because “no visible leaks were observed so the fixture remained in place.”

The PTA presidents are also calling for faster action:

“We are deeply, deeply concerned for the health and safety of our children, teachers and staff. We insist that our classrooms are remediated this summer and that the DOE allow immediate air quality testing so that we can make sure our school is safe. We call on the DOE and the City of New York to do better by our children. They deserve a safe place to learn, and we, as parents, deserve answers,” said P.S. 87 Parents Association co-presidents Claire Abenante, Ann Binstock and Katie Miller.

A PS 87 parent we contacted wrote: “I am sure parents are angry that they weren’t told until now since I think the law says parents have to be notified within 7 days.  Also not sure where the mess up is – at the school level, district level, network level, DOE level.  No one is exactly stepping up to take responsibility. But, it was one light, in one classroom – not like the PS 199 situation where they just can’t get rid of it and don’t know why.”

Community opposition is building to city plans that could allow developers to knock down two local schools and build luxury high-rises with new schools in their place. If the city moves ahead, PS 191 on 61st street and PS 199 on 70th street would be demolished as soon as 2015. But numerous community leaders, nearby homeowners and others have begun speaking out.

The plan, which we first wrote about a couple of weeks ago, has progressed to the point that developers have already submitted proposals detailing how they want to redevelop the sites. The city told the developers that they could build luxury housing on the sites without the public review process (called ULURP) that usually accompanies large building projects.

When parents began asking questions, a city official said that the ULURP process will be used (but…Educational Construction Fund Executive Director Jamie Smarr, the official who made those promises, has since stepped down from his position. It’s not clear who will be the new executive director). PS 199 President Eric Shuffler and others are trying to get that ULURP pledge in writing.

The Department of Education has said that if it chooses one of the proposals for either of the schools it will then consult the community about what people want. The department is expected to decide whether it will move ahead with particular proposals by June 2013.  But the remaining questions about the proposal and the fact that it was essentially hidden for months, have left many people unsettled.

Local opposition has taken various forms:

• People who live in buildings close to PS 199 are concerned about the construction, and are urging neighbors to fight the project. Residents at 210 West 70th street plan to come to tomorrow night’s community board to protest. They say: “PLEASE WRITE AND CALL AND PROTEST A.S.A.P. The infrastructure of W. 70th Street  cannot sustain any more construction nightmares, noise & filth, rats, mice etc. We need the Sunlight that’s left…The neighborhood is over-populated as it is. Subways are full, taxis are scarce. Traffic would increase! The School Children, Parents, Teachers and Community must not be displaced in this irresponsible manner!A new fight for what’s right!  Heaven Help Us.”
  
• Some want the city to immediately involve the community in the process before the DOE chooses a proposal to push forward. City Council candidate Mel Wymore says he is “indignant at the lack of consideration shown to us, and resolved to have it corrected as soon as possible…For the city to even consider privatizing public spaces, it must begin with the consultation, assent, and constant engagement of the people for whom those schools, or parks, or hospitals were built to serve. That’s why I proposed a resolution at Community Board 7 calling for a formal structure that explicitly includes community participation in all discussions related to the future of PS 199 or PS 191 starting right now.”
• Similarly, the Ansonia Independent Democrats and the Park River Independent Democrats want public hearings before anything happens: “It is hereby further resolved that the failure the Department of Education to inform the community of PS 199 of its proposals to demolish PS 199, sell the land to a developer so that it may build a high rise building on a low rise brown stone block represents the arrogance and high-handedness of an administration with little regard community’s opinions and concerns;  and It is hereby further resolved that no further action should be taken in regard to the demolition and sale of PS 199 prior to the conduct of public hearings before the appropriate public bodies to determine the best solution to the educational problems confronting the PS 199 community.”
• Gale Brewer and Scott Stringer say that demolishing the buildings would waste millions in taxpayer dollars that had been spent in recent years to upgarde the schools. “Most recently, l allocated $900,000 to PS 191 for the creation of a multi-media center and renovated schoolyard, and PS 199 will soon open their library media center which  received $115,000 from my office, in addition to a greenhouse and Science Pavilion to which I allocated  $165,000. These taxpayer funds, as well as those used for building upgrades through the Five Year  Capital plan, including light fixture remediation at PS 199, would be wasted should either building be  demolished for development.”
• Given its history, there is no reason to trust the Department of Education, say others like City Council candidate Noah Gotbaum: “Given our community’s experience with Bloomberg’s DOE over the past 5 years, I believe that they simply can not be trusted and we will have to fight like hell to prevent them from underbuilding our schools and overbuilding our neighborhood – and to have ANY say whatsoever in the process.”

We have also heard some positive comments about the plans, however.

• City Council candidate Helen Rosenthal says that her friends on the East side were happy with the process to build a school using similar tactics.  “I don’t understand the rush to hold this [proposal] at bay,” she said in a meeting, according to DNAinfo.
• Gothamist writer Garth Johnston, who attended PS 199, says that the school is a dump and should probably be rebuilt. “Twenty years ago P.S. 199 was a mess of a school building and we can’t imagine its gotten any better. Yes, students will have to go to school elsewhere for a while, but these things happen.” A Gothamist commenter who said she had taught at the school wrote: “I think they have cleaned up the school a lot since you have been there.”

The proposal will be discussed at a Community Board 7 meeting on Tuesday night starting at 6:30 p.m. at Jewish Home Lifecare, 120 West 106th Street (it’s unlikely that city officials will be there; this is just an opportunity for the community board to hear opinions and possibly pass a resolution).

What do you think? And what’s the best way for locals to respond?

Thank you to everyone who has been sending in tips and comments.

The news we broke about the city’s effort to find developers willing to redevelop the sites of two Upper West Side public schools has shocked local parents. PS 191 on 61st street and PS 199 on 70th street could be demolished and redeveloped as high-rises with new schools inside them. Now the PTA at PS 199 is trying to quell parent anxiety.

“First and most importantly, no decisions have been made regarding anything and the demolition of PS199 is not imminent!” the PTA letter says (full letter reprinted below).

Since soliciting ideas from the real estate community months ago to develop high-rise apartment buildings with new schools on the sites of three current schools (two on UWS, one on UES), the city’s Educational Construction Fund (ECF) has received dozens of proposals from developers. The initial brochure sent to developers said that they could build on the sites with virtually no public review: the traditional development review process known as ULURP would be suspended because the sites of the current schools are owned by the city and the zoning in the area allows for large buildings. But since the plans leaked, city officials have said that they will involve parents throughout the process, and any development will have to go through ULURP (this may come as a surprise to developers who read in the city’s “request for expressions of interest” that they would not have to go through this process).

The PTA notes that the ECF will not move ahead with the redevelopment unless officials find a proposal worth completing. Then they will meet with parents and other stakeholders to see if it makes sense. The Department of Education wrote to us that the public engagement process will last for about two years. The PS 199 PTA leaders say that if students have to be relocated when the school is demolished, the entire school will be relocated to the same place (as opposed to some students going to one school, and others going to another school, for instance).

We’ve asked to see the developers’ proposals, but so far haven’t received them. (If the city wants parents involved in this process, why no ask for parents’ help in choosing a plan?)

Here’s the letter from the PS 199 PTA leaders:

Parents,

Welcome back!  Over the break there were several news pieces regarding the recent solicitation of possible ideas for the redevelopment of PS199 (as well as PS191 and a school on the East Side) into a school/residential tower. The PTA along with Katy has been engaged on this for several weeks and we spent a great deal of time at the PTA meeting on February 12th reviewing what we know, what we can expect and answering parent questions.

However, the media articles created some false impressions and we wanted to reach back out to reiterate what we have learned and hopefully calm some nerves!

First and most importantly, no decisions have been made regarding anything and the demolition of PS199 is not imminent!

The Education Construction Fund has started a process and we are in the very beginning stages of that process. Twelve developers have submitted ideas/expressed interest in the redevelopment of PS199 into a school/residential tower (developer tears down the school and rebuilds a brand new school as part of a residential tower).  The ECF will now review those proposals and ask follow up questions of the developers over the next few months. Should any of these proposals seem viable, the ECF will then start an extensive conversation with the PS199 community.

The ECF has publicly indicated that any conversation about this possibility begins with the identification of a suitable relocation facility in our catchment and that our school will be kept intact (they would not move k-2 one place and 3,4,5 somewhere else).  The ECF has also said publicly that any project would go through ULURP which is a land use process that involves the Community Board, Manhattan Borough President and City Council.

The ECF has indicated that the process of discussing and deciding to do this is extensive and that the earliest this could happen would be September, 2015.  The ECF recently completed a project on the East Side and that process took five years.

Here is a link to a recent Daily News article on that [East Side] project.

At this point, we are keeping an open mind and are not pre judging anything until more information comes forward. It is possible that nothing more comes from this and it is also possible that the ECF returns in a few months to initiate further conversations.

Please be assured that we are working closely with our local officials and they are engaged in the issue and aware of our concerns at this point in time  (attached is a letter from Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer).  We will continue to provide updates in the newsletters as well as discuss at PTA meetings and should this become more “real”, the intensity and focus of those conversations will increase.

As always, we are available to answer further questions, listen to concerns, comments or thoughts.

Eric, Eve and Katy

PS – Our next PTA meeting is a morning meeting on March 15th so please attend and we will discuss and answer questions on this.

We haven’t been hearing from as many PS 191 parents. If you are a parent there, please let us know what you think and if the PTA is involved.

In somewhat shocking news, we have learned that the city has solicited and received proposals from developers to demolish PS 199 on West 70th Street and PS 191 on West 61st Street and build luxury towers on their sites. PS 199, an elementary school, is one of the most highly regarded and popular elementary schools in the entire city, and the building was designed by renowned architect Edward Durell Stone. Both schools have also had millions of dollars worth of renovations in recent years, which would be reduced to rubble.

The city would demolish the schools in order to allow developers to build large luxury apartment towers with new schools in them. The schools could be demolished as soon as 2015, according to a mother of students at PS 199 who attended a PTA meeting about the plans last week. Parents and school officials apparently were not briefed on the plans, which are already quite far along, until recently. The city clearly expects opposition to the plans (more on that below), and parents look like they might fight.

Update: The Department of Education has responded to this article, and we’ve pasted the full response near the bottom of the article. (In the response, the city says it will only move forward if it considers the developer’s proposals worthwhile, so we have tweaked the headline to say the city is “considering plans to demolish” the schools, instead of “planning to demolish”). We have asked the city to send us the developers’ proposals but have not yet received them.

One parent we talked to was amazed that the city has already received proposals and yet parents weren’t notified.

“It’s just surprising that we weren’t made aware of it when the RFP went out,” said Mindy, a parent of two children at PS 199 who went to a PTA meeting last week about the issue. The PTA apparently found out about it last Saturday. “It’s one thing to not involve us first thing. The proposals already came back. They’ve been out there at least six months.”

The city got 24 proposals to build on the sites of three current schools (along with the two schools on the Upper West Side, the city also plans to redevelop the school at 321 East 96th Street), Mindy told us.

Councilwoman Gale Brewer also told us she’s concerned about the lack of public input.

“My opinion is that these two projects need a great deal of sunshine and thought. So far, there has been very little from the Department of Education. Instead of simply announcing to the community that it wants to tear down our schools and rebuild them inside high rises, in order to earn revenue for schools city-wide, and without regard to the loss of light and air and increased density in our neighborhood, DOE should sit down with the CEC and CB7 and the elected officials to discuss the impact of its proposal. At this point, there are many more questions than answers, and no decision should be made until all of the facts and impacts have been considered.”

We inquired with the Department of Education about the details of the plan and why parents were not notified earlier, but they were not immediately able to comment (we asked on a Sunday in the midst of a three-day weekend, so it makes sense that they couldn’t come up with immediate answers). Public schools are on vacation, so we may not get full details for a few days.

What would happen to the students during demolition and development is still unclear — city plans for the sites simply indicate that the schools would be “relocated” during demolition and construction, but it doesn’t say where.

“The Educational Construction Fund has secured a relocation site in order that the schools do not have to remain in operation on the site during construction. However, developers are encouraged to include potential relocation alternatives under their control as part of their bid,” according to an information booklet sent to potential developers. Later in the proposal, the site the ECF is considering is called a “potential relocation site.”

There are 850 students at PS 199, and about 550 at PS 191, which would make relocating students together exceptionally difficult. The uncertainty is unsettling to parents who have kids in the schools, to say the least.

“No one wants to do it unless there’s a viable option for moving the school,” Mindy said.

Mindy, who lives in Lincoln Towers (the middle-class development where PS 199 sits), also says that the new building, along with numerous other construction projects soon to be built, will make the area a much darker place.

“If they’re going to put a 45 story building right there, we are not going to have any views. It’s going to be dark. there’s gonna be crazy construction. There are already two huge buildings being built, and now they’re going to add another one.”

What’s more, the developer would not have to go through a review process to get this done — in fact, parents and neighbors of the proposed developments may have no say in the decision whatsoever. The plans are already pretty far along, although the exact timeline is unclear: Borough President Scott Stringer says that the city has already received developers’ proposals to build on the sites.

The program to redevelop the sites is overseen by a city agency called the Educational Construction Fund that leases parcels of land owned by the Department of Education to developers with the idea that they’ll rebuild the sites with luxury apartments and new schools on the ground floor. The ECF was created in 1967 but has been dormant for decades before recently being revived by the Bloomberg administration. Bloomberg has been making a big push to build private developments on public land to raise money for the city; the city is also planning to offer public land to developers in the midst of housing projects.

In short, developers want the air rights over the schools, which allow them to build large towers, and are willing to build the schools as a tradeoff. The development is financed by tax-exempt bonds that are then paid off by lease payments and other proceeds. The idea is that the city gets new schools funded by private money — but the bonds are backed in part by public funds, so if the projects fall through taxpayers are on the hook.

(One other curious aspect: the ECF would lease the school to the city for 40 years, but lease the site to the developer for 99 years. It’s not clear what would happen to the school after 40 years.)

A glossy “request for expressions of interest” from CBRE, a real estate firm that the city worked with to attract developers, says the Upper West is “starved for luxury residential units” and that taking advantage of this opportunity would allow a developer to get a sweet deal on city-owned land.

One reason the deal is sweet for developers is that the proposals would not need to go through the city’s “ULURP” process, a review process usually used for large-scale developments that allow the public and various city agencies and elected officials to weigh in. In the request for expressions of interest the ECF points to the lack of public review as a big benefit for the developers:

“uLurP would not be necessary for transfer of title between the City of New york and ECF or to lease the school portion to the City or Department of Education. This is an important element of the ECF program which significantly benefits developers as it makes an ‘As-of-right’ project feasible. Developers may pursue a Special Permit option at each site which would require public review.”

In a letter to Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott, ECF and School Construction Authority officials, Borough President Stringer wrote that that arrangement “would disrupt the education of thousands of children, it would also place an excessive burden on families who moved intentionally within the confines of the two schools’ zones so their children could attend a highly-ranked public school.” Stringer also noted that the schools the ECF would demolish have spent almost $21 million on upgrades in recent years. We’ve included Stringer’s full letter at the bottom of this post.

The city is apparently aware that demolishing PS 199 could be controversial, in part because of its architect. The request to developers says:

“Prospective respondents should be aware that the PS 199 building was designed by Edward Durell Stone. As a result, respondents should be aware of the significance of the building and that there may be opposition to the project and demolition of the school.”

PS 191, also known as the Museum Magnet School, is not a top-performer like PS 199, but it’s become known for holding lots of field trips and exposing students to all sorts of exciting out-of-classroom experiences. It also has  a relatively new playground. As InsideSchools notes:

“PS 191 has long served mostly poor black and Hispanic children, many of whom live in housing projects across the street. In the past, middle class parents who lived in the PS 191 attendance zone would often send their children to private school or get special permission, called a variance, to enroll them in the mostly-white PS 199 a few blocks away. That dynamic is changing, however. PS 199 is very overcrowded has hasn’t taken out-of-zone children for a number of years, and the Department of Education recently reduced the size of the PS 199 zone and assigned more children to PS 191. Moreover, new construction of luxury high-rise housing has brought more prosperous families to the school’s zone.”

The Upper West Side certainly needs new schools: multiple local schools are overcrowded and there hasn’t been a new public school built in the neighborhood in more than 30 years. A school is currently under construction in the Riverside Center project around 61st Street off of West End Avenue. It is expected to open in 2015. (PS 191 is only about a block from there, which would make it strange for the city to build another brand-new school so close to one that is opening soon.)

But the plans the city is now undertaking have raised all sorts of questions that the city has so far not answered for parents and school officials. We’ll check in with the Department of Education again after President’s Day, and see if they can shed any more light on the issue. If you are a parent at either of these schools, please contact us at info at westsiderag dot com with your thoughts, or anything you’re hearing. And please let us know what you think in the comments section below.

Department of Education Statement: A department spokesman responded to this article with the statement below.

“A Request for Expressions of Interest (RFEI) has been undertaken by the New York City Educational Construction Fund (ECF), which in the past four years developed four brand-new, state-of-the-art school facilities in Manhattan’s Community School District 2 comprising approximately 3,200 new school seats and $215 million of school construction at no cost to taxpayers. We certainly believe that ECF projects represent a smarter and more efficient type of school project and we are proud to have re-introduced ECF as a way to deliver school seats in New York City.

As the RFEI describes, there will be a two-year planning and engagement process if any of the responses are found to be worthwhile enough to advance to the project level. As the school and parent communities of MS 114, PS 59 and Art & Design HS will attest, there was extensive planning and preparation before and during these completed projects. As such, there is no reason to suggest that either DOE or ECF will not follow the same levels of engagement for any future ECF projects.

The only procurement document we have issued in connection with these school sites is an RFEI: http://schools.nyc.gov/NR/rdonlyres/DC1B470A-5B13-4F6E-8DDD-F57F35A8FC37/139111/ECF_2013_RFEI.pdf. We used an RFEI to solicit ideas from the development community from each of these sites but this does not obligate us to take any other action if we find that none of the responses are worth advancing to the development stage. Given the success we have had using ECF to create school seats in Community School District 2, we anticipate that we will be able to bring this successful model to other high density zoning areas of the City.”

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Stringer – PS 199 and 191 by