RSS Feed
|
||||||||||||||
|
Residents Affected By Area School Construction Will Sue The City In response to a recent meeting about a new public school being constructed on East 107th Street between Flatlands Avenue and Avenue J, residents attended the November 2 meeting of the South Canarsie Civic Association (SCCA) at the Hebrew Educational Society to announce they will be taking legal action against the School Construction Authority (SCA), a division of the city's Department of Education. "Since they can't purchase the land adjacent to the Met Supermarket, they're going to borrow 15 feet of our property for two to three years during construction and we don't want them coming on our property - we're going to fight it," said Delores Rose, a resident on the affected block. During an October 25 meeting, State Senator John Sampson and residents met with SCA officials to address the impact on residential property while the former Canarsie Jewish Center Yeshiva undergoes demolition and construction. While Sampson said he would help residents fight the project, many are curious as to why there is a need for another school in the district. School District 18 Superintendent Joanne Mejias said, "I've only been working in this district for a short while, so I'm not aware of this new school. Schools are built to relieve the overcrowding - but I've already seen the statistics on schools in this district and the only school that's overpopulated is P.S. 276, located at East 83 Street between Avenues J and K." Discussion of the project, which is set to be completed in 2009, took place during a Community Board 18 meeting on December 22, 2004, which was publicized in the Canarsie Courier. During that meeting, SCA officials offered a presentation of the project and said the owner of the yeshiva offered the school for use. Mejias added, "What I honestly think is that this is a political issue and the project was approved of by elected officials, as well as authorities who were working with Region Six," she added. "We need to find out why the councilman representing that area supported the project." SCCA president Mary Anne Sallustro said Councilman Charles Barron represents the affected area and that "he would work with the community and was opposed to the project when it was presented to him." Mejias said she will find out which grades will be designated for the school and whether students who attend it will be bused from outside the community.
|
for larger version       |
|||||||||||||
