NYC Councilmember Helen Rosenthal
P.S. 75 Parents & PTA
NYC Councilmember Helen Rosenth...
Friday, June 26, 2015
NYT: Researcher tracks harmful impacts of noise, especially on students & schools
'[In the 1970s] someone suggested that she examine an elementary school near elevated tracks of the No. 1 line in Inwood, at Manhattan’s northern tip. Some students there were lagging in their studies. What Ms. Bronzaft found, in a widely publicized 1975 study, was that children in classrooms facing the tracks performed far worse than those on the other side of the building, the quieter side.
“Not only were the trains disruptive, the teacher had to stop teaching,” Ms. Bronzaft recalled. “Teachers stopped about 11 percent of the time.”
“Bottom...
DNAinfo: Opponents of UWS Project Protest Last-Minute Construction Approval
"The tenants said they pooled funds and hired an engineer to evaluate the developer's Tenant Protection Plan, which typically outlines mitigation for factors like dust, noise and points of egress. The engineer found the plan inadequate, they claimed.
"Tenants officially submitted a challenge to the developer's plan, but a DOB examiner already approved the safety plan Monday. Opponents still have until Aug. 2 to submit other challenges to the project.
"Part of the problem is that not all of the developer's plans are publicly available,...
Thursday, June 25, 2015
Assemblymember O'Donnell's statement
“This proposal is a recipe for disaster. There are so many red flags, from the idea of erecting a 10 story addition on top of a fully occupied building in the first place, to the presence of a school immediately across the street, to the dangerous highway exit running alongside the proposed construction. I have been strongly opposed to the development at 711 West End Avenue since I learned about the proposal. It is crucial that the City take a proactive stand to protect learning environments for students and the safety of all residents....
PS75 parents' statement at this morning's protest
Just two days ago, the Landmarks Preservation Commission voted to extend the West End Ave. historic district to cover our block and 711 West End Ave.
Designating the block as “historic” means that developers can’t just throw up a building – it means they have to acknowledge that there’s a community here, with a history and an integrity.
But the developers knew the vote was coming, so they slammed through a bunch of permits to avoid...
Wednesday, June 24, 2015
UPDATED Thurs 6/25: Parents, tenants, electeds will protest planned construction
UPDATED: PRESS ADVISORY
Date: June 24, 2015
Contact: Emmaia
Gelman (917) 517-3627, emmaia.gelman@gmail.com
UWS WILL RALLY TO OPPOSE LUXURY CONSTRUCTION THAT WOULD
HOBBLE TWO PUBLIC SCHOOLS, SHRINK AFFORDABLE HOUSING
Parents demand answers on suspect DOB permit approval
just the day before the Landmarks Preservation Commission vote that would have
slowed development.
WHO:
Parents of P.S.75 & West Side Collaborative Middle
School
Tenants of 711 West End Ave. and surrounding buildings
NYC Councilmember Helen Rosenthal
NYS...
West Side Rag: [Some] construction permits approved under the wire
"A controversial proposed development at 711 West End Avenue received building permits just before the Landmarks Preservation Commission voted to include it in a new historic district, a blow to opponents who had been trying to scuttle the project. The most recent design we’ve seen shows that the developers want to place a new building as high as ten stories on top of an existing seven-story rental building... In fact, some of the building permits for the building at 95th street and West End were issued on the exact same day as the...
Breaking news from 711 W.E.A. tenants fighting construction
BREAKING NEWS!
TAG
Challenges Developer’s Tenant Protection Plan
On June 14 TAG filed the
strongly worded report of our structural engineer with the Department of
Buildings (“DOB”) to challenge the “Tenant Protection Plan”
(TPP) submitted by developer Kalikow in support of its application for a
permit to construct a ten-story luxury condominium atop 711 West End Avenue, our
rent-stabilized, mid-1950’s combustible red brick building. Note that
711, which has144 units, is nearly fully occupied. While the DOB initially...
Tuesday, June 23, 2015
Landmarked! 711 West End Ave. and PS75/West Side Collab are approved in the Historic District.
P.S.75 represents at the LPC hearing
At a tense meeting of the Landmarks Preservation Commission this morning, the LPC approved the West End Ave. Historic District Extension, including the building at 711 West End Ave. and (in a reversal) the public school building containing PS 75 and West Side Collaborative.
The LPC excluded the school's playgrounds from the Historic District, and also left out many individual buildings, leaving us vulnerable...
Wednesday, June 17, 2015
Mapping the danger
Above is a simple visual map of the intersection at 95th Street and West End Ave. Compare to Platt Byard Dovell White's rendering of West 95th Street, submitted with their original application to DOB. (In their version, 95th St. is a wide, two-way boulevard with no one parked on it...)
...
Tuesday, June 16, 2015
Sign the petition: Mayor de Blasio, we need your intervention!
PETITION THE MAYOR:
https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/stop-developers-from-destroying-uws-public-schools-affordable-housing
Although the proposed construction at 711 West End Ave. would be devastating, there's currently no law or policy that makes it illegal. Developers can apply to do projects that tear apart the community and make our schools, homes, and streets unusable -- and D.O.B. doesn't have too much latitude to reject them.
This particular developer has been tricky, submitting permits to DOB piecemeal to prevent DOB from considering...
Launching our blog
The proposed construction project at 711 West End Ave. has been looming over us for a few months. If the community has been slow to organize its response -- at least in comparison to the developers' push to get permits approved -- it's because communities don't generally expect to have to defend ourselves in this way. We take for granted, perhaps naively, that city policies regulating huge, disruptive construction projects must be subject to some limits on destroying streets, affordable housing, and well-functioning public schools. Turns out...
Our call to Mayor de Blasio
[Want to add your name to this call to Mayor de Blasio? Click here.]
Dear Mayor de Blasio,
Our community is under siege by developers hoping to cash in on the resurgent housing market. The proposed construction at West End Ave, and West 95th Street will be devastating for affordable housing, it will massively disrupt two public schools and endanger students, and it will exacerbate traffic an already-deadly intersection.
As the city proceeds into a new luxury housing boom, the Department of Buildings’ approval of construction permits...
52 Pedestrians Hit by Cars on West End Ave. in Past 2 Years (DNAinfo)
"As deadly accidents at two West End Avenue intersections this year prompt demands for change, a DNAinfo New York study found that 52 pedestrians have been hurt on the street in just two years."
DNAinfo.com
Read the article: http://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20140730/upper-west-side/map-west-end-ave-plagued-by-crashes-with-pedestrians-past-2-ye...
Report Exposes Lying Landlords, Devious Developers (Chelsea Now)
"On April 16, the Housing, Health & Human Services Committee (HHH) of Community Board 4 (CB4) witnessed an eye-opening power point presentation from CRP’s Andra Mooney — who spoke in front of projections of actual online applications for building construction on which owners had indicated that buildings were not occupied and not rent-regulated, when they were indeed occupied and rent-regulated. The DOB has no digital check that will create a bounce-back for an incorrect filing, even though a building’s current status usually exists within DOB’s...
"Upper West Side Sees Largest Jump in Pedestrian Deaths Despite Vision Zero" (DNAinfo)
"In 2014, the neighborhood's 10025 zip code saw six fatalities involving pedestrians compared to just one the previous year — representing the biggest increase anywhere in the city.
"'I am more cynical and disappointed than I ever have been,' said Jane Burbank, 64, a 32-year neighborhood resident. "Changes to local streets have not made the neighborhood feel safer and in fact have caused dangerous traffic backups, she said.
"And with major construction projects like the new Jewish Home Lifecare nursing home planned, Burbank worried the congestion...
"2015 is looking to be a fatal year for construction" (Crain's)
"So far this year, at least seven people have died as a result of construction accidents in New York City. And despite constant efforts to improve safety, the data show workers and members of the public aren't necessarily better off than they were during the last real estate boom."
Read the article: http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20150408/REAL_ESTATE/150409893/-2015-is-looking-to-be-a-fatal-year-for-construct...
Tuesday, June 9, 2015
Email the LPC: Include PS75 in W.E.A. Historic District!
On June 23rd, the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission will decide whether to extend the West Side Historic District all the way up West End Avenue. The blocks around 95th and 96th Streets are slated for intensive development over the next few years, and unprotected blocks are at the mercy of a hot market.
PS75's block was initially included in the Historic District as a matter of course -- but was suddenly withdrawn just as the hearing is about to go forward. The PS75 community is asking the LPC to put it back into the historic district.
To...
Saturday, June 6, 2015
West Side Rag on PS75 protest
5/20/15 Parents Protest Construction of 10-Story Building Topper Next To School
"Parents at PS 75 on West 95th street are fighting a plan to build a 10-story building on top of an apartment complex at 95th street and West End Avenue. Tenants in the building and local politicians have also criticized the project, and the Buildings Department has so far denied its applications for a permit.
"The parent group held a protest Tuesday that was attended...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)