CB7 calls on City Hall for intervention in construction, coordination of agencies

July 1, 2015

Hon. Tony Shorris                                           Hon. Richard R. Buery, Jr.

First Deputy Mayor, City of New York          Hon. Alicia Glen

City Hall                                                          Deputy Mayors, City of New York

New York, NY  10007                                     City Hall

                                                                        New York, NY  10007

Re: Construction Surrounding PS 75/03M075 – Emily Dickinson School

Dear First Deputy Mayor Shorris and Deputy Mayors Buery and Glen:

As community leaders and members of Community Board 7/Manhattan, we have great concerns about the increasing number of significant construction projects adjacent to schools.  We appreciate that construction is a reality of living in our City, but are keenly aware that schools present special situations in need of heightened attention and protection from the impacts of development. 

We seek a coordinated response to the most pressing concerns raised by such construction adjacent to PS 75 (03M075 – the Emily Dickinson School) located on West End Avenue between West 95-96 Streets.  In particular, we need to provide support and meaningful assistance to address the multiple safety issues and disruption to the learning environment that inevitably follow major construction next to this school.  The need goes beyond the continuing issue of whether our schools have the capacity to absorb the enrollment of children who will reside in the family-friendly buildings that continue proliferate in our District.  We have worked closely with the PS 163 community in our District for over a year in connection with monumental construction less than 30 feet away.  Now PS 75 is in a similar position. 

PS 75 is surrounded on three sides by soft sites that are expected to be in active construction beginning in as little as a few months and potentially continuing for many years.

The first, and perhaps most threatening, project likely to affect the school is the claimed as-of-right proposal to build a platform over the top of the existing building at 711 West End Avenue (across West 95th from the school), and then construct multiple additional floors of luxury housing above it.  This complex project will create logistical, engineering and safety issues that will materially compromise the learning environment for students, teachers, administration and staff.  It will also create enormous safety concerns for the school community not limited to drop-off and pick-up.  This project is already having a negative impact on the residents of the existing building at 711 WEA.

Among the most pressing concerns are the blasting, noise, dust and debris that a project of this scale will have on the school, and the interference of a crane, construction materials and deliveries on West 95th Street outside a principal school entrance.   West 95th Street is a busy street providing egress from the southbound Henry Hudson Parkway.  Less than a year ago a neighbor was killed in front of the school by a willfully careless driver.  Children should not be put is such harm's way.

Looking to the near future, the former Salvation Army Williams residence at 720 WEA across from the school, and the soft development site at the northwest corner of West 96th and WEA, will likely ensure that at least a full generation of students will come and go at PS 75 under the barrage of construction.

Similar to PS 163, PS 75's enrollment includes a significant number of families who are zoned for other schools but choose this one.  That choice enrollment greatly enriches the diversity of the student body, and is highly valued by the entire community. At the same time, parents and administrators are working hard to boost enrollment so that the school can continue to support the enrichment programs central to its success. The looming threat of disruptive construction at PS 163 has already seen scores of families leave and choose different schools.  We fear a similar result will happen at PS 75, meaning the loss of a diverse, high-quality school.

Our schools are focal points of our community but we don’t do enough to support them when they are facing external threats.  We have grave concerns about these construction projects overall.

Our immediate concern is that the resources and expertise of City government be available to the PS 75 community to help them analyze the impact, understand what concerns and questions need to be addressed in order to mitigate any impacts and protect the student population, and secure meaningful protections.  While the DoB may have limited leverage over as-of-right construction permits, careful oversight to ensure the safety of children and the vitality of a school requires a coordinated plan that includes DoB’s and other agencies’ expertise and engagement to meet these particular concerns.

To that end, we request that you convene a meeting or working group of all relevant City agencies, including the Departments of Buildings, Education, Transportation, Environmental Protection, and Health & Mental Hygiene, as well as the School Construction Authority, to meet with the PS 75 school and community leaders.  The goal of such a meeting is to be proactive in protecting our schools in much the same way residential neighbors are required to be protected during construction. 

We implore you to advocate for meaningful protections for the entire community, including the school community, and not to allow construction to go forward until such protections are secured.

We look forward to working with you to achieve these necessary goals. 

Respectfully submitted,

Elizabeth Caputo                      Eric Shuffler                Blanche Lawton

Chair, CB7                               Co-chairs CB7 Youth, Education & Libraries Committee        

Copy:   Hon. Melissa Mark-Viverito, Speaker, New York City Council

            Hon. Helen Rosenthal, New York City Council, 6th District

            Hon. Mark Levine, New York City Council, 7th District

Hon. Gale A. Brewer, Manhattan Borough President

Hon. Scott M. Stringer, New York City Comptroller

            Hon. Letitia A. James, New York City Public Advocate

            Hon. Jose M. Serrano, New York State Senate, 29^th District

Hon. Bill Perkins, New York State Senate, 30^th District

            Hon. Adriano Espaillat, New York State Senate, 31^st District

            Hon. Linda B. Rosenthal, New York State Assembly, 67^th District

            Hon. Daniel J. O’Donnell, New York State Assembly, 69^th District

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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 being accountable. The Department of Buildings issued permits on June 22 – the day before the LPC hearing – and apparently even on June 23. 

We already had concerns about tricks the developers were using. They’ve applied for a million little permits instead of transparently submitting their whole project. They tried to claim the building had no tenants! Now we know for sure they’re trying get around the accountability mechanisms that are supposed to protect the community.

But our questions are for DOB, and for the Mayor. What is DOB’s involvement with these developer tricks? After months of community efforts to work with DOB to address huge concerns, how did DOB just happen to approve the projects at the precise moment before the LPC’s vote? 

And to the Mayor: where are you? This community has written to you, emailed you, called for your help in the press. We have heard nothing from you.

DeBlasio is supposed to be the Mayor for affordable housing, and here’s a developer warehousing rent-stabilized apartments and dodging their responsibility to protect existing tenants. 

DeBlasio is supposed to the mayor for Vision Zero, and here’s a project that will bring heavy traffic dangers to kids at the deadly corner where he launched Vision Zero himself.

DeBlasio is supposed to be the mayor for education, but this amazing community school is about to be destroyed by years of construction noise and danger literally hanging over our kids’ heads. And when we call on the Mayor for help, we get silence.

We may just be public school parents and not real estate developers, but we are out here to demand answers and accountability. DOB issues construction permits that affect communities on every level, from affordability to safety to education – and they don’t have to coordinate with a single other agency. That doesn’t make any sense. Vision Zero convenes six agencies to collaborate just on street safety! But DOB doesn’t have to collaborate with any other agency, much less community, in deciding where it’s okay to launch massive multiyear construction.

We’re calling on the mayor to step in and make DOB accountable to standards set by other agencies – we need DEP, DOH, DOE, DOT, and HPD, and we need them now.

And we need the Mayor to look at these totally suspect construction permits issued to luxury developers at the 11^th hour, and ask the hard questions about what kind of shady business is going on here between DOB and the developers.

Mr. Mayor, we are waiting for your answer.

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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 95^th 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 has more and more impact – but it’s uniquely uncoordinated with the city’s goals.

• You set out to ensure all kids have access to pre-K and Kindergarten, but DOB can issue permits that effectively shut down their schools.

• Your much-touted Vision Zero coordinates six city agencies for street safety – but DOB, which approves major street changes so that heavy equipment like cranes can set up for multi-year projects – isn’t one of them.

• You’re working to create affordable housing, but DOB can approve permits that effectively force rent-regulated tenants out of their homes.

Because the construction atop 711 West End Ave. will be so destructive, the community broadly opposes it. But DOB is not bound by any policies that make it accountable to our community. DOB’s recent move to bring this particular project into its High-Rise Unit for increased scrutiny is welcome, but it doesn’t address these problems.

Currently, construction must include a Tenant Protection Plan that (in theory) prevents construction from destroying existing tenants' lives. But large-scale construction is impacting communities far beyond existing tenants, and there are virtually no checks on those impacts. In a tightly-packed city where luxury construction is looming over schools, streets, and affordable housing, the construction boom is literally destroying communities.

MR. MAYOR, USE YOUR AUTHORITY TO INTERCEDE IN THE DESTRUCTION AT 711 WEST END AVE. IMMEDIATELY -- BEFORE THE DAMAGE IS DONE. Please direct DOE, DOH, DOT, and HPD to engage with DOB to ensure safety, student rights, and tenant rights are addressed before permits are approved.

We also urge you to act to require a Community Protection Plan for all such construction, to substantively, transparently provide for street safety, air quality, school protection, and the retention of affordable housing.​

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