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 line: By the sixth grade, the children were nearly a year behind those on the quiet side,” she said. 

On the heels of that study, transit officials cushioned the rails with rubber pads, and school administrators put insulation panels on classroom ceilings. A few years later, Ms. Bronzaft returned to that school. Reading levels had equalized on both sides of the building, she found. “What it demonstrated,” she said at lunch, “is that when you correct for noise, you can help children.”'

Read the article:
Raising Her Voice in Pursuit of a Quieter City

Arline Bronzaft Seeks a Less Noisy New York

(New York Times, by Clyde Haberman, Oct. 6, 2013)

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2013/10/07/nyregion/arline-bronzaft-seeks-a-less-noisy-new-york.html

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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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Press Release: PS75 & tenants Protest on May 19, 2015

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Letter to DOB from PS75 Principal O'Brien - Jan. 30, 2015

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Community joins together to protest deadly construction

[Here we post info about the protest.]

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