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Volume XX • Number 40 • Sept. 26 - Oct. 2, 2013 •
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Klein cheered on defunding of controversial Broadway project By PAULETTE SCHNEIDER Residents came out in force last Friday to cheer for state Senator Jeff Klein and Community Board 8’s Laura Spalter, whose combined effort have stalled a plan to develop a site at 6469 Broadway with a 12-story building that would house severely mentally challenged people together with senior citizens—an unprecedented mix. Klein withdrew funding for the project when he realized that important questions about the plan had not been answered. “Today, we sent a very important a clear message to those who think they can come in, work in secret and perform a massive, taxpayer-funded project,” he said. Property owner Selfhelp had planned to offer mental health services through Communilife—which has now withdrawn its participation in the project. Klein questioned how the building could possibly attract a well senior population willing to live alongside the severely mentally disabled, without special security measures as part of the scheme. In addition, he questioned “the environmental impact of building a residential housing development right on top of a former brownfield site”—the former location of a gas station. Klein said that part of his job
State Senator Jeff Klein announces that he has arranged to have the controversial project to build subsidized housing for seniors and mentally-challenged persons defunded. The building would have been constructed on Broadway in North Riverdale. The proposal has been widely opposed by local residents in the area.
is to protect quality of life in the communities he represents. “That’s why I stated two weeks ago that this is a project that I won’t support, this is a project that the community shouldn’t support.” “Riverdale Manor was sup-
posed to be closed by the state, but they were taking 30 percent of the new building and introducing exactly the same population into the community,” said North Riverdale resident and real estate broker Vivian Oleen. “We have no objection to
the well elderly, to people who don’t have criminal pasts. But the people in the Riverdale Manor wander all over the community. People who live on Post Road have spotted them on their property. They expose themselves, they throw trash on
the property, they make crazy gesture, they terrify people and they panhandle.” The police are called, she said, but they can’t really do anything about it. “Riverdale Manor houses 256 psychiatric patients,” Spalter said. “It may take years to close—that’s one of the things we’re going to be working on. We have the [Van Cortlandt] Motel right there, and it’s next to a HUD 202 senior housing.” “This was a very heavy lift— Senator Klein was able to do what he said he was going to do. He said he was going to go after the funding, and he did….This project came about in stealth,” Spalter said. Klein stressed that Selfhelp should have been more forthcoming with the community and with elected officials. “I think they realized that they didn’t do their homework,” he said. “They just sprang this on the community, and when all the facts were in, it didn’t pass the smell test. And they realized they made a mistake. I think it was clear that the mental health component was the problem.” Klein, Spalter and Oleen agreed that the community would certainly accept additional supportive housing for seniors. Selfhelp will now have to go back to the drawing board.
City plans could result in the end of RKA as a zoned high school By RIVERDALE REVIEW STAFF The Riverdale Kingsbridge Academy is not on the drawing board, but another Bronx zoned school—Lehman High School—will face reduced enrollment next fall. A consequence is that local students could be shut out, either if more apply for the school than there are seats available or if students don’t get accepted to any non-zoned high school they’ve selected and Lehman seats are already filled by those who listed it as their first choice. The Department of Education anticipates no such problems, according to a spokesman. But “just to be safe and clear with families,” they’re stating that zoned students will still get priority though they’re not specifically guaranteed admission to the few schools with
reduced enrollment. “Priority is very different from guarantee,” said Pamela Wheaton of Insideschools, a group of advocates for quality education in the city. The reason for reduced enrollment in zoned schools, she said, is that new schools are opening in same building at the expense of zoned enrollment. “This is what the Bloomberg administration has done—they’ve opened new schools and they have taken away seats from the primary zoned school.” The main reason why students don’t get into a school of their choice is because there are “not enough good schools to go around.” “Too many kids apply to the same schools, and there are too few seats,” Wheaton said. “And some students
don’t get good guidance. There are far too few guidance counselors in the city to adequately inform them about their choices” in the “very convoluted process” of high school selection. The matter is coming up for a vote by the Panel for Educational Policy in an October 30 meeting, so the public still has an opportunity to weigh in. “The Department of Education is putting through a lot of last-minute changes before the mayor leaves office,” Wheaton said. “The Panel for Educational Policy is largely appointed by Bloomberg, so they have never really voted down any of these initiatives. But “a lot of uproar” about proposed changes to enrollment at zoned schools and other issues may trigger a “massive protest” at the October meeting.