A group of tenants at the St. Nicholas Houses in Harlem, a public housing development, said yesterday they planned to sue the city and federal governments over the construction of a charter school on the grounds of the housing project, according to an article in today's edition of The New York Times by Fernanda Santos.
"The school would rise at the heart of the St. Nicholas Houses, on top of a 1.7-acre park that, for nearly 60 years, has served as a play space for children and as a communal living room for the development's 3,000 residents and those who live nearby. In preliminary work at the site, trees and benches have been removed, and a community garden and playground have disappeared," the article said.
"Among the opponents is one of the city's most vociferous critics of charter schools: State Senator Bill Perkins of Harlem, who made his anticharter stance a central part of his re-election campaign last year. In an interview on Wednesday, Mr. Perkins said his concern was that the arrangement would set a dangerous precedent, allowing future construction to encroach on open space in public housing developments," the article continued.
"The lawsuit seeks to block construction, challenging the way the city, the Housing Authority, the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development and Harlem Children's Zone, the charter school's operator, went about obtaining approval. It alleges that they failed to properly assess the impact of the demolition of the park and the construction of the school. In an interview on Wednesday, Geoffrey Canada, the president and chief executive of Harlem Children's Zone, a network of charter schools, sounded unapologetic, saying that while he valued green space, 'of higher value is the education of our children,'" the article said.
"The school - part of a network called Promise Academy Charter Schools - would serve 1,300 students from kindergarten through 12th grade in a five-story, 120,000-square-foot building on 129th Street, between Adam Clayton Powell Jr. and Frederick Douglass Boulevards. It would be surrounded by several of St. Nicholas's 13-story brick buildings. The projected cost is $100 million; the city would cover about 60 percent, and gifts from Goldman Sachs and Google would help pay for the rest," the article added.
The article said that the "Housing Authority sold 3.1 acres inside the St. Nicholas Houses development, including the park, to Harlem Children's Zone for $7 million" and "construction began in April after a groundbreaking ceremony attended by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg; John B. Rhea, the chairman of the Housing Authority; and Shaun Donovan, the secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, all of whom are named in the lawsuit. The tenants began mobilizing in December, when word of the proposed school began percolating."
The Urban Justice Center and the New York Environmental Law and Justice Project, advocacy groups, filed the lawsuit on their behalf.
"The school would rise at the heart of the St. Nicholas Houses, on top of a 1.7-acre park that, for nearly 60 years, has served as a play space for children and as a communal living room for the development's 3,000 residents and those who live nearby. In preliminary work at the site, trees and benches have been removed, and a community garden and playground have disappeared," the article said.
"Among the opponents is one of the city's most vociferous critics of charter schools: State Senator Bill Perkins of Harlem, who made his anticharter stance a central part of his re-election campaign last year. In an interview on Wednesday, Mr. Perkins said his concern was that the arrangement would set a dangerous precedent, allowing future construction to encroach on open space in public housing developments," the article continued.
"The lawsuit seeks to block construction, challenging the way the city, the Housing Authority, the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development and Harlem Children's Zone, the charter school's operator, went about obtaining approval. It alleges that they failed to properly assess the impact of the demolition of the park and the construction of the school. In an interview on Wednesday, Geoffrey Canada, the president and chief executive of Harlem Children's Zone, a network of charter schools, sounded unapologetic, saying that while he valued green space, 'of higher value is the education of our children,'" the article said.
"The school - part of a network called Promise Academy Charter Schools - would serve 1,300 students from kindergarten through 12th grade in a five-story, 120,000-square-foot building on 129th Street, between Adam Clayton Powell Jr. and Frederick Douglass Boulevards. It would be surrounded by several of St. Nicholas's 13-story brick buildings. The projected cost is $100 million; the city would cover about 60 percent, and gifts from Goldman Sachs and Google would help pay for the rest," the article added.
The article said that the "Housing Authority sold 3.1 acres inside the St. Nicholas Houses development, including the park, to Harlem Children's Zone for $7 million" and "construction began in April after a groundbreaking ceremony attended by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg; John B. Rhea, the chairman of the Housing Authority; and Shaun Donovan, the secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, all of whom are named in the lawsuit. The tenants began mobilizing in December, when word of the proposed school began percolating."
The Urban Justice Center and the New York Environmental Law and Justice Project, advocacy groups, filed the lawsuit on their behalf.
Architecture Critic
Carter Horsley
Since 1997, Carter B. Horsley has been the editorial director of CityRealty. He began his journalistic career at The New York Times in 1961 where he spent 26 years as a reporter specializing in real estate & architectural news. In 1987, he became the architecture critic and real estate editor of The New York Post.
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