by Emma Davey A proposal for a new elementary school in Greenpoint has sat on the back burner for years, but the School Construction Authority (SCA) recently announced their intention to revive the plan as remediation wraps up for the adjacent NuHart Plastics Superfund site.
The SCA plans to situate the new school at 257 Franklin Street, on the corner of Dupont. Next to Greenpoint Landing, a rapidly developing waterfront area with an influx of new residents over…
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The community has been COMPLETELY clear about not wanting a school at this toxic site.
At the meeting, we finally heard from the School Construction Authority the REAL reason for pushing this site: they currently have a practically free 99 year lease on the site. Now we know. Of course it just comes down to finances. It’s cheap and easy for them to build here, it’s already vacant, and they don’t want to find a new site.
They don’t care that the pollution isn’t fully remediated in this area and never will be, or that the parents don’t want this as the school site, or that the community has always been against this and still is, they just care that it’s available and convenient.
Our kids are worth the cost of a safe site.
Hey Emily, know what remediate means?
The kids will be fine, the weak, whiny adults need to get a grip
But if you went to the presentation or listened online, you could review the data and the site isn’t toxic.
I couldn’t attend last night’s meeting at P 31, because the meeting was held on an upper floor. After putting up a fight, the School Construction Authority and our elected officials provided an online option. We were told in writing that we would be able to participate in a meeting equally to the other attendees. They lied. We only had access to the webinar and chat, which was disabled after I complained via chat. The only option left was typed question and answer section. I was not able to type fast enough to be able to adequately ask questions and provide context information. I’m sure I was deliberately prevented from participating in this meeting because I have plenty of concerns. I don’t have small children that will attend the school, but all of my adult children, and possibly some of my grandchildren suffer the autoimmune diseases that come with living in and being pregnant in an Environmental legacy neighborhood. I intend to make a formal complaint about the ADA accessibility and preventing me from participating. I finally gave up and signed out. I did text our council member who told me to ask my questions in writing which was still treating me and other seniors and disabled people differently than the attendees. I will put my concerns in a certified letter.
No surprise they also held it on the second to last day of school before the holiday break, hoping it would get lost in the shuffle. The meeting was barely publicized for in person attendance, let alone online attendance. It felt like they actively hid the meeting to shut the community up and try to get their disgusting plan through. Very shady.
There will be several more meeting.
I totally agree with what Emily said above. It was stated that based on the environmental issues in Greenpoint, this is the best site. However, how much did they really look if they already have a site for which they pay $1.00 a year for the next 99 years? Also, what happens after the 99 years are up, I wonder.
How many 20,000 sq ft vacant lots are there in Greenpoint, genius?
Soooo…. you trust this area? Where there is a problem, there is always a solution. You just want to have to find it. Why should they if they have land for 99 years at a dollar a year?
Besides the serious issue of NuHart, people in the US, NYC and Greenpoint are not getting married and not having kids at record rates never before seen in modern history.
I can see building a small school in that area because they are many new high risers, but knock down one or more of the other 3+ schools in the general area.