By Jeremy Walsh
Residents of Maspeth and Ridgewood were skeptical but not outright hostile toward the city School Construction Authority’s plan to build a 600-seat elementary school next to Grover Cleveland High School.
The city is in negotiations to acquire an abandoned Rite Aid at the corner of Tonsor Street and Metropolitan Avenue, said Chris Persheff, site manager for the SCA, noting the city is currently evaluating its environmental testing results from the 43,000-square-foot property.
“Places this large do not come along that often,” he said. “Further, it’s difficult to find a site that you can put a decent schoolyard in, and we are able to do that [here].”
Some members of Community Board 5 questioned why the extra space could not be used for teacher parking in an overcrowded section of the neighborhood. Persheff explained the SCA is forbidden by the city from providing parking for staff members.
“We have not seen the parking results yet, but that is definitely part of the survey,” he said.
Questions regarding the design of the school were put on hold because the city has not yet named an architect for the project, but Juniper Park Civic Association President Robert Holden requested a sidewalk cutaway area for school bus loading and unloading.
“Metropolitan is bad enough,” he said. “You have the buses feed the school there and back up, clogging Metro, we’re in trouble.”
Persheff said the cutaway was “definitely in consideration.”
But CB 5 member Manny Caruana criticized the agency’s claims, contending parking and traffic problems were not taken into consideration during the planning process for the new high school at 74th Street and 57th Avenue.
“You guys are going to do whatever you want to do,” he said. “We’ve seen the way you guys do business … and quite honestly, we’re getting fed up with it.”
The new school plan got high praise from parents and staff of PS 153, which is currently at 130 percent capacity with 1,400 children.
Joanne Berger, who has three children in PS 153 in Maspeth, warned that 354 new housing units have been built in the area in the last year.
“This is something that we desperately, desperately need,” she said. “Our children deserve to have the right education and to have a place that’s not overcrowded.”
CB 5 member Sylvia Nappi was staunchly opposed, however.
“I’ve lived here for 27 years. I’ve never seen it get more crowded,” she said. “We need food stores. We don’t need another school. I’ve had enough. Maspeth always gets the worst end of it.”
Reach reporter Jeremy Walsh by e-mail at jewalsh@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4564.
