Not a Solution For P.S. 163

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To the Editor:

“Nursing Home Help For Crowded School” (April 1) raises disturbing questions about a misguided approach to solving overcrowding at P.S. 163, on West 97th Street. The article states that P.S. 163 and Jewish Home Lifecare are discussing the construction of a sheltered walkway between P.S. 163 and a new Bloomingdale Library branch, to be located inside a Jewish Home Lifecare building proposed for West 100th Street. Money for the project might come from Borough President Scott Stringer and Assembly Member Daniel O’Donnell.

We ask why our elected officials will not allocate the same taxpayer funds simply to build a walkway between P.S. 163 and the existing branch of the Bloomingdale Library—a far less disruptive alternative to constructing a 22-story nursing home building.

The most straightforward solution to this muddled situation is to convince the Department of Education and the School Construction Authority to build new classrooms for P.S. 163 behind the school, where temporary classroom trailers are located; to require Jewish Home Lifecare and the Chetrit Group to utilize the zoning carve-out that was given to Jewish Home Lifecare to enable it to modernize its 106th Street campus; and to abandon the wrong-headed idea of building a 22-story nursing home on a street that is already overburdened.

It is troubling that P.S. 163 and Jewish Home Lifecare have kept neighborhood residents in the dark about negotiations that may result in a profoundly negative affect on our quality of life. We need our elected officials to guarantee the transparency of what ought to be a public discourse, and to take a public stand on the critical land use issues that confront the residents of the Park West Village neighborhood.

Paul S. Bunten and Hillel Hoffman
President and vice president of Westsiders for Public Participation, Inc.

Letters have been edited for clarity, style and brevity.

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  • drthedapalmersatxon

    Separation of church and state is not a new concept .

    A wonderful little Jewish school started in a small space at 160 W 97St, Stonehenge owners a while ago.
    The small school has now grown to occupy the huge space above and around the corner of Amsterdam Ave. over Associated food store.

    Now instead of building a structure to address the direct overcrowding needs of the public school students, of a wonderful school, the notion of making a concrete cavern of a square block is against public interest.

    We need a school building. The obvious land/space is there. It's a no brainer.

    Do we want to put a Jewish concern and public need in the same sentence if the solution is possible without mixing church and state. There is a Catholic Church School on 97th St.

    Why not enlarge the Catholic school building to accommodate public school children, At least it's a school and not a contrived pairing for a Jewish Nursing Home concrete walk way…..Do we really need to eliminate all signs of sunlight and space? Do we need a Baptist or Methodist Nursing home? We can build several ramps.

    Shame on Springer for being an undercover special interest sneak politician.

    Let's demand some answers for our community..It is still our community.

    Next will be a private safety police force like Brooklyn…

    Manhattan is an open society,remember?

    Dr. Theda Palmer Saxton

    I love the elderly. My mother was 95.

  • sandrabranch

    Thank you, Paul S. Bunten and Hillel Hoffman for stating our case so clearly!
    S Branch, PWV

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