By Nick Powell

Mayor Michael Bloomberg outlined his preliminary budget for fiscal year 2014 last Tuesday, emphasizing that the budget will be balanced without any tax increases. But what stood out was the glaring loss of $724 million in state education funding over the next two years, a consequence of the lack of progress over negotiating a teacher evaluation plan with the United Federation of Teachers.

The $250 million loss this year will be reflected in immediate cuts to child care and after-school programs, and would result in a loss of up to 700 teachers through attrition. The city will forfeit $250 million in aid in the next fiscal year too, plus another $224 million in the state executive budget if the two sides do not reach an agreement by Sept. 1, meaning another 1,800 teachers could be lost through attrition.

State Education Commissioner John King recently wrote to Bloomberg that he plans to baseline that $250 million loss for the next four years—resulting in a potential four-year loss of roughly $1 billion in state education funding—if discussions between the city and the teachers union remain stalled.

Bloomberg said the city was spending $8 billion more per year on education than when he first took office, and while the state’s education aid has plateaued in the last four fiscal years around the $19-21 billion range, it has also generally increased from 2002-03, when the state spent $14.6 billion. Still, the mayor accused the state of turning its back on the city’s children by imposing the school aid penalties.

“We’re not walking away from education in spite of the fact that I would argue the state’s walking away from us,” Bloomberg said.

Later, in a testy exchange with a reporter, he remarked that the one-year teacher evaluation agreements that 99 percent of the state’s school districts have signed are a “sham” and a “joke” because they violate state law that requires a two-year period to evaluate a teacher. He added that Gov. Andrew Cuomo “can’t just snap his fingers” to make the school districts agree to another teacher evaluation deal after this year.

However, the mayor said that he would happily take the $250 million in education aid should he be able to reach a deal with the teachers union in the coming days. The mayor left open the possibility of coming to an agreement, but hardly sounded optimistic.

“I said from day one, we can come to an agreement with them, we talk every day,” Bloomberg said. “But fundamentally you’re asking a union to let its members be evaluated, and discriminate, and have distinctions based on productivity rather than based on seniority, and essentially unions have always been opposed to that, but we’ll see.”

Meanwhile, UFT President Michael Mulgrew testified in front of the Legislature on Tuesday, where legislators grilled him on the failed teacher evaluation agreement. Mulgrew continued to blame Bloomberg and education officials for not negotiating in good faith.

“We had 40 plans from different cities during negotiations, and they were not interested in copying another city’s plan,” Mulgrew said.

Despite the lack of progress on a deal, Mulgrew said he reached out to Bloomberg to set up a future negotiation date, but that has not been scheduled yet.

In addition to the loss in state education aid, $135 million will be cut from after-school and child care programs that service more than 47,000 children, many from low-income families. The specter of this cut, among others, set off angry responses from child care advocates.

“Just like last year, 47,000 children are set to lose access to after-school and early education programs—programs proven to help children succeed while parents work to support their families,” said Michelle Yanche, assistant executive director for government and external relations at Good Shepherd Services, on behalf of the Campaign for Children, a coalition of child care advocacy groups. “The same parents and providers will be forced to fight for the same funding that they were just given a few months ago. How can this be happening, after all we’ve heard from our city leaders about making children a priority?”

With reporting by Aaron Short. A version of this story originally appeared on the
website of City & State, cityandstateny.com.

SCHOOL HOLDS HOLIDAY FAIR
PS 199 is hosting a Holiday Boutique Fair on Saturday, Dec. 1. Over 30 vendors will sell clothing, toys, jewelry, crafts and other small gifts to benefit the school and victims of Hurricane Sandy. The fair will take place from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the school’s cafeteria at 270 W. 70th St.

CITY ENDS GAS RATIONING
Mayor Michael Bloomberg lifted the city’s emergency regulation of gas purchases on Saturday, over three weeks after Hurricane Sandy crippled the city’s fuel supply.

The rationing, which went into effect on Nov. 10, restricted the sale of gasoline to cars with even-numbered license plates on even days of the month and odd-numbered plates on odd days (excluding taxis, buses and emergency vehicles).

Bloomberg and other elected officials initially thought that supplies would return to normal a few days after the storm, but damage to fuel refineries and shipping networks, in addition to the nor’easter that struck the city shortly after the hurricane, dramatically slowed repairs. At some stations, drivers had to wait for over six hours in police-monitored lines for fuel.

Critics of gas rationing were unsure it would make a difference, but according to Bloomberg, the plan was a success. “The odd-even license plate system not only significantly reduced extreme lines, but also eased anxiety and disruptions for drivers at gas stations across the five boroughs,” he said in a statement.

At the time of the announcement, about 85 percent of the city’s gas stations were operational, up from around 25 percent when the rationing was put into effect.

AUTHOR HOLDS BOOK DRIVE FOR SANDY VICTIMS
Combining her love for books and helping people, author and philanthropist Carol Hollenbeck organized Rebuilding Our Bookshelves, which aims to provide books to libraries, homes and schools damaged by Hurricane Sandy.

Blake Harvey, founder and president of Lawrence Blake Group Intl. and promoter of Rebuilding Our Bookshelves, explained that the book drive will continue through Dec. 16. People interested in donating books can drop them off at the Renaissance Diner, 776 Ninth Ave. at West 51st Street any time of the day. In addition, people can also make a donation to the American Red Cross.
“People can drop off any types of books, because they can be donated to day-care centers that suffered damage and senior citizen homes,” Harvey said. He noted that once all the books are collected, Hollenbeck will reach out to local organizations where the books will go to victims of Hurricane Sandy.

Hollenbeck actively donates her time to many causes on the West Side, and has also worked with victims of domestic violence. With her newly released book True Blondes, she has pledged to donate 25 percent of sales to advocacy groups that help these victims.

SENIOR CENTER REOPENS ON 42ND ST.
Project FIND, a nonprofit that provides housing and services to the city’s low-income seniors, held an open house last week at its new Coffeehouse Senior Center at the Holy Cross Church on West 42nd Street.

The center is a relocated version of the original Coffeehouse Senior Center, a project that began in 1971 for seniors congregating in the Port Authority Bus Terminal and grew into a full-time food program that provides seniors with breakfast, lunch and social activities. The $1.2 million relocation allowed Project FIND to create a space that is fully handicapped-accessible and includes a commercial-grade kitchen. According to the nonprofit, the additional room will allow them to serve 15 percent more elderly residents.

“While the community’s economic demographics are changing and upscale development is happening in areas once unthinkable, the needs of this community’s older adults remain the same,” said Project FIND Executive Director David Gilchrist. “This cohort will increase in lockstep with the aging of the Baby Boom generation.”

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn attended the open house and praised the center’s service to the community. “The Coffeehouse Senior Center is a valuable resource that serves thousands of seniors in my district,” she said. “The new facilities will bring together more people than ever.”

“Discarded newspapers are a major component in the city’s waste stream,” said Rob Byrnes, president of the East Midtown Partnership. “The amount of paper, especially during the morning commute, not only leads to overflowing trashcans and unsightliness, it also contaminates materials which we should be recycling. This program will be a win for East Midtown cleanliness and a win for the environment.”

East Midtown Partnership has collected over 13 million pounds of trash since 2002, a significant portion of which the partnership says could have been recycled if the new initiative had been in place. Collection from the receptacles began after the announcement.

CITY ENDS GAS RATIONING
Mayor Michael Bloomberg lifted the city’s emergency regulation of gas purchases on Saturday, over three weeks after Hurricane Sandy crippled the city’s fuel supply.

The rationing, which went into effect on Nov. 10, restricted the sale of gasoline to cars with even-numbered license plates on even days of the month and odd-numbered plates on odd days (excluding taxis, buses and emergency vehicles).

Bloomberg and other elected officials initially thought that supplies would return to normal a few days after the storm, but damage to fuel refineries and shipping networks, in addition to the nor’easter that struck the city shortly after the hurricane, dramatically slowed repairs. At some stations, drivers had to wait for over six hours in police-monitored lines for fuel.

Critics of gas rationing were unsure it would make a difference, but according to Bloomberg, the plan was a success. “The odd-even license plate system not only significantly reduced extreme lines, but also eased anxiety and disruptions for drivers at gas stations across the five boroughs,” he said in a statement.

At the time of the announcement, about 85 percent of the city’s gas stations were operational, up from around 25 percent when the rationing was put into effect.

UPPER EAST SIDE: THE VIDEO GAME
Idea Studios, a Romanian developer, has released a new online videogame called Upper East Side Makeover. The game pits an attractive young woman against the challenge of dressing up for the city’s most elite parties, which includes activities like hairstyling and makeup application.

According to the game’s website, www.enjoydressup.com, “Upper East Side Makeover brings you the Upper East Side beauty, makeup and fashion in your own homes, without having to spend any money to get the stylish and high maintenance Upper East Side look. How awesome is that, girls!”
The game, the website promises, “will turn you into an Upper East Side fashion diva with just a bit of beauty, makeup and styling practice.”

Daniel Tamas, Idea Studios CFO and co-founder, told DNAinfo.com that the game was inspired by the Upper East Side’s depiction in American pop culture, such as music and movies. “It’s pretty marketed,” he said of the neighborhood.

Tamas admitted that he had never visited New York City, but argued that the game was still an authentic depiction of Upper East Side high society. “There are some singers in the U.S. that actually use the theme,” he said.

After six days of precarious dangling 74 stories above the ground, the damaged construction crane alongside 157 W. 57th St. was secured on Sunday. The crane’s 150-foot boom snapped in the middle of Hurricane Sandy’s strong winds, which left it suspended by only a few metal beams at its base as it swung over the many residential buildings below. The city evacuated at-risk residents on West 56th and 57th streets between Sixth and Seventh avenues after the snap, then set to work figuring out how to handle the unwieldy danger.

The Department of Buildings and Pinnacle Industries, the crane’s owner, reportedly spent 36 hours on Sunday turning the crane’s mast so that the wayward boom could be tethered to the residential building. Most locals—many angered over the week by the repair’s slow progress—were allowed back into their homes on Monday.

GAS LINES STRETCH MORE THAN SIX BLOCKS

Upper West Siders in need of gas endured lines six blocks and beyond on Sunday, six days into a regional fuel shortage in the wake of Hurricane Sandy that has many citygoers on edge. The shortage persisted despite assurances from Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Gov. Andrew Cuomo last week that supplies would return to normal soon, so many residents found themselves with multiple hours to kill over the weekend along West End Avenue from around West 101st Street to the Mobil station around the corner on W. 96th Street.

According to the West Side Rag, the line stretched so far that gas station attendants had to close it off on Sunday around 2:30 p.m. to ensure that everyone in line received a portion of their dwindling supply. The line mirrored traffic jams across the city caused by fuel demand. At many stations, police were on duty to keep the gas-hungry from getting out of control.

MARATHON CANCELED; RUNNERS RACE FOR STORM RELIEF

Amid fervid debate over whether or not the New York Marathon should be run in the wake of Hurricane Sandy, Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced the cancellation of the Nov. 4 event last Friday. Bloomberg, who first supported the race after the storm, maintained that the 26.2-mile run through the city’s five boroughs would not divert resources from storm recovery efforts.

Nevertheless, he said, the controversy surrounding the event—which over 26,000 New Yorkers protested by signing an online petition—was too much of a distraction from the families and homes that needed aid.

“It is clear that it has become the source of controversy and division,” Bloomberg said in the announcement. “The marathon has always brought our city together and inspired us with stories of courage and determination. We would not want a cloud to hang over the race or its participants, and so we have decided to cancel it.”

Many racers, however, decided not to let the cancellation darken their day, either. About 2,000 of the race’s 50,000 registered participants showed up in Central Park on Sunday morning to raise money for relief efforts by running laps around the park’s main road loop. (Four laps around the park about equals the marathon’s distance, and in fact used to be the New York Marathon’s course.) Other runners headed down to Staten Island to help families in damaged neighborhoods.

Sugary drinks like these in a supermarket may be reduced to 16 oz. or less. Photo courtesy of Wikicommons.

by Adel Manoukian

The New York City Board of Health will hold a public hearing today at the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene in Long Island City for the proposal to limit the size of sugary drinks like soda sold in restaurants to 16 ounces or less.

The proposal comes from Mayor Bloomberg, Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services Linda I. Gibbs and Health Commissioner Thomas A. Farley. They joined forces with 1199 SEIU United Healthcare Workers East President George Gresham to push for this as a part of the anti-obesity initiative. Sugary drinks are the leading cause of the nation’s obesity epidemic, hence the crackdown.

And it truly is an epidemic—nearly 60 percent of adults in NYC are overweight or obese and so are 40 percent of the City’s public elementary school students. It has gotten so out of hand that one in eight adult New Yorkers now have Type 2 diabetes, onset by too much sugar.

“Limiting the sale of large, sugary sodas will improve our health today and the health of future generations,” said 1199SEIU President Gresham at The Ryan-NENA Community Health Center in the Lower East Side recently. “Dozens of studies have shown that soda is a main culprit in the increase in obesity, diabetes and heart disease in communities of color, and thanks to Mayor Bloomberg’s leadership, New York City is doing something about it.”

The portion size limit on the drinks would be effective at restaurants, movie theater concessions, delis and mobile food carts. The issue with sugary drinks is that they do not create a fullness sensation so people continue to eat, adding extra calories to the ones consumed from the drinks. They are cheap and contain no nutritional value.

“The war on obesity has to be fought on many fronts, and the Mayor’s plan to put sensible limits on the portion size of sugary drinks is an important first step,” said Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer at the same meeting. “When half of New York City’s adult population and 20 percent of our public school students are considered obese, it is the responsibility of government to combat this public health menace as best it can.”

A scene from the protest on Sunday. Photo courtesy of Wiki Commons.

by Adel Manoukian

Reverend Al Sharpton joined thousands of people marching silently at a “Stop-and-Frisk” protest rally held on Sunday, June 17, organized by the Reverend, the NAACP and Local 1199 of the SEIU union.

About 300 civil rights groups were represented in the roughly 30-block walk from the northwest corner of Central Park to Mayor Bloomberg’s townhouse on 79^th Street. Police barricaded the area around the Mayor’s home and his aides would not specify if he was home. The silent march suddenly became loud and rowdy once the large turnout reached the home after about 2 and ½ hours, as activists shouted and tried to push past barricades to continue the walk down Fifth Avenue. According to witnesses, fights broke out, including some scuffles between protestors and the NYPD. Nine arrests were made by police under counts of assault, resisting arrest and disorderly conduct.

The NYPD’s “Stop and Frisk Policy”, from the mid-90s, is under much scrutiny by residents, elected officials, and labor union members because of the police’s tendency to stop young male blacks and Hispanics. Out of the roughly 700,000 people stopped and frisked last year, 87% were black or Hispanic.

Mayor Bloomberg and Police Commissioner Ray Kelly understand efforts must be made by police to have more respect for those who are stopped but they stand by the policy, saying “Stop-and-Frisk” keeps crime rates low and guns off the street.

Gay and lesbian activists also made appearance, showing the growing alliance between civil rights groups and them. This comes after the Board of NAACP, a part of which are many church leaders, voted to endorse gay marriage.

The march was reminiscent of NYC’s “silent march” for civil rights in 1917 after race riots in East St. Louis.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg

In a press conference yesterday morning at the First Baptist Church of Brownsville, Brooklyn, Mayor Bloomberg stood by the controversial Stop-and-Frisk policy that the NYPD so readily uses.

Although Bloomberg agrees that people who are stopped and frisked by police deserve more respect and better treatment, the mayor stands by the argument that the policy has created a safer city and he refuses to put an end to it. The policy, enacted in the mid-90s, gives police the authority to stop a person and search them, in case of any weapons. In 2011 alone, about 684,330 people were stopped, questioned and/or searched. About 780 guns were actually seized by police. 87% of those who were searched were young male Latinos and blacks, leading many to believe the searched go under racial profiling.

Bloomberg denies this idea.

“If we stopped people based on census numbers, we would stop many fewer criminals, recover many fewer weapons and allow many more violent crimes to take place,” Mr. Bloomberg said at the press conference according to reports from the NY Times.

The conference comes after a spur of state and city elected officials and organizations traveled to Washington, D.C., to meet with U.S. Department of Justice officials about the issue of possible discrimination that goes along with the policy.

In his speech, Bloomberg claims that police use the policy more in East New York and Brownsville because of the higher crime rates compared to other parts of the city not because of race.

Bloomberg also understands new methods of conducting a search should be taken into consideration to improve the situation.

Pols say Danger in MTS Plans
This Saturday, local politicians joined Upper East Side residents to yet again protest the East 91st Street Marine Transfer Station (MTS), citing the recent placement of the Atlantic sturgeon on the endangered species list as another reason to trash the plan. Opponents also seized upon FAA regulations that strongly advise against placing trash facilities within five miles of an airport in order to lessen the threat of bird strikes on planes taking off.
“Today we are urging the federal government to block the city from constructing this facility just three miles from LaGuardia Airport, in violation of federal regulations intended to prevent bird strikes from endangering air passengers and communities near airports, and to consider this site’s impact on the Atlantic sturgeon, which was recently added to the endangered species list and is known to live in the East River,” said Rep. Carolyn Maloney. She released letters she had written to the FAA, as well as to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, asking them to carefully weigh the environmental factors before granting the federal permits the city needs to construct the expanded dock for the transfer station.
Maloney, along with all of the East Side electeds, has been fighting tooth and nail against the garbage transfer station—she appropriated a quote from Winston Churchill that was originally about fighting the Nazis in World War II to demonstrate how hard she will fight the MTS, if that’s any indication of how much she thinks is at stake. She was joined on Saturday by State Sen. Liz Krueger, Assembly Members Micah Kellner and Dan Quart and City Council Member Jessica Lappin, and the fish and aviation puns flew with abandon (the plan should “sleep with the fishes,” the city should “go fish,” the proposal is “fishy,” the whole thing “isn’t going to fly”) as each issued forceful statements against the MTS, hoping that these new factors will hold sway with the right people in government.

Kips Bay Day
This Saturday, May 26, the Kips Bay Neighborhood Alliance, along with the Department of Transportation and Community Board 6, is hosting a community celebration at the Kips Bay pedestrian plaza. The plaza is located on the service road between 30th and 33rd streets, on the east side of Second Avenue, and is closed to traffic through July 31 to allow for community events and create more open space in the neighborhood. The events on Saturday run from 10 a.m.–5 p.m. and include live jazz music, chess games for kids, a puppet show by Repertorio Espanol, belly dancing with the Stein Senior Center, pet training from Walter’s Pets, bike training from Sids Bikes and NYBikes and other activities for kids and adults. For more information, email mholli@nyc.rr.com.

Photo by Gary Velasquez. Photo courtesy of Henry Street Settlement.

Children and community members protest budget cuts to after-school programs

It’s not often children have as much to lose in a political fight as their parents. But for the children of Chinatown and the Lower East Side, this rally was an important one.

On Wednesday, May 10, at 4 p.m., more than 350 students in the Henry Street Settlement’s after-school programs staged a walkout and gathered at Sol Lain Park in the Lower East Side. The children, clad in personally designed T-shirts and carrying handmade signs, shouted, “If we’re not in our seats, we’re in the streets!”

The walkout was one of a number of protests over the past few weeks, including a walkout by the children of P.S. 137 and P.S. 124. These demonstrations were in response to Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s proposed budget cuts to after-school and early childhood programs, according to Susan LaRosa, the director of marketing and communications for the Henry Street Settlement.

(By Courtney Holbrook for Our Town Downtown.)

“The cuts to after-school programs in Chinatown and the Lower East Side are extremely alarming,” said City Council Member Margaret Chin in a prepared statement. “For thousands of parents, these programs are the only way they can make a living and ensure that their children are safe in the afternoon hours. Parents in Chinatown and the Lower East Side cannot afford to lose these programs, and the community cannot afford to send our children out into the streets.”

According to Kelly Magee, director of communications in Chin’s office, the cuts proposed by Bloomberg would eliminate 70 percent of after-school programs in District 1. Magee noted these cuts are “the worst we’ve seen in a while. We’ve already lost 61 percent of our day care and early learners’ programs since 2009. Cutting back more is just debilitating to the community.”

For residents of the Lower East Side and Chinatown, these cuts take away numerous programs on which parents have come to rely. Should Bloomberg’s budget cuts pass successfully, seven schools in District 1 will lose all programs for all 2012. These programs include P.S. 2 Meyer London, P.S. 20 Anna Silver, P.S. 124 Yung Wing, P.S. 142 Amalia Castro, P.S. 137 John Bernstein, P.S./I.S. 140 The Nathan Straus Prep and the Collaborative Academy of Science, Technology & Language-Arts Education (M345).

Cuts on such a scale can leave working parents with few options for child care after school. According to Magee, the community has reacted with “an outpouring of anger…we’re seeing parents mobilizing, because these cuts have a direct impact on their lives.”

The cuts were initiated in response to budget cuts at the state level, according to Magee. Thanks to the recession, New York State government is cutting back on its public services. Magee noted, however, the problem is deeper than what can be blamed on the recession—it lies in the way in which government allocates funds and selects specific districts for cuts.

“The process for awarding programs funding is community-based,” Magee said. “Youth and community organizations submit proposals for program contracts. The city is required to go with the lowest bidder, so our programs were coming in underfunded to begin with.”

Furthermore, the city determines which districts receive funds by determining the median income of individual ZIP code blocks. In an area like the Lower East Side, certain wealthy neighborhoods change the priority level of the district as a whole. District 1 was deemed a non-priority level district.

Magee said the city government must change its methodology. Those who allocate funds must “look at the median income of individual families, not the overall demographic…otherwise, everyone else who may not live in the wealthier area of town gets left behind.”

In the coming weeks, children and parents of the Lower East Side and Chinatown will continue to participate in rallies and protests around the city. The community hopes that, through negotiation, the City Council will be able to return a certain amount of money to after-school programs. However, Magee fears this will not be enough.

“If City Council restores the programs, that’s great, but we will be operating on the barest minimum of funds,” Magee said. “There is a pattern in our mayor’s administration of abandoning city services, but this city needs available day care and high-quality after-school programs.”

Chin Says Cuts to After-School and Daycare Programs Remain

Councilwoman Margaret Chin

In response to Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s executive budget, Council Member Margaret Chin noted that while the mayor has committed to fund 2,600 teaching positions, the budget still includes cuts to daycare, after-school programs and other services in the Lower East Side and Chinatown.

“The mayor’s budget once again takes aim at working families and minority neighborhoods in New York City,” Chin said in a statement. “These are programs that New Yorkers rely on in order to hold down a job, make a living and support their families. In Chinatown and the Lower East Side, we stand to lose 70 percent of our elementary and middle after-school programs.”

Chin said these cuts prove the programs “are not a priority for this administration. Instead, the City Council will be called on to restore these programs to what are already significantly reduced levels. Since 2009, we have lost 61 percent of our daycare and after-school programs. As a city, we should be focused on expanding after-school and daycare and making high-quality programs available for all our public school students,” Chin continued.

Citywide

Stringer Calls for MTA to create Temporary Reduced-Fare Cards for Seniors and Disabled People

This week Manhattan Borough President Scott M. Stringer demanded that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority reform its process for replacing lost or stolen reduced-fare MetroCards for seniors and disabled people, calling the current system “a ridiculous, time-consuming maze that burdens the very people we’re supposed to be helping and makes it harder for them to get around our City.”

The borough president said that reduced-fare MetroCard holders face formidable obstacles if their cards are lost or stolen. When they call MTA to request a replacement, Stringer noted, the wait for a new card can frequently take up to three months.

In the meantime, those who want to ride a bus at reduced fare must present evidence of their age to bus drivers and come up with exact change of $1.10. To ride the subway, they first have to find a station agent. Next, seniors or disabled get a one-trip MetroCard and a paper voucher that’s about as useful as an old token. It only works if they can find another subway station agent to take the voucher on their return trip.

“All of this takes an emotional and financial toll on New Yorkers, who have a right to expect better service,” Stringer wrote in a letter to Joseph J. Lhota, the MTA’s chairman and executive officer.

In his letter to the MTA, Stringer suggested that there is a simple solution to this problem: provide temporary MetroCards to seniors and disabled riders whose reduced-fare cards have been lost or stolen.

Stringer said the MTA already gives out such replacements when reduced-fare cards are defective, adding: “It’s a smart, sensible solution. These temporary cards last for three months under the current system, which is plenty of time for a new reduced-fare card to be issued. We’d be extending the same courtesy, the same seamless service to seniors or disabled whose cards are lost or stolen. No waiting for station agents. No digging for identification or the exact change every time you want to get on a bus.”

In a letter penned last week to School Chancellor Dennis Walcott, New York State Assembly Speaker urged the Department of Education (DOE) to abate school overcrowding in Lower Manhattan by opening a new pre-kindergarten center in the area. Silver pointed out that while the community has helped build several new schools over the past few years, there is still a kindergarten waitlist nearing 100 students for the Spruce Street School, P.S. 276, P.S. 89 and the Peck Slip School. “This is the most serious overcrowding problem we have ever had in this neighborhood, and it is taking place when we have even more kindergarten classes than originally planned in these four schools,” wrote Silver.

Silver pointed out that a new pre-kindergarten center would free up seat in the zoned schools in the neighborhood for incoming kindergartners, a measure that has been advocated by Silver’s School Overcrowding Task Force and Community Board 1.

“As I expressed to DOE officials at my last School Overcrowding meeting, it is important that the DOE present a plan for creating one of these centers in time for the coming academic year, consider adding an extra kindergarten class to the Peck Slip School, or come up with another option for adding seats in September,” Silver continued. “While implementing these plans would help cut down on our waiting lists, these are not long-term solutions. Our overcrowding problem is getting worse. We need more elementary school seats in Lower Manhattan and we need to begin planning for them now. It takes years to bring a new school on line and we simply don’t have the luxury of waiting. Members of my task force are already searching for possible locations for new schools and I hope the DOE and the School Construction Authority will do the same.”