By Julie Shapiro
Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver waded into the controversial Lower Manhattan school zoning issue last week by supporting Option 3R.
Option 3R has the support of most Downtown parents and will allow all four elementary schools to build cohesive communities, Silver said in his Jan. 22 letter to the District 2 Community Education Council. The C.E.C. is scheduled to vote on either Option 3R or Option 2 at a meeting Wed., Jan. 27.
Silver is the first elected official to take a stand on the school rezoning. Option 3R has support in the Seaport, Financial District, Battery Park City and east Tribeca, while Option 2 has support in south and northwest Tribeca. Community Board 1 voted for Option 2.
Both Option 2 and Option 3R supporters have voiced concerns about children crossing West St. While Silver mentioned those safety concerns in his letter, he named only one specific crossing, at W. Thames St., where he wants the city to build a new bridge. He did not specifically mention the Chambers St. and Warren St. crossings, which many south Tribeca parents are concerned about if Silver’s preferred option is picked. Under this option, south Tribeca children would be zoned for P.S. 89, which is across West St. in Battery Park City.
For previous Downtown Express coverage on school zoning, and maps of the proposals, click here. The full text of Silver’s letter is below:
Dear CEC 2 Member:
After last year’s lottery system left parents in limbo as to where their children would attend school, I, along with my School Overcrowding Task Force, urged the
Department of Education to develop an enrollment plan where parents knew early on where their child would be registered for Kindergarten. I have carefully reviewed the DOE’s zoning proposals and I am urging you to adopt zoning Option 3R at your meeting on January 27, 2010.
As you know, I fought hard to get two new schools built and open to educate the children in our fast growing Lower Manhattan community, and I share the concerns of many local parents regarding how these schools will serve our community.
Building strong and thriving communities around local schools is a quality-of-life formula that works. We need look no further than PS 234 which, once built, helped to attract families to Tribeca and all of Lower Manhattan. Like PS 89 and PS 234, I sincerely believe that the Spruce Street School and PS 276 will very quickly establish themselves as top notch schools that will help make our community even stronger.
In addition, I want to express that I share the concern of many parents about their children’s ability to cross West Street safely. On January 14th, I hosted a meeting in my office with a variety of government agencies along with local residents and business owners where I made a series of recommendations for improving traffic safety on West Street. I proposed the placement of additional pedestrian safety officers and school crossing guards at key intersections as well as construction of a new pedestrian bridge at West Thames Street for PS 276. I also demanded a far better system to ensure that the elevators on these bridges remain operational. Regardless of which zoning option is chosen for our schools, I will continue to press government officials to improve pedestrian safety on West Street.
I believe that Option 3R not only has the support of most Lower Manhattan families but will also best serve our four local schools by building strong, cohesive communities around them. I strongly urge you to support Option 3R.
Very Truly Yours,
Sheldon Silver
Member of Assembly
