BY Aline Reynolds
Two years ago, N.Y. State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver designed a task force to address school overcrowding that has plagued Lower Manhattan for the last several years. Silver invites N.Y.C. Department of Education officials, school principals and parent-community members to the periodic meetings to discuss possible solutions to the surge in students and the dearth in space. The most recent meeting was held last Thursday at Silver’s district office.
One Peck Slip
The D.O.E. is pursuing the U.S. Postal Service’s Peck Slip location as a possible site for a new school in Lower Manhattan as one solution to alleviate overcrowding in other schools.
“We’re interested in the Peck Slip site – we think it offers a suitable opportunity for a school,” said D.O.E. spokesperson Jack Zarin-Rosenfeld. “We’re cooperating with the Post Office on their process.”
In a letter addressed to U.S. Postmaster General and C.E.O. John Potter, Silver asked him to consider the D.O.E. as a potential buyer.
“I am writing to join Senator Charles Schumer in expressing my strong support for the proposal submitted by the N.Y.C. School Construction Authority to build a much-needed 400-seat public school at the Postal Service property up for sale at One Peck Slip.”
The bidding process for the space at the One Peck Slip location of the U.S. Postal Service just closed.
“The total square foot of Peck Slip is 68,067 with four floors. Currently the U.S.P.S. needs only two of those floors, hence this is why we are consolidating and offering the extra space for sale,” Reid said.
The U.S.P.S. is considering bidders for all four floors, in which case the post office would relocate, in addition to buyers interested in the two floors currently not being utilized by the post office.
Applications from the D.O.E. and others are now being reviewed by the Postmaster of Manhattan, the city’s District Manager and other officials, before the U.S.P.S. announces its decision after October 1, the beginning of the Postal Service’s new fiscal year.
“A decision will probably be made by January,” said U.S. Postal Services Spokesperson Darlene Reid.
Reid assured everyone that retail mail services will remain active in this community regardless of the outcome of the proposals, and that the post office might decide to stay in its One Peck Slip location.
“We are not taking away [postal] service from the community, at this time; we are simply looking into the option of streamlining operations into a smaller space,” she said.
Other Possible Locations
At the meeting, P.S. 234 parent Tricia Joyce, a member of Silver’s School Overcrowding Task Force Committee, proposed 443-453 Greenwich Street as a possible location for an additional public school.
The 250,000 square-foot building rises seven stories into the air, has four exposures and a spacious courtyard, according to Joyce’s proposal. It is bounded by Greenwich, Vestry and Desbrosses Streets.
“It is an outstanding structure with the maximum utility given by having the light and air of four corners and a courtyard,” she said.
But the D.O.E.’s School Construction Authority has since decided against the proposal. “While we are constantly looking for potential new space for our students, the wood-frame construction of this building unfortunately does not meet our standard requirements,” Jack Zarin-Rosenfeld said in via e-mail.
The D.O.E. was also looking into 93 Worth Street, but the site has also been withdrawn from consideration.
“This is currently a commercial office building, and when we investigated it we found many challenges to accommodating a school,” Zarin-Rosenfeld said.
