What the hell is wrong with CB5 and Liz Crowley?

From the Daily News, re: the proposed Maspeth high school:

Crowley said she thinks the city can "compromise a little bit more." She said she presented a plan to Walcott on Monday to give first priority to [students from PS58*], then to students in Middle Village, Maspeth, Elmhurst and Glendale.

Community Board 5 approved the city proposal last Wednesday with the proviso that Crowley's plan and some other points be adopted.

When will these folks learn that you vote on a proposal as presented? Did the Willets Point vote debacle at CB7 not teach them anything? If you vote "yes", it doesn't matter if you had stipulations, your vote is still recorded as a yes. You will now get bupkus, as Mr. Walcott plainly stated in the article:

Walcott said the administration's plan is final. "We've been very accommodating with this particular project," he said, adding: "We have a responsibility for the borough and the city at large."

The City will do exactly what it wants to do there because the Council cares more about not pissing off the UFT and construction unions than it does about the quality-of-life of City residents. Crowley's proviso mentions nothing about alleviating the transportation problem in the area (overcrowded buses, no area subway and cars backed up for a mile at dismissal time now) or the fact that an 1100-seat school in the presence of 2 other schools within 4 blocks containing 3000 kids will overwhelm the area. Local kids aren't filling Maspeth's intermediate school, according to Crowley herself, so why is she ok with a huge high school in the community she represents? Her Chief-of-Staff sent this out in an e-mail to the community board:

"There is no traffic plan to address the longstanding traffic issues of the immediate community overburdened by the two existing schools.

The IS 73 feeder schools do not come close to filling the 1,700 6th, 7th and 8th Grade seats. As a result, students from outside the feeder schools are bussed in, creating an untenable traffic situation for the surrounding community.

This neighborhood's transportation infrastructure is already overburdened with the increase in traffic caused by PS 58. This new school, as identified in the DOE Environmental Assessment Form and Supplemental Environmental Studies Review, will add additional burdens to already over burdened local transportation arteries.

We have received no commitment from the DOE regarding any investment in capital funds to address transportation needs in the area."

Apparently this is no longer an issue for Crowley or the community board.

Thanks a lot CB5 (also the only community board in the City that regularly and moronically puts already fully-funded projects on its funding priorities list for the following year)!

CB5: The community board from purgatory.

If you want to see what SCA would like to inflict on the eastern end of Maspeth, take a look at these photos. Maybe they can name the new high school "Grover Cleveland East." And what's with all the concrete in front of the school in the above rendering? Isn't the City supposed to be going "green"?

* Reporter corrected text in an e-mail.