Friday, June 19, 2015

Bayside residents unhappy with high school proposal

From the Queens Courier:

Bayside residents showed up in large numbers to Monday’s Community Board 11 (CB 11) meeting to contend with a proposed high school planned for the former Bayside Jewish Center.

Although many were interested in speaking on the issue of the proposed school, most of the attendees had not realized they needed to pre-register for the public participation segment of the evening and were not allowed to have the floor. The few who did get to speak out against the school received a raucous applause from the rest of the audience.

“Put simply, this project is not needed and is not wanted,” said Nancy Kupferberg, a Bayside resident who has had two of her children attend nearby Bayside High School. Kupferberg appeared on behalf of many others to present a total of 3,100 letters from community residents, students and staff members to express their concerns about the proposal.

“What my experience tells me is that we don’t want this,” added Ana Baires, a resident of the area around Bayside High School. She spoke of teenagers loitering around her house and causing trouble.

The residents were so eager to speak on the matter that many members of the frustrated crowd spilled out into the hallway. Chairwoman Christine Haider said a discussion will be held in the future when the community board has more information about the project.


I have it on good authority that

  • over 3000 individual letters that were written by residents opposing the school were brought to the meeting
  • CB 11 warned the rep from Vallone's office that the SCA better not hold any meetings during the summer
  • the Principal of Bayside HS was not informed about the new school ahead of time and is totally upset with Vallone and the SCA about it.

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

They are going to do it anyway, just like what they did with the Kiels brothers site. What these people should be fighting for is for the dob to do their jobs in bayside and make them go into every single house and close down all these illegal conversions going on. 4 families in a two family house should not be acceptable. That's what the whole problem Is here. Also, they should be fighting to bus those people who don't belong in the schools over here to other schools...I read about this one school that only holds 300 kids in the whole school. ....bus them out over there. Fine these people for using fake addresses and start turning those down who don't live anywhere close to the school. Then tell the dob to start doing their jobs and checking every single house, I know it would mean them actually doing.....gasp. ....work! But it's getting to be very necessary! That's where I want my tax paying money to go!

Anonymous said...

The synagogue was sold because there were not enough members. What else does the community want for the site?

Anonymous said...

This area is not considered the "best" residential part of Bayside. That's why Vallone and his cronies are trying to dump it here.
This would not happen in the posh Weeks Woodland section of Bayside. The tract of old Treasure Island homes that comprise a lot of the area where the contested new high school is to be located were built for working class . It's easier to screw the poor nabes than the richer neighborhoods.

Anonymous said...

The fix is in. The die is cast. The pol's and CB11 have already got their bribe money banked.
Homeowners had better instal some heavy chain link fencing around their properties to keep the hordes of raucous high schoolers at bay.

Anonymous said...

Churches and synagogues are closing. Islam is the fastest growing religion around the world.

Anonymous said...

It costs more to heat and cool houses of worship than there are members in a lot of cases.
God is alive but religion is dying. The pursuit of the buck is our new faith. That's what the landlord expects each month.

Anonymous said...

More ILLEGAL ALIENS and their ILLEGAL children means the need for more Public Schools.

Guess this means Property Taxes will have to go up to Cover the expense of all these new kids.

This is only FAIRNESS people...

as NY keeps voting Democrats in at every chance.

YOU GETZ WHAT YOU DESERVES !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

Anonymous said...


They are going to do it anyway, just like what they did with the Kiels brothers site.


"They" - meaning the SCA, the city, whatever - are only able to do "it" - meaning the construction of a school - with the approval of the Councilmember. The City Council will always defer to the Councilmember of a particular area, so if they vote "NO" on something, the rest of the Council will support that member.

When the Kiel Brothers property was being considered for a school by the SCA in 2013, Vallone was told by the Council leadership that they would delay the vote for the school until after he was in office - if he was against it. He told them he was in favor of Kiel Brothers for a school, so it went through.

The Bayside Jewish Center property - 1 acre in size - should NOT BE the site of an 800+ student High School 3 blocks from the existing Bayside High School. Again, Vallone could have easily told the SCA that he will not allow a school at this location. Instead, Vallone secretly approved the site, without any consultation with the members of Community Board 11 or the neighborhood residents of that area. This is why over 3,000 letters have been written in opposition in less than a month.

As for what the Jewish Center could be used for, how about a community/senior center? That's what that neighborhood really needs and it's supported by the residents there.

Anonymous said...

Hello? Abandoned buildings aplenty at Fort Totten! Use them.

Anonymous said...

re: Hello? Abandoned buildings aplenty at Fort Totten! Use them.

Interesting idea, but Bayside doesn't really need another high school. If we did we shouldn't be busing all those kids in from Jamaica who are the ones that people in the neighborhood complain about. The sight of over grown high schools kids climbing and hanging from traffic signals is unsightly to say the least.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous 9....what abandoned buildings at ft totten? Those are called historical buildings that should not be touched!

Bay Terrence said...

paul vallone is only a councilman to be a placeholder for the vallone name, this way there's always a vallone in the city council.

Anonymous said...

The budgeted amount for this unwanted and unnecessary school is….guess…..$114 million!! Vallone knows how to pay back the $320 K that the real estate and construction guys gave him to get elected---- where's the investigation on that one??

Anonymous said...

Do you really think that Paulie is going to really care about the people, no way all he and the rest of his family cares about is the almighty dollar. I would even investigate the consulting firm that his family owns to see about them broking this deal. They do have a special relationship with the SCA. They have brokered many deals, take a look at Transfiguration Greek Church's deal with the SCA, the new lease amount is nearly double, over $600k from $370k. They only care about builders and money. And the supposed high school in Whitestone from what I have heard was bogus, was never going to happen. I havent seen Paulie in over a year. BUT his office had the balls to call me to REMIND me to attend his birthday fundraiser....LMFAO.....why would I go to his b'day party and then give him campaign money on top of that.

Anonymous said...

The casuists who live in Bayside don't like public schools period. They only want schools that teach casuistry and make it easy for their little casuists to graduate.

Anonymous said...

Crapper! Put this back on your front page--it's only starting to heat up! The community is totally up in arms against this

Anonymous said...

Interesting idea, but Bayside doesn't really need another high school. If we did we shouldn't be busing all those kids in from Jamaica who are the ones that people in the neighborhood complain about. The sight of over grown high schools kids climbing and hanging from traffic signals is unsightly to say the least.

Amen.
I live around that 32 avenue area and dude..if anyone is house hunting at that time, they will be thinking that whole area is black. There, I said it. I'm not a racist, but demographics has a big effect who will move in that area or not. Also I bought that area with top money so my kids can benefit from the bayside school district. If I have known, I would've also just save a bundle and buy in Jamaica and let them take advantage of district 26! Tell their district to build their own school and thus provide more jobs too that way.