Friday, December 10, 2010

☞ MEET: Public Hearing on West 129th Street



There will be a public hearing next week on the final plans to reinstate West 129th Street at the St. Nicholas Houses location for the arrival of the Harlem's Children's Zone.  As reported this past summer, the Harlem Children's Zone will be part of a unique street restoration and one of the first "infill" developments on NYCHA land in Harlem: LINK. The Land Use Committee will hold a public hearing on the following matters in the 8th Floor Conference Room of the Adam Clayton Powell State Office Building (163 West 125th Street), commencing at 6:30 PM on Thursday December 16th.

The lower graphic shows the positioning of the new Harlem Children's Zone complex that will be constructed which will eliminate a playground at the end of the cul-de-sac that currently exist at 129th Street.  The middle photos shows one of the other four playgrounds that will remain on the complex within half a block of the displaced one.  NYCHA has been in a deficit for many years now and this new development might remove a playground, but will also subsidize the public housing in the area and will provide its residents with a high ranking charter school. Map courtesy of DNAinfo.

4 comments:

  1. Why not replace that parking lot at 130th St with a playground?

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  2. Why would a mother of a newborn living in those projects ever want to better herself and lot in life when the taxpayer is funding and bringing a "high ranking charter school" to their front door that their child (or children) can attend free? Yet another to the endless cradle to grave benefits they enjoy.

    Seems to me the incentive is for parents with babies to stay ghetto-ized and in those projects going forward so when their baby is school age, they are slotted right into the school.

    Perhaps next the City can see if it can work with WholeFoods and bring a high ranking market to the projects.

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  3. @MyBlock:

    If there were anything about that neighborhood that was truly benefical, I'm sure that some clever fellow like yourself would have found thier way into low income utopia.

    But you might have a point about the benefits.

    I'm sure dodging hallway muggers and rapists does wonders for the cardio.

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  4. To be fair, it is easy to build up resentment against some of the families who appear to be milking the system for what it's worth. You see the same thing in England, families who clearly can't afford to look after a single kid, but go on to have three or four to secure that government funded apartment or the extra few $$$ to spend on lottery tickets. Education is vital and if some of these kids can get a place in a halfway decent school, then that is a great thing. Problem is, when parents start complaining about their parking spots being taken away, that's a whole different matter.

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