Blaz: School win shows mayor’s control power
BY SYDNEY PEREIRA
Mayor Bill de Blasio kicked off
“City Hall in Your Borough”
in Manhattan on Monday,
celebrating community activists’ fi ght to
save a Tribeca elementary school from
two relocations within four years.
The mayor emphasized his control
over the city’s public schools was the key
in the Lower Manhattan community’s
victory.
“In the end, this is the power of mayoral
control of education,” said de Blasio.
“This is an example of the power of being
able to control our schools the right
way and make this kind of impact.”
P.S. 150 parents organized soon after
learning that Vornado Realty was evicting
the elementary school from its site
at Independence Plaza next year. The
Department of Education’s plan for the
Tribeca school was to relocate it to the
already overcrowded Peck Slip School
in the South St. Seaport area until the
construction on Trinity Place of a new
schoolhouse, expected to be completed
by 2022.
Parents slammed the scheme, fearful
it would impact P.S. 150’s unique standing
as an award-winning “Blue Ribbon
School.” The mayor successfully intervened
earlier this month, persuading the
landlord to allow the school to stay at
the Tribeca site until the Trinity School
is built.
De Blasio credited parent advocates,
Downtown politicians, D.O.E. Schools
Chancellor Richard Carranza and even
the landlord for listening to parents.
“I know for everyone at P.S. 150,
there is a real, deep sense of family and
Jared Kushner-owned building loaded with lead
BY SYDNEY PEREIRA
A Kushner Companies’ East Village
walk-up building had lead
levels 10 times the federal standards
set by the Environmental Protection
Agency, according to a Health Department
report in late November.
The report, released by local tenantsrights
organization the Cooper Square
Committee, shows the stairwells at 118
E. Fourth St. had lead levels up to 10
times higher than federal standards, as
a result of construction in the building.
“I was in my apartment on a day
when they began demolition,” David
Dupuis, a tenant there for 35 years,
said in a statement. “A dust cloud invaded
my entire apartment from the
demolition happening in the apartment
below me.”
Dupuis said he left the building, but
when he returned, the hallways and
even his apartment were covered with
dust and his throat burned for days.
Mayor de Blasio celebrated the P.S. 150 victory in Tribeca — and got high-fives from grateful students —
as Councilmember Margaret Chin (turned away from the camera) and Congressmember Jerrold Nadler, in
front, also partook in the excitement.
belonging,” de Blasio said. “And that
was threatened.”
Of the P.S. 150 parents’ activism, de
Blasio said, “You could hear them all the
way from here to City Hall.”
Anshal Purohit, the P.S. 150 Parent-
Teacher Association co-president, was
elated by the development, and surprised
That dust, Health Department offi
cials discovered days later, was fi lled
with lead.
In a statement, Karen Zabarsky of
the Kushner Companies said, “As soon
as we were alerted to the condition, we
instructed the contractor responsible
to immediately clean the public areas
and to implement stricter measures
to prevent construction dust or debris
from escaping the work area. Kushner
always uses a lead-certifi ed contractor
who fully complies with the law.”
Tenant advocates’ say the high lead
levels appear to indicate that safe work
practices required under a 2004 law
weren’t followed.
Downtown politicians slammed
the E. Fourth St. lead fi ndings — in
the same building where tenants were
without gas for months in 2016.
Councilmember Margaret Chin,
who is spearheading two bills targeted
to end this type of lead exposure, said
in a statement, “The effort to end lead
at how quickly the change came about.
“All our jaws dropped when we got
the news,” Purohit said. Having suffi -
cient time to incorporate P.S. 150 into
its new permanent home at Trinity
Place, in at least four years from now,
was critical, she said. Plus, she said, the
kids “really got to see what it’s like to
poisoning starts with the community,
and we must continue to arm residents
with the tools to fi ght back.”
After lead-laden dust was found on
Nov. 21, the Health Department issued
an “order to abate” — the only action
it took against the Kushner Companies’
Westminster City Living. Failure to
comply with the abatement order can
result in fi nes up to $2,000 per violation,
according to a D.O.H. instructions
sheet for landlords.
“The safety of New Yorkers is paramount
for the Health Department, and
we encourage all New Yorkers to report
unsafe work via 311,” Health Department
spokesperson Michael Lanza said.
“After an initial inspection found elevated
levels of lead in dust, the Health
Department issued a Commissioner’s
Order to Abate (COTA). Follow-up inspections
have found that safety regulations
are being followed.”
The Department of Buildings responded
to a later complaint on Dec.
PHOTO BY SYDNEY PEREIRA
speak up and be respectful, but forceful,
with their voices.”
P.S. 150 parent Buxton Midyette said
the mayor’s “pivotal phone calls” to Vornado
Realty were critical.
“This was such a special moment
to celebrate for the school and for the
whole community,” Midyette said.
7, according to D.O.B. spokesperson
Andrew Rudansky. D.O.B. responded
within two hours and found no unsafe
or illegal conditions, Rudansky said.
However, Cooper Square organizer
Brandon Kielbasa, said, “It doesn’t
seem to me like their inspection was
done with an eye for what needs to be
in place for safe work practices.
“Whatever agency is responding
needs to be aware of the full breadth
of the safety concerns, and in this case,
in the pre-1960 building, dust is one
of those,” Kielbasa said. “It doesn’t need
to be heaping piles of dust like snow on
the ground.” The organizer is pleased
that Sanitation Commissioner Kathryn
Garcia was recently appointed as the
city’s “Lead Czar,” but enforcement of
existing laws to prevent lead exposure
needs to be implemented, he stressed.
“To be quite frank,” Kielbasa said,
“the community is getting more and
more upset.”
8 December 20, 2018 TVG Schneps Media