City lied to Koo about Linden Place high school

From the Times Ledger:

Elected officials and civic leaders say they are against an SCA proposal to build a high school on Linden Place in Flushing in an area they say has many facilities and traffic problems.

The School Construction Authority announced a plan to convert 30-48 Linden Place—a building that currently houses offices for Community School District 25 Superintendent Danielle Dimango, District 25 staff and the community education council —into High School 859.

In a letter dated May 27 to City Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña, City Councilman Peter Koo (D-Flushing)said residents told him maintenance workers on the site were seen removing furniture for a new high school despite being told by the DOE that the plan was not being pursued.

Justin Brannan, deputy director of the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs, responded to Koo’s letter June 23 confirming that the building is being converted into a high school at Farina’s request.

Brannan also noted that because the DOE owns the building, it is not required to participate in a public process and that a portion of the building is being used as an alternate learning center for high school students.

Koo said there is a need for a good high school in Flushing but that another location should be considered, saying he needs more details.

Petition against new Flushing high school

Just wanted to make you aware of this petition against building a school in Flushing:

A new 481 seat High School is being planned for 30-48 Linden Place. This is where the Board of Education building now stands. The Mitchell-Linden Civic Association has already notified our legislators that this location is absolutely unacceptable for the following reasons: Directly across the street is a car wash, and two hotels. It is adjacent to the Whitestone Bowling Alley and only ½ block from an early child hood school. Within one to three blocks are two Nursery schools, two Senior Centers, and P.S. 214. This is the most congested and grid locked location in our entire community. It is also the pathway to the Pathmark Shopping Center.

I'm still trying to figure out why, since the birth rate has been low for quite some time, do we need a school built on every other block?

Mitchell-Linden library on the move

"The current Mitchell-Linden branch librarian told me that in about 6 months from now, this library will be relocated to a spot on the same street, Union Street, but 2 blocks south of its present location. This picture is at the purported 32 Avenue and Union Street location, in the ground floor of a 72 luxury condo unit building, around the corner from the Flushing swimming pool/summer day camp site." - Found Out in Flushing

Districting Commission kept maps hidden from its own commissioners

From Crains:

Commissioners who unanimously approved new City Council district lines last week were not provided with maps showing last-minute tweaks until an hour before voting for them, one commissioner told The Insider.

Former state Sen. Frank Padavan, a Republican member of the New York City Districting Commission, said the first time he saw last-minute changes that will stand for the next decade came at an hour-long meeting last Thursday — and that he now regrets his vote in favor of the lines at that meeting. Mr. Padavan said he had been unaware that the Broadway-Flushing neighborhood in Queens, which had been in Republican Councilman Dan Halloran’s district, had been split in two.

“When the final drafts were presented [at the meeting] I just didn’t have all the details,” said Mr. Padavan. “It was just cut out and I didn’t notice.”

Commissioners were not provided with copies of the revised maps, but were provided with the opportunity to physically come into the commission’s offices near City Hall in the four days leading up to the final meeting to peruse the final lines. Some of them did so.

“They had drop-ins where you could go down there and take a look at it,” said former Republican New York City Council Minority Leader Thomas Ognibene, another commissioner. “At least, you could have a private opportunity.”

A commission spokeswoman declined to comment on Mr. Padavan’s concerns.

Why weren't the maps e-mailed to the commissioners before the vote? This is 2012, not 1980. While one can blame Mr. Padavan for not taking his role seriously enough, it's kind of suspicious that such dramatic changes were made to the maps by the commission and the commissioners were not adequately informed.

Revised redistricting maps even worse

If you go to this link, you'll download the revised version of the NYC Districting Commission's proposed City Council district maps.

To summarize:

The Districting Commission's role is supposed to be to maintain communities of interest, which includes ethnic as well as well-defined neighborhoods with long-maintained boundaries. After the initial maps were drawn, the Commission came under great scrutiny for not doing very much at all and making all sorts of decisions that seemed contrary to their stated mission. They assured the public - and the elected officials - that the first map was "just a draft" and there would be great opportunity for the public to help to shape the process.

The maps as proposed by the Commission are quite damaging for Queens neighborhoods. Not only were certain areas not corrected as had been suggested, other areas that have always maintained cohesiveness within one district or another have been dramatically divided.

Here's a sample of what's wrong:

Mitchell-Linden - After putting the area west of Union Street into the 19th Council District, the Commission made a motion to place it back in the 20th, as per the wishes of the community. However, now the part of Mitchell-Linden east of Union Street has been placed in the 19th.

North Flushing - North Flushing north of 33rd Avenue west of 150th Street was placed in the 19th; groups had requested all of the R2A area, which includes a number of blocks between 33rd and 34th Avenues, again to keep the neighborhood intact.

Broadway-Flushing - Instead, the Commission dragged the 33rd Avenue boundary all the way to 169th Street, dividing Broadway-Flushing in two. Also, at 169th Street, the District line makes a right angle south all the way to Flushing Cemetery, severing off the most eastern blocks of Broadway-Flushing as well. It is scarcely believable that Broadway-Flushing, which has a clearly defined boundary at Northern Boulevard, has been divided in this fashion.

Station Road - Similarly, the Station Road area was previously divided north and south, mostly by Northern Boulevard. This is one of the few civic areas that straddles Northern Boulevard due to the entire area being zoned R2 or R2A. Now the area has been divided east and west at 169th Street, again with little rhyme or reason.

There are many council members who are unhappy with the way the lines were drawn. But if the council doesn't vote to reject this map by December 7th, the lines are accepted as is and will stay that way for the next 10 years.

Profiles in gerrymandering: Mitchell-Linden

Redistricting Maps 1
Whitestone / North Flushing

The Commission has proposed that six blocks of the Mitchell-Linden apartment complex,
six-story buildings located west of Union Street, should be removed from the 20th
Council District and placed into the 19th (Figures 1 and 2). These blocks - which
represents only about half of the Mitchell-Linden Civic Association area - were curiously carved out of the 20th, seemingly with no context; not only did it divide a previously united neighborhood, it is surrounded on three sides by the 20th, with its only connection to the 19th adjacent to the Whitestone Expressway on the west, across from the College Point Corporate Park.

Based on conversations with the Mitchell-Linden Civic Association, the Queens Civic
Congress believes that these six blocks should revert back into the 20th Council District.

An appropriate addition to the 19th from the 20th would be the portion of North Flushing located in the 20th (Figure 3) - both in terms of comparable population (Figure 7) - as the remainder of this area is already in the 19th.

The North Flushing area - approximately 38 blocks, or 25%, of the primarily detached
single-family, low-density R1/R2 residential neighborhood (Figures 4, 5 and 6) north of Northern Boulevard that stretches between Union Street and Francis Lewis Boulevard - is currently located in the 20th Council District. It has no relation to the adjacent areas of high-density downtown Flushing to the south or the Mitchell-Linden Cooperative apartment buildings to the west, but is consistent and has a "common interest" with the rest of North Flushing to the east and should be placed entirely within the 19th Council District. QCC's recommendation is supported by the North Flushing Civic Association, which represents the immediate area, as well as the adjacent organizations to the east:

Broadway-Flushing Homeowners Association, Bowne Park Civic Association,
Auburndale Improvement Association and the North East Flushing Civic Association.
This "district swap" has also been endorsed by the Mitchell-Linden Civic Association.
In addition, two blocks should be added to the 20th from the 19th: a single block of
garden apartments in Whitestone at 20th Avenue and Parsons Boulevard; and a block
filled with six-story apartments at Northern Boulevard between Murray and 153rd
Streets. These changes would generate less gerrymandered district lines as well as
including higher density in District 20 where it is more in keeping with other similar areas.

Long time Mitchell-Linden stores in jeopardy

"A rumor has been spreading through this residential neighborhood that we might be losing the stores that many of us have shopped in since 1952. Owners of coops and private homes in the area are concerned that these will be rental units, with a portion set aside for Section 8 housing in order to get variances. The Mitchell-Linden Civic Association has been quiet on this proposal until this afternoon when a flyer was put under the doors of the apartments in my co-op. It's about time!"

"Here is a Google satellite view of the area. The stores in question are in the center with white roofs. Do you think parking might be an issue???" - Al