The staff of the Comprehensive Kids Development School, located at 383 Grand Street, say they’re increasingly concerned about a less than ideal, and potentially dangerous, situation alongside their Lower East Side campus. Each morning and afternoon, special education preschool students and their parents must navigate parked cars to get to and from the school. This week, they asked Community Board 3’s transportation committee to support their request to create a “No Standing” zone along Grand, just to the east of Norfolk Street.
The committee (lacking a quorum) voted unanimously to approve the proposal, which will ultimately be decided upon by the city’s Transportation Department. During the meeting, committee chair David Crane read from a letter written by CB3 member Rabbi Yissachar Ginzberg, who opposes the application on the grounds that it would create an “undue hardship for the community.”
Crane said his committee usually denies requests for new restricted parking zones. But because this school serves children with developmental delays, some of whom use wheelchairs, arm splints and leg braces, the proposal merited CB3’s support. He cautioned however, that the full board, where “the loudest and angriest voices often rule the day,” would have to sign off on the request when it meets July 26th.
The school is asking for a “No Standing” zone covering the length of about four cars every weekday morning for two hours and every weekday afternoon for another two hours. Nathan Slklar, Comprehensive Center’s director, said he has serious concerns about the safety of about 100 children who attend the school. Approximately 10 buses are used to transport students to and from the facility, which the school leases from the Seward Park Cooperative. He noted that several other neighborhood schools have “No Standing” zones. He also pointed out that cars are not allowed to park in front of the Comprehensive Care medical facility (located right next to the school on Grand Street).
Rabbi Ginzberg is a resident of the Seward Park Co-op and the principal of Mesivta Tifereth Jerusalem, a yeshiva at 145 East Broadway. That school has a “No Standing” zone, although the signage makes an exception for faculty parking. The yeshiva was part of a Department of Transportation program designed to improve pedestrian safety near more than 140 New York City schools.
In the past, Ginzberg has been critical of the bike lanes on Grand Street, new pedestrian crosswalks and other “traffic calming” measures that he believes have made the neighborhood less hospitable to motorists. Rabbi Ginzberg is out of the country for three weeks and was unavailable to comment for this story.
Why is it so necessary to make this about religion? How do you know what Rabbi Ginsberg feels about the No Standing zone in front if the Jewish school? Perhaps he is against that too as it seems that this story is more about drivers v. pedestrians than it is about Jews v. Gentiles.
It has be come increasingly difficult to park along grand street. im glad someone is finally sticking up for those of us lower east siders that drive.
This is not about religion. Read the story!! You obviously are MISSING THE POINT. IS ABOUT THE SAFETY OF CHILDREN. If you are so concerned about where to park your car then take it to a garage. I don’t give a hoot what “Rabbi Ginsberg” feelings are, just because he is in the community board that doesn’t give him the right to oppose something that he himself benefits with a “no parking sign” in front of “HIS” school (except of course for his precious car that he can “conveniently park” whenever he wants there). If he is so opposed then let him have the sign in front of his school taken out so that people don’t get the impression that some children have better treatment than others because that is what it looks like whether you want to see it or not. These are children that have medical conditions, I KNOW because I see them everyday when I myself have to wait IN MY CAR behind the DOUBLE PARKED BUSES!! Also is not about pedestrians. I have a car too, but I prefer that children can be drop off safely and cause less trouble with the yellow buses “DOUBLE PARKED” making it harder for me to drive through. What is the big deal? They are asking for a couple of hours of no parking while they escort the children from the bus to school, obviously you don’t care for the safety of those children. Shame on you too!!
And NO, I don’t have any children of mine in that school, in case you wondering. Am just as fed up with all the “renovations” and bike lanes and “detours” that not only makes it a nightmare to get around anywhere around here, but go blame Mr. Bloomberg for that.
My point is the safety of these small children which seems no one cares that they have difficulties trying to get to the school trying to maneuver in between parked cars. God forbid if a kid gets killed becasue of such a situation, is that what is needed to ensure the safety of these children?
I must agree with Bulldog4361, is really a pain trying to get through because the problem is the buses are forced to double park thus causing more traffic issues. It makes common sense leaving some space for the buses to drop off those children at the curb instead of having the buses double park, and this way there will be better traffic flow. Regarding the remark that the Rabbi said that it would cause “undue hardship to the community”?! He would need to explain that comment because I don’t see how creating space for the buses to drop off children can cause such a thing as hardship to the community; to the contrary is a hardship now with double parked buses. This is New York City, I also drive here and am extremely aware of how difficult it is to park or drive in the Lower East Side but hey! I have been here since 1980 and is always been like this. You think that area is bad? Try driving or finding a parking space in Chinatown, I actually seen car drivers pushing pedestrians with their cars becasue they just keep crossing the street without bothering to look at the traffic light to see if is in their favor. To my understanding that school is for special needs children so it would make sense to have such a sign for their safety. It would be sad indeed if something did happen and then the city would get sued for failing to put up such sign.
Bulldog is full of bullish@t! I certainly can see both sides of the story – and there are 2 sides to this story. I think the headline this story was a bit much Litvak. Did anyone interview the Priest at St Marys to see what he thinks? Are there No parking signs in front of Catholic and protestant schools? I’ll bet that there is no parking in front of Shia schools !!! You guys will never print this ! Dumb headline.
Nice language, did you ever go to school? There are certainly 2 sides of the story, but the children that are been affected is the main issue here and not the priest or the rabbi or anyone else that have no clue like as to what really is important here. I bet if your child was in this school you won’t be making such a dumb comment.
Go out and see a therapist, you certainly have some anger issues.
Nice language, did you ever go to school? There are certainly 2 sides of the story, but the children that are been affected is the main issue here and not the priest or the rabbi or anyone else that have no clue like as to what really is important here. I bet if your child was in this school you won’t be making such a dumb comment.
Go out and see a therapist, you certainly have some anger issues.
Nice language, did you ever go to school? There are certainly 2 sides of the story, but the children that are been affected is the main issue here and not the priest or the rabbi or anyone else that have no clue like as to what really is important here. I bet if your child was in this school you won’t be making such a dumb comment.
Go out and see a therapist, you certainly have some anger issues.
First of all, you certainly need to wash your mouth with soap, there might be children reading this, second of all the children in Comprehensive Centerbased Program which are the ones the STORY IS ABOUT don’t go to Catholic or protestant schools, they go to a centerbased program that provides services that they are entitled to. You don’t make sense with such statements and your ignorance is overflowing, educate yourself first before you make a comment about any issue like the dumb comment you posted.
So in order for 20 minutes of dropoff and then another 20 minutes of pickup a residential and commercial area should lose 4-5 parking spots? There is a city bus stop over there, how about making that multi-functional it is not like the M14 ever arrives on time anyways. We have several other school no parking spots that do not make any sense at all since because of 40 minutes of school bus use no one else can use it the rest of the day.
Why not make normal school parking rules like alternate sides no parking for these specific 20-30minutes.
It is not just about the children which I do care about, it is about the good for everyone, the residents, the other businesses who will lose customers due to lack of parking. People need to take all that in to account as well.
The problem with that suggestion is that you still going to have double parked buses in the rush hour time and this causes traffic buildup. I don’t see how much bussiness will be lost with that little amount of time with a couple of cars parked there, besides the yellow buses are going to need more than 20-30 minutes to drop off children and this takes time is not like you can just toss children to the sidewalk and drive off. The city is going through so many traffic alterations that is not funny and as a result not only car drivers are suffering but also pedestrians and now the children are been used as pawns with this battle of spaces.
I saw an eleven year old child get struck by a car because the child walked between 2 parked cars and I don’t know if he survived and it wasn’t that far from that place so all these things need to be considered before making a decision to make changes, the community needs to get together and attend community board 3 to get involved. If the school involved made such a petition because they are concerned for the children’s safety maybe they have a legimate reason for it.
It is not a simple thing, this i about balance. When you open a school you should take these variables in to place. It is located in a very residential area, right by commercial stores, it will affect all of them. Again if they had specific times no parking like 8-8:30,4-4:30 that would make sense by all these school bus type of spots. But the city does not do this.
Personally I think the location for the school because of that is silly. But that is not the point, I think the community board has to take in to account everyone not just the school that just opened up in such a location. It must weigh both sides and that should not always mean that the commercial traffic loses out by not having parking spots for businesses.
Sadly as you say, there are a ton of changes going on. The one thing is on Grand Street East bound over there is not the busy way, it is normally west bound where people are going to the Williamsburg bridge. And the city really messed up the street with all the islands and changes that did to Grand Street.
I totally agreed, I never saw such a stupid idea as to put giant pots with some benches in the intersections for people to sit there, this really created a nightmare and also a noise pollution that is not letting people sleep. And the young bicyclists that think they are racing a tour de France marathon are not helping matters any. Can the city transfer this school to another less populated area? I know that there is another school (East River School?) also on Grand Street that is nearer the FDR Drive. Maybe there? I did noticed lately that there is more traffic but if the school can’t be moved then some type of compromise should be worked out, but no matter what we can’t make everybody happy, someone won’t be happy with whatever solution is decided. Good luck.
I find it ironic how one post you say “This is not about religion” then the next post I see listed has you saying ” Comprehensive School are not Jewish?.” The title of this article made it about religion which it does not have anything to do with as far as I am concerned.
I think we need to think about the commercial tenants who have already lost a ton of parking, we need to think of the residents as well. There are a lot of variables to consider not just a school that just opened to be honest in what I feel is a poor location. The school should have considered this variable before opening.
As I mentioned in other replies, we need to come up with solutions, the city has removed a ton of parking, there currently no parking at all basically on the south side of Grand from Norfolk to Essex. I have no idea why that whole block can not somehow be utilized for a dropoff. Of course that is used by a city bus, etc… But the solution is not just remove more commercial parking always, we need to compromise with our limited resources.
I think the school has a lot of fault here opening up there since they felt it was a good business plan without taking this in to account.
You’ve just unmasked yourself. What a speech about the neighborhood. Your issue is not with the school or parking. One need not read between the lines to now figure out where you are coming from. I will pray for you.
I don’t need your praying thank you. Keep it to yourself. You will always miss the point of the issue because you are just closed minded.
Good bye, have better things to do thank to try to educate people such as yourself. I truly feel sorry for those children in that school. Nobody cares for their safety as proven here by the stupid excuses you people come up with in order to deny a safety measure that should be given to all children specially when they are pre-schoolers, nice lesson in life you people are giving to those children. Pray for yourself instead.
I don’t need your praying thank you. Keep it to yourself. You will always miss the point of the issue because you are just closed minded.
Good bye, have better things to do thank to try to educate people such as yourself. I truly feel sorry for those children in that school. Nobody cares for their safety as proven here by the stupid excuses you people come up with in order to deny a safety measure that should be given to all children specially when they are pre-schoolers, nice lesson in life you people are giving to those children. Pray for yourself instead.
TALKING IN CAPS DOES NOT MAKE A PERSON VIEWPOINT ANYMORE VALID. It is just poor etiquette in an online discussion.
You keep saying it is not about religion then you talk about religion the rest of your entire post. Make up your mind. Every board member on the community board is entitled to their opinion, I still do not get why the whole connotation has to be about religion with you. Also you know the school is run by a JEWISH person. It is not about religion at all
By the way if you think the current community has issues with minorities buy a clue walk around our neighborhood and open your eyes.
I have no problem with the school where it is, it is opening where it is then making demands afterwards without laying out these factors beforehand that is the issue. I can not see how walking an extra half minute further is such a huge burden on the school. If it was such a vast concern for them, they should have mentioned it when they proposed the school.
By the way I do not know anything about the demographics of the school, nor do I care. You seem to be the only one with intimate knowledge of the school being made up of minority as you put it. How you talk about the financial burden it would cost. With that knowledge and you screaming about religion i can scream the other way about you having issue with a religious minority, however I more think it likely you work with management of the school personally, and helped to make the article possible, against someone in the community you have an issue with. Just my viewpoint from reading how you post. To me it personally seems more like the article and your posts are a vendetta against someone.
Either way I hope the community board votes against it, there is no real reason walking from the other side of the light that they stop at should be such a burden.
i think the real problem stems from opening a school in an apartment building. the residents of the building and other surrounding buildings want to park their cars near their homes. finding parking spaces is no easy task. of course it is essential that every child getting on and off a school bus get into the buildings safely as well. i think that using the m14 bus stop would be helpful as well. in front of ccm there are a couple of spots that could also be used for loading and unloading. in my opinion i dont see why any schools should have special parking areas out front. ps 134 has a huge strip on east broadway as well as henry street that is reserved for bd of ed. can someone explain why that is so? why does a teacher, principal, school secretary deserve reserved parking? cant they get to school by public transportation just like most of us do?
Ah…….”closed minded”. Because I May not agree with “your” way of “open minded” thinking???? You really unmasked yourself. Please reread all of your posts. It is so sad that in this day and age – what you spew – still goes on. I will pray for you. And you should pray for yourself well.
Thank you Bulldog for speaking up for the kids at comprehensive kids such as my 3 yrs old daughter, its people like you that make a difference. Its really sad that some people care more about a couple of parking space over some innocent children that need to attend that school to receive there OT,PT and speech therapy. My daugter suffered a left cerebrovascular accident and as a result she has right side weakness, she must wear a splint and leg brace to help her walk.
Maybe the school should have considered the location first but its too late the school and the children are there to stay. Why wait till one of the kids get injured or possibly killed to put up a sign.I am Happy that the sign has been approved!