Brooklyn Friends Relocation Gains Support

here we go again ...

Once again, too many people with too much time on their hands making comments on something
- they clearly know nothing about and
- does not concern them anyway.

The petition mentioned in the original blog is being filled mostly with people that do not live on the concerned blocks and have no idea what they are signing.

We actually talked to people that had just signed that petition under FALSE pretenses:
- they were never told this was for a private school (most people would like the idea of a public school)
- they were never told that BFS is being offered another site ONE BLOCK north on Hoyt and Schermerhorn that makes a lot more sense for the entire neighborhood.

There was a great community meeting yesterday where both IBEC and BFS presented their project. Most local residents raised some very valid questions and got almost no answers from neither the school nor the developers.

If you really want to know more about this issue, learn about it instead of passing a judgment on the "bad people against a school". If you had done some research, you would have found that most local residents potentially affected by this are not against the school but against the location on this already very busy and very dangerous street.

Want to know what you are talking about for a change?: http://keepstatestreetresidential.wordpress.com/

Read, educate yourself. Then maybe you can pass judgment.

But at the end of the day, unless you live here and could potentially be affected by a school with 400 kids, as many parents/caregivers and 80 staff members on a one line residential street with absolutely no parking solutions, then stop making us local concerned residents pass as bad guys.

Posted by: StateStreetResident at October 6, 2009 8:37 PM

Bklynite,

You almost starting to sound like the developer of the site who recently made a comment (passing as a resident) about us benefiting from the school presence when we would flip our houses...

As I replied to the developer last week on that comment: I am not and I know a lot of other local homeowners are not in this fight because we are worried about property values. We are simply not interested in flipping our properties. I personally bought on this street because I fell in love with this neighborhood. The Hoyt/Schermerhon task force had made recommendations in the past to keep State St residential specifically to ensure that this street would remain a buffer between Downtown Brooklyn and the rest of Boerum Hill.

So the way we, resident of State St, look at it is that we live here and want to preserve the residential aspect of this street. You bet I am hyped about it.

Again, either you are the developer and we all know where you stand on the subject or you are not a local resident, in which case, you should let local resident have a say in the matter.

Posted by: StateStreetResident at October 7, 2009 12:27 PM

Bklynite,

Thanks. It is a situation that has clearly steered a lot of emotions. But I think that if you look through all the information we have provided, you will see that property value is clearly not our number 1 concern.
We have made it clear (in our blog) and through our various discussions with the school and the community that this has never been against Brooklyn Friends or any school in general. It has always been about the proposed location, the fact that most of the potentially affected residents had not been consulted and when they finally were made aware of the project massively decided against it.
Moreover, we know that other sites are available to BFS, including one our entire neighborhood would be in favor of (at the corner of Hoyt and Schermerhorn St). Now, those other sites might not work with BFS time line or budget but the local resident should not have to be affected irreversibly by those cost or time constraints.

Posted by: StateStreetResident at October 7, 2009 3:44 PM