Hannah Sennesh Shalt Not Build on Courtyard
On Friday, Hannah Senesh, a 152-seat private Jewish day school in Carroll Gardens, announced it was officially dropping its plans to try to circumvent a 160-year-old zoning law in an effort to erect a two-story building on an empty lot at the corner of Smith Street and First Place. News that the school had hired…
On Friday, Hannah Senesh, a 152-seat private Jewish day school in Carroll Gardens, announced it was officially dropping its plans to try to circumvent a 160-year-old zoning law in an effort to erect a two-story building on an empty lot at the corner of Smith Street and First Place. News that the school had hired a lobbyist in December to gain an exemption to the city law that treats all front yards on the “Place” blocks of Carroll Gardens as public space resulted in a huge backlash from area residents and lots of bad publicity for the school and outgoing City Council Member Bill de Blasio, who had sponsored the change. We were most afraid that once law changed for [Hannah Senesh] other people would get the same idea and it would be changed again, and the signature courtyards would vanish, corner by corner, Triada Samaras, a member of the group Carroll Gardens Coalition for Respectful Development, told The Brooklyn Paper. Since then State Senator Daniel Squadron, State Assemblywoman Joan Millman, and Councilman Brad Lander have all come out against amending the law. “Their plan would have set a dangerous precedent,” said Millman in a statement on Friday. “The courtyards are an integral part of Carroll Garden’s charm and character and must be protected.”
School Comes to Its Seneshes [Brooklyn Paper] GMAP
Hannah Sennesh Backs Off Plans to Expand [PMFA]
Photo from Pardon Me For Asking
Germans and Jews: it seems they were meant to spend eternity ruminating on the nuances of the human paradox. Most don’t even have the insight to understand that they are strikingly similar peoples.
But don’t forget there are a lot of other races and cultures with serious difficulties on this quickly deteriorating planet (and borough).
But bkre, the hate-filled blogs I read were inflammatory comments from readers, one in particular who challenged her not to censor them. She obliged for a reasonable time period, and then firmly told him to get lost. Katia certainly can’t be criticized as being insensitive. And as I wrote in one of the comments there, I am Jewish and active in the issue and the meetings, and there has been nothing said by any participant that hinted of anti-semitism. It’s the blog commenters that have tried to make an issue out of it.
Not at all pete. I’m just saying that if you look at the comments on her blog on this issue, some of them seem especially hate-filled. Nothing katia herself has said on the issue has been any different than her normal whining. But I would just expect that as a german, she’d be a little more sensitive to people using her blog as a forum to make those kind of comments with no rebuke from her. I kept on reading her posts waiting for her to say something similar to what to what lesloaf said at 1:23 “disagree, but don’t be disagreeable”. But nothing.
“Yes, it is racist to imply that katia is an anti-semite just because she’s german. I was more commenting on the creepiness of a german blogger leading the charge against a jewish school. Most germans I know still feel enough residual guilt that they would shy away from this issue.”
– can you really read back this comment and not hear how hypocritical it sounds?
The woman complains about everything that is to be built in the neighborhood. On this one, I agree with her. There is no compelling reason why this should be granted just because the school say please.
You are the one bringing up that she is german and sound like you want her to ‘shy away’ and ‘feel enough residual guilt’.
Stop the accusations of xenophobia or reverse xenophobia, and the implied accusations of antisemitism. A public school (P.S. 58) is across the street from Hannah Senesh, and the community would have the same problem if the Department of Education wanted to build out in front of that school and violate the law that established the wide streets (areaway, setback, courtyard, garden or whatever you want to call it). No one is singling out the Hannah Senesh School, but just insisting that they honor the law that was created for specific reasons: open space. What is galling is that they tried to change that law for their own benefit and without regard to community desires. Fortunately, they finally heard that, and good judgement prevailed.
BTW, P.S. 58 not only honors the law, but they use part of the front area for an organic garden. Seems like a nice way to use the space for educational value and community aesthetics.
I wouldn’t call community preservation activism whining any more than you’d call landmark protection whining. It’s about maintaining historic community resources. Period.
And regarding ownership, the courtyards are city owned but the building owner has the right to use them as long as it’s a permissible use. By the 1846 law that established the courtyard street design (70 years before there were zoning laws), building extensions, vehicle storage and parking are expressly prohibited. The building owner is also responsible for maintaining them. In that regard, it’s like a building owner taking care of the sidewalk in front of their building: clearing snow, preventing garbage, repairing cracks, etc. Hannah Senesh should ensure that the lot is in good shape. Technically, they are not supposed to use it for parking, but they continued the practice of the previous owners (District 15 offices) and the neighbors have cut them that slack (until now, perhaps, since they opened up a Pandora’s box). It would be a wonderful courtesy if they added greenery, at the very least.
I see Epiphany that you are one of those Brownstoner commenters who can’t believe that anyone could disagree with them without having a hidden agenda. So let me elaborate:
1) I have a kid, but not of school age, so I don’t have connection to the school whatsoever
2) If you think that private school elementary teachers get paid more than public school teachers, you obviously don’t know any teachers. I have friends who are both private school and public school teachers, they all get paid appallingly little, with no marked difference between their salaries.
3) In general i actually hate when people throw around accusations of racism and I almost never do it. But I’ve been following this issue on PMFA and the tenor of the comments clearly goes beyond the usual whiny-ness and seems to extend into the “who do these jews think they are, coming into OUR neighborhood and flaunting our zoning regulations”. I find that extremely offensive. Zoning overrides or variances happen all the time. It doesn’t imply that people who apply for them think they are better than you and that regular rules don’t apply to them.
4)It IS possible to have nice neighborhoods without the Carroll Gardens attitude. Fort Green is lovely and I find the residents there to be much more reasonable for some reason. Prospect Heights too.
5) Yes, it is racist to imply that katia is an anti-semite just because she’s german. I was more commenting on the creepiness of a german blogger leading the charge against a jewish school. Most germans I know still feel enough residual guilt that they would shy away from this issue.
6) In general I am very pro the setbacks in Carroll Gardens. But I find it hard to believe that granting this variance would be a slippery slope. This is clearly a special case and one which would not necessarily set a precedent for anyone who wanted to to get rid of their front yard. I’m sorry, it’s just true.
The setback space is called an areaway. The deeded lot starts at the house line. The owner of the house is responsible for the maintenance of the areaway. Building a structure on the areaway is not permitted. Stoops are the exception. Failure to maintain the areaway does not cause the prohibition on building on it to be lifted.
There are a lot of uninformed people commenting here.
And yes, we are a special enclave AND part of a larger city.
Without the whiners, Carroll Gardens could have front gardens removed, built on, or used for parking with no green space. Wait, we already allowed that kind of destruction. It’s called Boro Park, which used to have lovely gardens; look at it now.
jamnyc – “traffic on 3rd backs up to the canal most mornings because this school is crammed into a spot where they need to block smith street in order to unload their kids!
“funny how that never happens with the public schools in the area…”
Lucky you. The public elementary school on Lincoln Pl. below 6th Av. gets Lincoln blocked for a good 45 minutes every morning & afternoon w/ cars beeping their horns, through traffic unable to budge & cross streets totally snarled.
oh noes, that’s not the case! i think it was more about the irony of someone who is an immigrant herself railing against perceived outsiders/newcomers to the community.