When is the proposal for a new school and playground in Bay Terrace not a good idea?
street filters onto Bell Boulevard exactly
at the entrance to the Bay Terrace
Shopping Center, already a congested
intersection. Adding school buses and
parents dropping off and picking their
children will only further exacerbate a
crowded traffic situation.
The land is a historic landfill, with
possible underground contaminants,
and may also include wetlands. These
conditions should necessitate a full
environmental impact statement before
any possible negotiations with
the property owner should begin —
which SCA clearly will not do. How
the SCA can even begin the process
of purchasing this site without fully
investigating these conditions is fiscally
irresponsible.
The adjoining proposal for a new
playground across the street seems to
have been made solely to bolster the
argument for the school, providing a
few parking spots and a playground
for the schoolchildren.
Unfortunately, the playground
proposal also is short sighted for the
same reasons against the school. This
is the dead end of 24th Avenue, again
creating a dangerous traffic situation
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TIMESLEDGER | QNS.COM | AUG. 20 - AUG. 26, 2021 15
OP-ED
BY TONY AVELLA
When is the proposal for a new
school and playground not a good
idea? When they are proposed for the
wrong location, without real community
input, to be located on a narrow
street, creating a traffic nightmare,
and being rushed through for approval
at the end of a political term.
The proposal by the School Construction
Authority (SCA) for a new
school at 24th Avenue and Waters
Edge Drive in Bay Terrace is significantly
flawed. It comes at the
end of this mayoral administration
and months before a new Council
member for the district can take office.
First and foremost, SCA should
put this proposal on hold until a
new mayor and Council member can
fully evaluate whether a new school
is needed in this specific neighborhood.
Only a few blocks away, P.S.
169 is already under construction,
adding over 600 additional seats. I
also understand that presently, P.S.
169 has seats available.
The proposed new school site itself is
on a narrow road with no parking. The
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for future park users. Given its
proposed location, a deserted deadend
street with little to no visibility,
it can only become a potential latenight
hangout.
I applaud the inclusion of $20 million
in the city budget for construction
of this playground, but not its
location!
A much better location is nearby
Little Bay Park/Fort Totten, which
is much more accessible to residents
of Bay Terrace and surrounding
communities. That site has a large
parking lot and a wonderful comfort
station and is accessible by city bus.
Parks officials have long sought additional
funding for Little Bay and Fort
Totten. The $20 million would be a
boon for both parks and create a more
utilized and safer new playground.
Another reason against the proposed
playground location is that although
the lot on Waters Edge Drive
and 24th Avenue is parkland, it currently
is and has been for decades
used by the Bay Terrace Country Club
as a parking lot for the pool club. Taking
away this parking lot would doom
the Pool Club. The Pool Club has stated
it has a 99-year lease on this property
and obviously would contest the
lease being vacated. The Pool Club
has been a great resource for Bay Terrace
and Queens for over six decades
and it would be a tremendous loss for
everyone if it should have to close because
of the loss of parking.
In addition, in the middle of both
sites is a Department of Environmental
Protection (DEP) sewage pumping
station with facilities underneath
and on the street and sidewalk. I understand
that only recently was the
DEP made aware of these proposals.
Did no one bother to check what issues
are present on these sites – obviously
not?
Does it make sense to build a
school and playground immediately
adjacent to a sewage, odor-producing
pumping station – of course not!
For all of these reasons I oppose
the new school and the location for
the playground.
Tony Avella is the Democratic candidate
for the 19th City Council District
and former state senator for the 11th
District.
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