P.S. 89 parents protest intrusive methadone clinic
BY JASON COHEN
For the second time in less than a
week residents held a rally to protest
the planned methadone clinic in Pelham
Parkway North.
On Saturday, March 7, activists
Irene Estrada and Roxanne Delgado
held a rally at 2500 Williamsbridge
Road, the site for the clinic and then
on Tuesday, March 10, a second rally
was held.
“The mommies, the daddies, the
grandmas, the children and the residents
in the community - we are everyone’s
worst nightmare,” Estrada said
to the Bronx Times.
The clinic that was stopped last
year by Councilman Mark Gjonaj and
Assemblywoman Nathalia Fernandez
appears to have used deception to
circumvent the community’s efforts
to halt the facility from establishing
roots in Pelham Parkway North.
In November 2019, Gjonaj, Fernandez
and Community Board 11 held a
raucous town hall where nearly 1,000
people expressed displeasure with a
methadone clinic coming to the community,
specifi cally because of its
close proximity to P.S. 89.
However, on Monday, February 17,
Carnegie Hill Institute, posing as CHI
LLC, purchased the brick one-story
property for $925,000 from Florence
Klapper, a Manhattan resident, $75,000
(Above and below) Residents attend a rally protesting the methadone clinic on March 10. Schneps Media Jason Cohen
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BRONX TIMES R 4 EPORTER, MARCH13-19, 2020 BTR
less than the original asking price.
Parents and children expressed displeasure
with the planned clinic.
“I don’t want it here because fi rst of
all the school is right in front of where
they’re going to put the clinic and if
the kids see it they’re going to start
wanting to do things that they’re not
supposed to do,” said Yaeielis, a fi fth
grade student.
Judy Angeles, whose daughter is
scheduled to begin kindergarten at
P.S. 89 in the fall, said she was shocked
when she heard the recent news. She
noted she might have to reconsider if
she will send her kid to school there.
“When it comes down to children
we have to think about them fi rst,” Angeles
said. “We don’t need that around
children.”
Spira Gianfrancesco, who lives
nearby, attended the town hall in November
and felt confi dent that the
clinic was not coming to the neighborhood.
When the property owner sold
the building to CHI she felt betrayed
Gianfrancesco explained she has
no problem with people going to methadone
clinics, but stressed they should
not be near schools.
“It doesn’t take a genius to understand
that,” she exclaimed.
Wendy Martinez a teacher at P.S.
89, fears for her students and her
daughter, Stephanie, who is a seventh
grader at St. Lucy’s School at 830 Mace
Avenue.
“It’s a really stupid decision,”
Stephanie said. “These people should
think about our students and basically
Wendy Martinez, a teacher at P.S. 89, and her
duahgter, Stephanie, at the rally.
everyone who is going to school
there, the people in the park, the people
learning in the school, the teachers
and the police offi cers.”
Martinez told the Bronx Times
she and her colleagues are concerned
about the incoming clinic. Some teachers
might even consider leaving the
school.
“I’m worried because a lot of our
students walk to school by themselves,”
Martinez said. “Why put so
many children at risk.”