Play street applications: One approved, two postponed

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The traffic and transportation committee of Community Board 8 is expected to review play street applications from the Horace Mann School and the Luisa Pineiro Fuentes School of Science and Discovery (P.S. 307) at a meeting this month.

At its previous meeting on Sept. 20, the committee approved the request for a play street for St. Margaret of Cortona School. But it postponed a vote on the other two schools’ applications – in the second such delay since late July – after chairman Michael Heller said the panel needed to look more closely into the situation, according to school representatives who attended the meeting.

P.S. 307, which serves kindergarten through fifth grade, wants to close off Eames Place between Webb and Claflin avenues from 7:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. to give students a place to play outdoors.

According to Michelle Maturen, a teacher at P.S. 307 who attended the meeting, Mr. Heller said that he wanted “to discuss this further with [her] principal [Yolanda Valez] and study reduced hours out of concern for the traffic on that one block on Claflin.”

“We would have the streets blocked off for during arrival and dismissal for safety purposes. And, it would also give us the flexibility to before the lunch period begins, we could have a group out there for recess. And, after the last lunch period ends, we could also use that time for recess and give more flexibility throughout the day,” said Ms. Maturen in a telephone interview.

“Every classroom is maxed. The lunchroom is over capacity. We don’t have any place for them to move besides the gym, which is in use throughout the day,” she stated. The recess period is too short to take students to a nearby park, such as Fort Four or St. James, to play, and bring them back, she said.

Mr. Heller did not respond to requests for comments for this article.

The school’s lack of a play street drew widespread attention when a third-grader, Rylee Ramos, was struck and killed by a car outside P.S. 307 on Oct. 24, 2014. Her death prompted the police to place barriers on the block during drop-off and dismissal times, but the school has been seeking a formal play-street designation.

Meanwhile, Horace Mann wants to close the portion of Tibbett Avenue between 246th Street and 250th Street an hour in the morning and another hour in the afternoon, during students’ arrival and dismissal times.

A vote on its request was also postponed, according to the school’s security director, Michael McCaw.

“We knew going in that it doesn’t fit the definition of a play street,” Mr. McCaw told The Press. “My understanding in the police department is that there is no avenue to take… There is no other application process to go through to accomplish what we are looking to do.”

Still, Police Deputy Inspector Terence O’Toole, the commanding officer of the 50th precinct, and Mr. Heller, the committee chairman, were planning to look into possible alternatives and “to see if there is another way to approach what we needed to be done up there,” he said.

Ms. Maturen of P.S. 307 criticized the committee’s decision on Horace Mann.

“I think most of the board members were totally fine with the idea of using the label play street to block off the street during arrival and dismissal for safety concerns. Just as what was done at St. Margaret’s,” she said.

The requests by Horace Mann and P.S. 307 are expected to come up for another review at a traffic and transportation committee meeting in October, according to Ms. Maturen and Mr. McCaw.

If approved by the committee, the applications are then expected to come up for a vote at the community board.

PS 307, play street, Community Board 8, CB 8, Horace Mann School, Horace Mann, Michelle Maturen, Michael Heller, Michael McCaw, Lisa Herndon

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