ROSE GAZETTE

April 2001 Edition

The Complete Guide to Electing Debi Rose to City Council

Rock the Boat with Rose for a New School

Parents, grandparents, friends, and future parents of North Shore children will converge on I.S. 51 on Wednesday, April 11th, to advocate for a new North Shore school at a Community Board #1 public meeting. According to Debi Rose, co-chair for this hearing, “this is the moment for us to rock the boat for a new North Shore school. The studies have been published. The census figures are out. The need is clear.”

A study conducted by Public Advocate Mark Green in December 2000, showed that 7 out of the 13 schools on Staten Island that are operating at 110 to 125% of capacity are located in the North Shore. These schools include PS 13 (Rosebank), PS 20 (Port Richmond), PS 21 (Elm Park), PS 22 (Graniteville), PS 35 (Sunnyside), PS 45 (West Brighton) and PS 49 (Concord). A recent Staten Island Advance story noted that the North Shore High Schools (Curtis & Port Richmond) are operating at 100-150%. Staten Island is the only borough without capital funding for a new high school.

Since 1997, when Debi Rose was a newly elected member of Community School District, 31 she has been advocating for the building of a new elementary or intermediate school on the North Shore. In 1998 she organized a community rally at P.S. 44 to mobilize parents, educators and others to make their need for a new school known. Last December, when the N.Y.C. Board of Education Chancellor Harold Levy held a town hall meeting at the Petrides school, Rose was critical of the use of modular classrooms as a way of accommodating students in North Shore schools. Modulars do not address the issues of overcrowding in the schools’ common spaces , such as the auditorium, cafeteria, library, gym and lavatories, and consume valuable school yard space. Putting up modulars also doesn’t fix the falling ceilings, leaky roofs, and broken windows of the permanent buildings.

“A strong message must be sent to the elected officials and the Board of Ed. Education is the issue that unites us all. We have our priorities straight. The parents on the North Shore want the city to invest in the future--our children.”

Rose to Assembly: Require Environmental Impact Study for Clifton Plant

On March 22nd, Debi Rose submitted testimony before the New York State Assembly Committee on Energy to ask for help in stopping the Clifton Power Plant construction. The power plant is a 240-by-300 foot building with a 106-foot-tall smokestack. “The question,” Rose raised, “is whether the Clifton site chosen by Power Authority is the best location for such a plant of Staten Island. I clearly believe that it is not!...The Pouch Terminal site of the proposed generator, between Edgewater Street, Lynhurst Avenue and Bay Street, is located in a mixed-use commercial and residential area of Clifton. The proposed site sits adjacent to residential housing, a retail commercial strip mall and a funeral home on Bay Street. On its other border sits Edgewater Plaza, a waterfront multi-use office complex, which is the daily home to hundreds of public and private workers. In addition the site is in close proximity to a major church and school in the Clifton/Rosebank community.”

According to Rose, the State Assembly should require that the New York Power Authority conduct a full environmental impact review of all of the proposed power generators in the City of New York, including the one on Staten Island. Currently, such a study is not required, but Rose suggested that this is the only way to ensure public confidence that these power plants will not harm the neighborhoods in which they are located.

Update on opposition to the Plant: On March 31, Rose joined the 100 Rosebank residents who stood in the pouring rain to protest the power plant. On April 4th, a coalition of Queens community groups successfully petitioned the courts to stop construction of two similar power plants in Queens. On April 6th, Democratic elected officials filed a petition in State Supreme Court in St. George asking a judge to order an injunction against continuing construction at the site. Stay tuned.

Rose Celebrates With Liberian Community

Debi Rose was the keynote speaker at the Liberian Community Association’s induction ceremony for its new officers on March 24th.

COMMUNITY FORUMS: New Brighton I Forum

The fifth Community Forum sponsored by the Debi Rose for City Council Campaign was held on March 8th at the Mt. Sinai Christian Church in New Brighton at Victory and Pike.

Residents around the Mt. Sinai Church suffer from the presence of the Sanitation Department facility on Brook Street. “The fumes from trucks warming up pollute our neighborhood,” complained Carol Logan. The Sanitation Department has deferred a move to Western Avenue, saying that the new location is too isolated from the areas it must serve.

Several residents were concerned about schools in their area. The lack of security guards at I.S. 61 has led to problems when school is dismissed in the afternoon. Shanti Rell is concerned about the reading levels of school children and lack of recreational programs in parks for the kids. Two people spoke against the privatization of public schools by companies such as Edison. They warned that privatization would be tested in Staten Island next.

One of the problems affecting Cheryl Brown’s family is racial profiling--her son has been stopped in Staten Island more often in the last 2 years than in 24 years in Brooklyn. As Debi Rose pointed out, Staten Island has the highest rate of juvenile arrests of all the boroughs. “Our kids are getting caught up in sweeps.”

The twin issues of rising housing costs and over-development concerned other residents. Edward Ladner wants to make sure there is affordable housing for poor people so that they are not moved out of the North Shore. Ed Josey recommended that the North Shore do more downzoning to prevent overcrowding in residential areas. “Lack of planning,” said Rose, “is the cause of most of our problems now. Downzoning is a lengthy, expensive process for unsophisticated communities. As a result, it is not getting done and our communities are being overrun.”

Rose Sets Agenda in Council Race

Debi Rose’s North Shore City Council campaign is setting the agenda and energizing voters to participate in a Primary election for the first time. The Primary Election for the Democratic Party North Shore City Council seat will be held Tuesday, September 11th. A victory in this Primary Election is considered the first necessary step for Debi Rose to win the North Shore City Council seat in the general election in November. Debi has been taking the lead on the issues in her appearance with the other candidates, on the NY1 Meet the Candidates night on March 14th and then, on March 29th Candidates Forum sponsored by the Staten Island Democratic Association (S.I.D.A.).

First, there was the Clifton Power Plant. Debi Rose was the first political candidate or public official to raise serious questions about the plant, calling for an environmental impact study when she testified at the public hearing at P.S. 13 on January 13th. Democratic elected officials and candidates are now on board on this issue. On April 6^th they filed a petition in court to force the New York Power Authority to halt the plant’s construction.

Second, ever since she declared her candidacy in Spring 2000 Debi Rose has used her campaign as a platform for calling for a new North Shore school. She is now joined by all the other candidates in urging the Board of Ed to add a new school in the district. A Community Board #1 meeting will be held Wednesday, April 11th, to publicize the need for the new school.

Third, Debi Rose is bringing back the news from her community forums about the concerns people have in the North Shore communities: problems in public housing, cries for downzoning, concerns about aggressive policing against area youth, calls for neighborhood beautification, the frustration over the lack of a library in Mariner’s Harbor, and lack of proper day care and health facilities. This feedback is becoming part of her campaign platform and is influencing the exchange of ideas at candidate forums. Fresh faces are coming out to the forums, which signals an infusion of new energy into the Democratic Party that will turn into lasting change for the Party here on Staten Island.

At the S.I.D.A. Candidates Forum on March 29th, in many of their responses, the other candidates followed Rose’s strong position on the issues. Together they all called for building a new North Shore school, raising salaries for teachers, training welfare recipients for meaningful jobs, and keeping public schools public. However, Rose was the only candidate who clearly supported term limits, city residency requirements for the uniformed services, increased public transportation , a review of over-aggressive “quality of life” policing that results in Staten Island having the highest rate of juvenile arrests in the city, and a plan for affordable housing on Staten Island.