City Hall Rally to Save Old PS 64/Charas El Bohio, February 14
Join GVSHP, elected officials, community groups, and neighbors for a Valentine’s Day rally and press conference on the steps of City Hall to save the former Charas/El Bohio Community Center (the old P.S. 64) at 605 East 9th Street, which is in grave danger of being turned into a fake “dorm for hire” by its developer owner. The rally starts at 2pm and is intended to send a strong message to Mayor de Blasio not to let this treasured community resource suffer the same fate as the nearby Rivington House, where a deed restriction was lifted and a community resource was given away.
The former Charas/P.S. 64 once served as first an innovative model public school and then a vital and groundbreaking community and cultural center. But in the late 1990’s the City sold the building to a developer, but with the limitation that it could only be used as a “community facility.” The developer buyer consistently sought to tear the building down (thwarted by a successful 2005 landmarking) and to turn the building into a revolving door “dorm for hire” (dorms are allowed under New York City law as “community facilities,” but not the kind of open-door dorms where beds as rented out individually, which this developer has consistently pursued). The developer has hired the same lobbyist involved in the Rivington House scandal to allow him to skirt the strict rules around dorms and community facilities, which GVSHP and our allies have been fighting.
We’ll gather on February 14 to send a strong message to the Mayor that he should not allow these rules to be bent for this unscrupulous developer, and that we want this precious and historic space turned back over for a real community center. If you plan to attend, please email info@gvshp.org. Next: 02/23/17
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