9 Queens Schools Delayed By Mayor's Fight With Albany
BY JOHN TOSCANO T
he list of 21 school construction projects that will be halted this year by Mayor Michael Bloomberg if officials in Albany do not obey a court order to Tgive the city the funding necessary to build the schools contained nine projects scheduled to be built in Queens.

All told, the nine projects would add almost 5,000 new seats for the borough's students, who now face cramped conditions because of severe overcrowding which has persisted for many years.

The mayor announced the decision not to proceed with the 21 projects several weeks ago. The action was formally approved by the city Department of Education Panel for Educational Policy on February 27.

The 21 projects total $1.8 billion in the capital budget and range from science labs and repairs of existing schools to completely new schools.

The largest project on the list in Queens is listed as "High Schools @ Metropolitan Ave." Two new high schools would be built in a cluster in Forest Hills. The buildings would hold 1,002 seats.

Also on the list were other schools on Metropolitan Avenue, which may be part of the school cluster project. They are listed as P.S./I.S. 110 @ Metropolitan Ave., 630 seats, and P.S./I.S. 167 @ Metropolitan Ave., 630 seats.

Others listed are the New Gateway H.S., 805 seats; P.S. 245 @ Seneca Avenue, 441 seats; P.S. 246 @ P.S. 199, 441 seats; P.S. 244, Franklin Avenue, 441 seats; P.S./I.S. 262, at the former St. Anthony's Hospital site 441 seats, and P.S. 78 Annex, 41 seats.

According to the mayor, many of the schools listed are strategically located in the districts of influential state lawmakers. His objective in selecting specifically these schools, he said, is so parents of school kids will bring pressure on the lawmakers who represent these districts to get Governor George Pataki and state Senate Republican Majority Leader Joseph Bruno to rescind their opposition to releasing $6.5 billion to New York City to be used in the school building program.

In pursuit of his efforts to obtain the money for the schools, the mayor has targeted state Senator Serphin Maltese, a Republican from the Middle Village-Glendale area, in this year's elections. Bloomberg is trying to get Councilmember Joseph Addabbo, a Democrat from Ozone Park, to oppose Maltese in his reelection bid. The mayor has also offered to support Addabbo financially if he agrees to take on Maltese.

Following the vote by the Panel for Educational Policy to drop the 21-school construction project this year, the mayor stated: "It is time for the state to end its delinquency. The state must do what's right and meet its duties to our city's school children. New York City public schools are being shortchanged year after year and the courts have determined that the state has a constitutional obligation to provide this critical funding."

Continuing, the mayor declared: "It's time that the state stepped up and met its responsibility to ensure that every child-in every borough- is accorded the same basic education that is their right. Unless the state meets its obligation, 15,000 classroom seats, new schools, libraries, labs and gyms will be postponed."

Present at the Panel for Educational Policy meeting were more than two dozen councilmembers, including Council Speaker Christine Quinn.

Quinn stated that the city is facing "a facilities crisis in our schools and put the blame on Albany for it.

But the councilmembers are caught in the middle in the mayor's campaign against Albany. While he is pressuring the governor, Bruno and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, the city lawmakers might be caught up in the furor that could arise from parents of school-age children if the councilmembers support the mayor's objectives.