The PS 290 Parent Community in organization with “Safe Play For PS 290” is requesting for the City of New York to repair and maintain the streets, curbs, and sidewalks in/and around our school on East 82nd street to city standards. We’re asking the Department of Transportation and the Department of Education for new curbs, a repaved street, and the replacement of a safety bump that was removed during recent Con-Edison work.

The sidewalk in front of PS 290 was issued a “Notice of Sidewalk Violation” in 2006. It still needs to be repaired today. Seventeen years later the sidewalk and curb still have not been repaired. If city codes applicable to private entities were applied to our public property (link) the city would be over 6,000 days delinquent. The double standard that’s applied to private entities (75 days to repair/fix) in NYC vs. our school setting that’s been waiting over 6,000 days for similar repairs is incomprehensible and we’re asking for this to be rectified immediately. Keeping our children safe is our top priority and we’d expect it’d be the same for the DOE and DOT.

P.S. 290 is also one of few schools in NYC not to have proper outside space for recreation. We need a repaved street to allow for safe play for our children during the school day until alternative solutions are constructed. Thanks to the local leadership of Councilmember Julie Menin, the NYC Mayors office, and Assembly Member Rebecca Seawright a project to replace our play-space street setting with a new rooftop has been funded. We look forward to the completion of that project. Until that project and other roof-repairs are complete, our street will continue to play an important role in our children’s recreation as well as pick-up and drop-off. For eight months, Con-Edison has been on our block facilitating repair work which has resulted in potholes, divots, and even more unsafe conditions than pre Con-Edison’s work. We’re asking for a repaved street either in its entirety or at minimum in front of the school.

The urgency of these issues is magnified by upcoming rooftop work at the school property that will make the sidewalk inoperable for repairs for multiple months (maybe years). If the city has written in code that they will repair a private sidewalk within 15 days of delinquency, we expect that the city could repair our public street & sidewalk within 15 days as well (see link). Our work needs to be prioritized by the DOE and after seventeen years of the school community waiting for a curb and 100 years of waiting for a safe play-space we’re hopeful the city will agree.

We thank you in advance for addressing the needs of our parent and student community with the urgency it deserves.

The PS 290 Parent Community

Safe Play for PS 290