If you live in NYC and are or have friends that live east of the park and above a certain street you may have heard the joking term "The Upper-Upper East Side." It refers to the spread of high-rise and high cost apartments that are emerging above and beyond the old "border" of 96th street. Yet for many the change is no laughing matter. The lives of long term residents are being affected by the cost of food at the supermarket and the amount the landlords are charging for rent. Then there are the children, and those that go to St. Francis de Sales School that might not be open to them anymore.
The New York Times has more:
Ms. Velasquez and the other parents of almost 200 students in the school’s eight grades were abruptly told in early March that the school would close in June. But officials at the Archdiocese of New York, as well as other parents and clergy familiar with recent events, said they expected that the school would reopen in a year, possibly as a more expensive private academy or preschool.
“They just want us out to make room for the new and improved people,” Ms. Velasquez said. “There is a plan for this neighborhood. I mean, look at First Avenue. They got doormen! It’s all connected. Look at Second Avenue. Why do they want to finish the subway now? These are not different issues. It’s all connected.”
Ms. Velasquez is definitely on to something. The Second Avenue subway delays are probably more complex, but overall things are changing to accomodate and encourage the gentrification of East Harlem. Some may say that higher prices will drive out the crime and the way East Harlem has been known to be a dangerous area. Though there are other ways of dealing with crime than to kick out long-term residents by hitting them in the pocketbook.
With the bleak future for the school and its children, the church isn't being nice about the situation either. Father Muzzin has been there three years and in 2006 he laid the groundwork for the change, upsetting many in the community.
Check out this brotherly love:
A little over a year ago, Father Muzzin said as much in the Sunday bulletin distributed at Mass. In it, he described how the school — which parents said served primarily black and Latino students — needed to attract a greater “variety of people” from the area.
“Some parents have to wake up to the realization that they cannot afford Catholic Education,” he wrote. “Period.”
The pastor’s message became clearer a few lines later: “I see the day in the not distant future when it will become the school of choice of all the Catholic parents in the neighborhood who now send their children to prestigious and pricey private schools,” he wrote. “Why spend $25,000 when you can get the same thing for much, much less?”
What a gentle guy Father Muzzin is. It seems like the elements that are changing the neighborhood resemble the man that represents the church. I may not be Catholic, but isn't there something written about helping those who are less fortunate. Does it matter if it is on the Upper-Upper East Side?
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