ummm, there's NO SCHOOL in Cayuga Heights...
Posted on 06/03/2009 8:55:28 AM PDT by Behind Liberal Lines
The constant hum of the air conditioning units across the street could be heard clearly from Ralph Moss's home.
At a word, they were shut off. Sounds of talking neighbors rose through the silence.
"My front porch has become my haven, and my haven is threatened," Moss said, sitting on his porch on North Albany Street. "It's so much of a nuisance, I have to go inside and close my doors and windows to get some peace."
Moss has lived in the neighborhood facing the east entrance of Beverly J. Martin Elementary School on and off since 1982.
The newest addition to the neighborhood bothers him more than a little bit. Several air conditioner condenser units nestled in the shadow of BJM were installed a few weeks ago in a spot where Moss's neighbors were planning to plant a garden with students from the elementary school.
Residents of the block between Buffalo and Court streets say the condensers pose a safety risk for young children and show disrespect for two trees planted there in memory of Bob Navarro, a former principal of BJM, and Rashad Richardson, a seventh-grader killed in 2001. Richardson's tree is now within an enclosure surrounding the condensers....
Jeff Bercuvitz, Moss's next-door neighbor and liaison to BJM for the informal North Albany Neighborhood Association, said the buzz is evidence of an attitude in ICSD that is contrary to its own stated goals of equity and school-community partnership.
"I see some real classism and environmental racism here," Bercuvitz said. "Our assertion is that if the same concerns were raised by a rich, white CEO in Cayuga Heights ... the district would respond."
The street is a heterogeneous mix of backgrounds and ethnicities, Bercuvitz said, with white, black, Latino and Tibetan families living in a tight-knit neighborhood, where the average income is $30,000 or less.
Bercuvitz said for the most part the residents on North Albany have accepted that inconveniences are a part of life when you live next to a school - especially on the side with the bus drop-off. But, "we're not a service area for the school," he said.....
Board members said they hope to abate the sound rather than move the units to the roof, which would cost an estimated $100,000 and require new designs and submitting the plans to the state education department
Look. I don’t disagree their approach is wrong using racism and environmentalism. But, if I had lived 20+ years in my home, and the GOVERNMENT decides to take some action that is going to make my quality of life (pursuit of happiness) reduce, I would be mad. At least let me have the opportunity to decide if I want to live there under the circumstances before you make the modifications.
But you cannot argue the fact that the poster I was responding to before. The left (Ted Kennedy) is trying to cripple this country by reducing its ability to use fossil fuels, etc., and demanding we adopt unproven green energy, such as wind energy. YET, when the opportunity to install windmills in Ted’s backyard arose, he used his power to prevent it. Those that the environmental left claim they are trying to protect are the ones that bear the brunt of the negative impact of those changes.
Air conditioning in Ithaca, New York? What the hell is going on? Talk about a waste of money. Open a window; turn on a fan.
Simple ... Turn the AC ... OFF!! and Send all complaints to Mr. Moss’s home.
Damn I wish I could move... but ... NY’s Taxes already have me at the point ...
“NY ...Can’t afford to Live Here, Can’t afford to LEAVE!!!”
**5. Therefore the air conditioner placement is racist.
I see.**
ONLY in Ithaca would these five points make sense!!
please don't die because they will tax that too...
ummm, there's NO SCHOOL in Cayuga Heights...
"I will vote for this, but I think it needs to be clear that we don't know for certain that this will solve the problem," said board member Deb O'Connor. "We don't know that the sound from non-sound-abated condensers on the roof will be any less than if they were on the ground and we did mitigation. It's a gamble. It's a good faith effort."
I don't think their are any of those types in Ithaca any more much less the state.
Oh, I thought perhaps they were only air conditioning the white students, and leaving the minorities to swelter in their sweatshop classrooms.
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