A chain saw buzzed through trees yesterday, as a steamroller flattened the earth. The sights and sounds of heavy construction were startling: Two weeks ago, a court had “annulled” the Bloomberg administration’s controversial deal with 20 private schools to build athletic fields here.
“I was very, very surprised when the city told me that they were continuing with the construction,” said Norman Siegel, the lawyer who represented East Harlem parents in a lawsuit against the project. “It’s wrong.”
Opponents had argued the deal was privatizing at least 160 acres of parkland, a scale that made it a “major concession” requiring approvals from the community board, the planning commission and the City Council. The judge agreed, but that hasn’t stopped the dump trucks.
City attorney Lawrence S. Kahn sees no contradiction. “The court ruling addressed the use of the fields once they are built, not the construction of the fields themselves,” he said.
“We won round one, and the city is not following at least the spirit of the judge’s decision,” said Siegel, who suspects the project is now being adapted “so the lower court decision will in effect be nullified.”
The issue will end up before the judge when both sides return to court next Wednesday to consider the question of whether the project required a prior Environmental Impact Statement.
Seigel said the city had asked him for 30 more days. “But we would only agree if they would stop construction, and they told me they would not stop,” he said. “We’ll have to battle them. A month’s delay means construction will continue, and in effect the win will not be as big a win as we thought it was.”
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