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Your Downtown Holiday Guide, p. 22
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VOLUME 24, NUMBER 31
THE NEWSPAPER OF LOWER MANHATTAN
DECEMBER 21 - 27, 2011
Peck Slip school gets new seats, new principal
Downtown Express photo by Milo Hess
East and West celebrate the season The annual East Meets West parade was held on Saturday, Dec. 17 and combined the heritage and culture of Little Italy and Chinatown in celebration of the holiday season. Page 14.
Howard Hughes pitches pier plans BY TERESE LOEB KREUZER The Howard Hughes Corp., which has a long-term lease on portions of the South Street Seaport, quietly showed its plans for Pier 17 to a few members of Community Board 1 on Dec. 14 but refused to talk about them further or to
discuss them with the press. John Fratta, chair of C.B. 1’s Seaport Committee, said that he, C.B. 1 chair Julie Menin and Paul Hovitz, a member of the Seaport Committee, met with Howard Hughes reps and saw some plans for a structure that would replace
the current mall. “They’re lowering the building,” said Fratta. “They’re going to make it all glass so no matter where you are on Pier 17, you’re going to have an unobstructed view of the
BY ALINE REYNOLDS In a matter of days, the Peck Slip school has been expanded, zoned and assigned a principal. Last week, the city Department of Education announced plans to further expand the K-5 elementary school from 656 seats to 712 seats, allowing additional space for two more classrooms when the school moves to its permanent location at One Peck Slip. Community Education Council District Two also approved the D.O.E.’s third and final rezoning proposal on Dec. 14. The new zone will send Downtown students who live north of Liberty Street and Maiden Lane and south of the Brooklyn Bridge to the Peck Slip School. And, at NYS Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver’s School Overcrowding Task Force meeting on Monday, Dec. 19, the D.O.E. announced that Maggie Siena would be the new principal at Peck Slip. Currently Siena is principal at P.S. 150 and will remain there
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through this school year. The expansion follows the D.O.E.’s promise made in November to expand the school from 476 seats to 656 seats and to build two extra floors in the One Peck Slip building. “After the Postal Service decided not to maintain use of a part of the building, we were able to add additional space to the new Peck Slip site,” said D.O.E. Spokesperson Frank Thomas. A U.S.P.S. spokesperson confirmed the news and said that its retail and carrier operations are still slated to move to the John and Church Street locations in the coming months. Silver said he was “delighted” over the news. “For us, the more [seats], the merrier,” Silver said. “We need as many seats as we can get.” While Siena said she didn’t know about staffing at the future school, she did impart information on the Peck Slip School’s curriculum, which will emphasize critical thinking and socioemotional learning, among other core values of the
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