July 27, 1999
Ms. Patricial Zedalis
Chief Executive for School Facilities
Division of School Facilities
Board of Education
28-11 Queens Plaza North
Long Island City, New York 11101
Dear Ms. Zedalis:
We are pleased to have sent you the report on P.S. 109 completed by Robert Silman Associates. Thank you for being willing to consider these findings in approaching the futyre of P.S. 109.
As you see, the report demonstrates that P.S. 109, while needing repairs, is structurally sound and could serve many future generations of schoolchildren. In your May 3, 1999 letter to me you said one reason the Board wished to demolish the school was "severe structural deterioration." Silman Associates does not agree. There is no danger that any of the portions will fail. The report does not agrees with an earlier School Construction Authority estimate that the cost for restoring the exterior is $10 million. In your May 3, 1999 letter, you said you believed that number to be "understated" and that the cost would be much higher. It is not.
The Silman report's estimates are based on work their firm is doing on other Snyder schools. You have spent comparable sums on schools in comparable condition.
There is no need to demolish this structure. It has architectural and historical quality and is an important neighborhood anchor. Repairing it would be much less expensive than building a new facility of equal size and quality. And restoring it would be a project that the Board and SCA could point to with pride. If you still decide against using it yourself, we would hope you would see if could be adapted for use by others.
