CSI changes plan for dormitories
College gives up proposal to build
student housing on state land used by the developmentally disabled
Staten Island Advance - Friday, February 10, 2006
College of Staten Island officials are abandoning
their efforts to build student housing on state land occupied by the
developmentally disabled community and will instead seek to find
space on their own 204-acre campus, according to CSI President Dr.
Marlene Springer.
She made the decision with "disappointment" and "a profound sense of
regret" but hopes it will quell the controversy over the initial
proposal, while leading to partnerships and more conversations
between the college and the disabilities community, Dr. Springer
said.
The leaders of the Staten Island Developmental Disabilities Council
-- which has adamantly opposed the proposal since it was first
announced in December -- have told Dr. Springer they need more time
to determine their needs for the land in question.
Dr. Springer said she understands the council's position but doesn't
want to wait to move forward with strategies to enhance the
Willowbrook college.
"I certainly welcome any continued dialogue but I will go ahead with
plans on my own campus," Dr. Springer told the Advance during an
interview in her office, adding that she would still like to engage
in discussion about building on the state land -- but only if the
state and the council are willing.
"I will not be hampered by their process in my own," she continued.
"We can't just sit here and wait, because the world is changing. We
do have land on this campus, and I am more than willing to use it."
For their part, the leadership of the Disabilities Council is
pleased CSI has reached a new decision. They also hope for more
collaboration in the future.
"That's wonderful," said Jacqueline Rumolo, the council chairwoman,
who recently met with Dr. Springer to discuss her concerns. "I hope
I can meet with her again and we can talk again, but I think 204
acres is more than enough space for CSI to do what they need."
MASTER PLAN
While exploring housing options with the state Office of Mental
Retardation and Developmental Disabilities -- the agency that
controls the land adjacent to the campus -- CSI was also embarking
on a master plan to address the school's 400,00-square-foot
classroom deficit and additional needs such as parking, an issue
that has plagued the campus since it opened there in 1993.
That plan, which is expected to be complete next year, doesn't
include residency halls, but housing concepts will eventually be
melded into the master plan.
There is no timetable for the housing proposal, which is still in
its infancy. Much of the timing depends on financing, land studies,
conversations with the community and approval from the state and the
City University of New York, a process Dr. Springer said will be
conducted openly and thoroughly.
A public/private partnership will fund the projected $80 million
cost of the housing, Dr. Springer said. While still conceptual, the
housing units are expected to fit into the school's existing
architecture, most likely with four-story buildings for 900 students
that are more apartment than dorm room.
There will be ongoing feasibility studies and student surveys and
committees to address how to turn a commuter college into a 24-hour
center, complete with additional food options, extended computer lab
and library hours and increased safety measures.
Still, Dr. Springer said, she would have liked to enter into a
housing partnership with the state and the disabilities community,
but the plans to offer increased educational, employment and
training opportunities at CSI for OMRDD's consumers are still
viable.
LAST LINKS
Since Dr. Springer announced plans to build residency halls on a
portion of the Willowbrook campus and the state land, there has been
debate over how the proposal originated, anger over how it was made
public and passionate pleas to save the land many believe holds the
last links to the legacy of the former Willowbrook State School,
which became a linchpin in the civil rights movement for the
disabled with its closure in 1987.
At the December announcement, Dr. Springer said the preliminary plan
called for integrated housing between CSI students and OMRDD
consumers.
She also said the state was considering transferring the Elizabeth
Connelly Resource Center -- which is the heart of the borough's
developmentally disabled programs, and in need of a major overhaul
-- to the school for additional classrooms. CSI, she said, never had
an interest in the Connelly Center.
Dr. Springer agreed to the integrated housing because she thought it
was an innovative way to bring the two communities together while
preserving the history of Willowbrook.
"It has never been done anywhere in the country," she said. "It's a
risk, but a risk we're willing to take. For me, it was a sense of
honoring the Willowbrook legacy in a very positive, living way."
CSI officials have said repeatedly that talk of the integrated
housing and the Connelly Center transfer was initiated by the state
and that the plan was simply in the discussion phase. An OMRDD
associate commissioner told a packed council meeting last month that
CSI approached the state only about its vacant land.
"There were discussions about the college using land, let me be
clear, land and not buildings," said OMRDD Associate Commissioner
Kathleen Broderick at the meeting.
LAND TALKS
Still, even the thought of such action, however preliminary, sent a
shockwave through the disabilities community, which feared all that
remained of Willowbrook would be lost.
Yesterday, an OMRDD spokeswoman reiterated that the agency would
never enter into any land deal without the support of its consumers.
"A discussion did occur," said spokeswoman Deborah Sturm Rausch.
"All discussions were preliminary. Nothing was planned or decided.
Anything that might have been said was said in very early
discussions. We cannot, will not, never could and never intended to
enter into a partnership with CSI without approval from our
constituents, no matter what was said."
And while CSI's announcement caused panic among the disabilities
community, it has also served as a catalyst for the council to
create a vision of its own.
"Whether this land is utilized for college dorms, a park, a museum
or a true legacy-type arrangement lies in your hands," Ms. Broderick
said at the council meeting.
It was a statement council members have taken to heart.
"I feel this whole thing, if anything, mobilized us that we should
start thinking about this," said Donna Long, co-chairwoman of the
council's advocacy committee and past council chairwoman.
New Brighton resident Hal Kennedy, whose daughter uses the Connelly
Center's therapeutic pool, is also spearheading a drive to give the
property historic context. He is looking toward something similar to
the National Historic Site designation given to Little Rock Central
High School in Arkansas, the location of the first test for
implementing the Supreme Court's Brown v. Board of Education 1954
ruling which declared segregated schools unconstitutional.
"We're working with the College of Staten Island to afford the
entire Willowbrook center some sort of historical recognition,"
Kennedy said.
By STEPHANIE SLEPIAN
Reprinted here with permission
from the
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