An alfresco meeting last week did little to sway Marine Park residents that a day care facility would be an appropriate addition to their quaint block.
According to those in attendance, residents turned out en masse for a tense July 15 meeting outside 1658 East 38th Street, an attached home where Room to Grow Learning Center is hoping to expand its operation.
Concern over diminished property values, aesthetics, as well as the health of an octogenarian living next door to the facility predominated, those at the meeting said.
Those at the meeting said an owner of Room to Grow indicated that the option of moving ahead with the day care facility exists, as does the potential to resell the home and find a different location.
“It was an unenviable position standing on a lawn talking to 55 people,” said one woman in attendance who wished to remain anonymous.
The Room to Grow owner refused to provide any additional information for this story. “It’s pointless at this point to comment,” said the person, who requested anonymity.The business currently operates a facility on East 33rd Street that serves 10-12 children.
The owner told this paper last week that the house has not been purchased yet. “I think we are going to move ahead, but we can’t do that until many things are done first,” the person said at the time.
The facility being proposed is a family-based service — no more than three to six children in a home of an unrelated family — and it is regulated under the New York State Department of Social Services. For the project to proceed,the city’s Department of Health, Department of Buildings, and the Fire Department must also sign off.Facilities of this nature typically do not trigger a public review.
If the project moves forward, Room to Grow has vowed to insulate the adjoining wall attached to 82-year-old Flo Siringo’s home, in an effort to reduce any noise. Siringo has told this paper that the walls are “paper thin” and is not eager to hear the pitter-patter of little feet.
Tom Ingram knows how thin the walls are — he used to live in the home that might be converted into a day care center. “The man next door used to snore, and you’d hear him,” he recalled.
Ingram, 67, said he lived in the home from 1949-1957, and then his family moved to the home directly across the street, which he still owns.
Contrary to what Room to Grow has told this paper, Ingram said, a day care facility would not improve the block or bring a sense of community.
“As far as I’m concerned, this is a commercial venture,” he said.
If majority rules, Ingram said, Room to Grow should take root elsewhere. “The whole block showed up at that meeting — not one person was for it.”
