Dear Members of the Community Education Council District 2 (CECD2) & Ms. Elizabeth Rose, I appreciate your efforts in the challenging task of re-zoning school districts in Lower Manhattan area. I am writing to call upon you to REJECT Proposal 2 and ENDORSE the New DOE Proposal 3. I strongly OPPOSE Proposal 2 because it arbitrarily fragments Tribeca’s Historic Districts, cuts all Eastern Tribeca residents east of Church Street out of PS 234, the school closest to us, and zones us instead to PS 397 in the Financial District. It is well known that school zone and community are intertwined. Children often befriend other kids in their school and continue these relationships, often forming lifelong bonds, within their community and neighborhood where they play and enjoy their evenings and summers. Therefore, asking those of us who reside in Tribeca to trek far south to PS 397 located in a completely disconnected neighborhood just doesn’t make sense. Moreover, Tribeca – the Triangle Below Canal – was so named and founded in the early 1970’s by a group of Lispenard Street artists / residents living on the block directly south of Canal Street between Church Street and Broadway, in an area now part of the East Tribeca Historic District. And Proposal 2, shockingly, severs this very area – the East Tribeca Historic District – from the rest of the Tribeca community and neighborhood. I strongly ADVOCATE the New DOE Proposal 3 because it thoughtfully preserves historic Tribeca’s integrity, unifying its five historic districts – Tribeca North, West, East, South, & South Extension – and adjoining areas bounded by Canal Street to the north, West Street to the west, Courtland Alley to the northwest, Broadway to the east, and Chambers Street to the south into one PS 234 school zone and community. In summary, no Lower Manhattan re-zoning proposals should be designed without consideration of and respect for the integrity of Tribeca’s Historic Districts. More on the topic can be found here: http://www.nyc.gov/html/lpc/downloads/pdf/maps/tribeca.pdf