School's traffic snarls historic Sycamore Ave.

Photo by Claudio Papapietro Can cars coexist with historic carriage houses on a bucolic lane? Residents of the streets around SAR Academy are disgruntled by the traffic generated by the school.

By N. Clark Judd

Sycamore Avenue hasn't changed much since 1955 when Robert and Celia Kornfeld moved into their home on a street of converted carriage houses and barns at the heart of the Riverdale Historic District.

But the Salanter Akiba Riverdale Academy, just to the north on West 254th Street, has grown in popularity since its inception nearly forty years ago, and it has brought with it a traffic problem that, its neighbors say, is now threatening the character of their historic area.

"SAR's been steadily growing," said Community Board 8 Chairman Tony Cassino, "and about seven years ago they did a whole reconfiguration and expansions, that put pressure on the system as well."

As the school has grown, said Mr. Cassino, so has the number of parents coming to pick up their children, the number of cars spilling onto neighboring streets waiting for school to get out, and the frequency with which buses haul up fragile Sycamore Avenue.

Mr. Kornfeld was the champion of the Riverdale Historic District in which he now lives.

"Twenty years," he said, "it took me 20 years to get the area saved."

So, he explained, the cars swarming onto Sycamore Avenue - cars that board officials say are damaging the cobblestone gutters along one side of the street - distress him. He's concerned that the sheer number of vehicles detracts from the area's historic character.

Franz Paasche, a fellow Sycamore Avenue resident, is worried about the combination of cars, kids and narrow streets.

"I have to say that SAR has been a particularly irresponsible neighbor, and I think the issue really is safety as much as anything else," he said. "I think that the institution should be more focused on the safety of its students, parents and its neighbors."

Other Riverdale institutions have already been in this situation. When PS 24's traffic became an issue, it was mitigated somewhat by making West 236th Street one-way. Horace Mann and Fieldston School have both developed such tightly controlled after - school routines that Mr. Cassino called them "military."

Sycamore Avenue isn't the only place where residents feel put upon by traffic from SAR. Residents of Independence and Palisade Avenues both feel the pinch when the school's bells ring.

Mr. Cassino and his board colleague, Brad Trebach, chair of the board's committee on traffic and transportation, point out that the nearby Metro- North station generates some of the traffic for which SAR takes the blame. Buses might be coming from nearby Wave Hill and Riverdale Country School as well as from SAR.

For their part, he said, SAR Academy leadership has been responsive and open to working with the community board to fix traffic problems. And SAR Academy's principal, Rabbi Binyamin Krauss, said the school is doing the best it can.

"There are a number of things that have been done over the years," Mr. Krauss said.

"We put in this carpool lane up the hill because we didn't want people to stop in the street," he added, referring to the practice of re-routing academy traffic through the upper parking.

"We're doing everything we can to make things smooth for everyone around us," said Mr. Krauss.

Mr. Paasche agrees the school's leaders are working in good faith, and had kind words for the school's board of directors. But he pointed out that while parking at SAR continues to be an issue, traffic problems have been ironed out or at least addressed at many other Riverdale institutions.

Mr. Cassino suggested SAR Academy may not yet recognize its own importance.

"I think they don't realize how big they are, and I don't mean just big in size," he said. "Sometimes you go from being a small school and you don't realize, you know, you've arrived."

For the Kornfelds, Sycamore Avenue's unique history exacerbates SAR Academy's apparent growing pains. The street is not only historic, it's also private, and has been since before the Kornfelds moved there in 1955.

City Department of Transportation spokesman Scott Gastel says the city can still patch potholes if they're called there to fix them, and can change signage for safety reasons. However, he said, the city wouldn't be able to repave or widen the street, for example.

It's unclear if Sycamore Avenue residents could elect to close off their street, as people on other private streets - like nearby Ladd Road or the streets of Fieldston - do at least once a year.

"We're supposed to have a meeting about this sometime," said Ms. Kornfeld.

She mentioned the possibility of imposing a time limit for non-resident parking, such as what she sees in her native New Orleans, but said it's still up to the neighbors on the street to decide how they will protect one of Riverdale's historic gems.

At an upcoming meeting, she said, they will "find out about what the right thing is to do."

This is part of the June 5, 2008 online edition of The Riverdale Press.

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