Protest Pending Eviction Of NYPD Day-Care Center

The Chief-Leader/Michel Friang NO ROOM AT THE PLAZA: Some of the young attendees of the Finest Child Care Center at 1 Police Plaza joined union officials in protesting the shuttering of the facility next month to allow the Police Department to convert the space to a joint operations center.

Union officials were joined by parents, children and the local City Councilman Aug. 19 in protesting the closing of the Finest Child Care Center, which has offered affordable day care in 1 Police Plaza for 20 years to the offspring of both city employees and other residents.

"New York's Finest must not kick out our future finest for any reason whatsoever," said City Councilman Alan J. Gerson.

Getting Booted for 'Ops' Center

The Finest Child Care Center, which currently serves 30 children between 2 ½ and 5 years of age, has been told to vacate three basement rooms in Police Headquarters on Sept. 30, because the NYPD needs the space for a new joint operations center. The daycare center received free use of the facility, which was funded by the Administration for Children's Services.

"You have something in place here," said Ralph Palladino, the second vice president of District Council Local 1549, which represents civilian employees of the NYPD. "Don't dismantle it.We need this so that the city employees can work better."

Currently, only six of the kids in the program are children of city employees. Two of the parents are Traffic Enforcement Agents and the other four are administrative employees of the NYPD.

Mr. Gerson said, "You got to set your priorities in tough budget times. This is not about money. This is about the political will to do right by our children."

The NYPD's chief spokesman, Paul J. Browne, said, "Construction of a new operations center at Police Headquarters and the fact that the building was designed for half the occupancy it now accommodates, resulted in the displacement of several police units as well as the privately-run day care. I understand they're talking to owners of another site in lower Manhattan. If they get a firm move-in date there, we'll consider a reasonable extension."

Single Mom's Dilemma

Parents like Anisa Dalmeida were unsure what they would do with their children because even with a voucher from ACS, child-care is hard to find in the area. "Vouchers are no good, if there is no place to use those vouchers," Mr. Gerson said.

Ms. Dalmeida was concerned she might have to drop out of Borough of Manhattan Community College if she could not find another local spot for her 3½-year-old son, Christopher. "I feel at this point that the actions at One Police Plaza are unacceptable," she said. "If this day-care center were not here, I would literally be raising my son alone."

The program has been viewed as a model of a public-private partnership with the non-profit Graham-Windham. Finest Child Care Center was founded in 1989 under then-Police Commissioner Benjamin Ward. Police Commissioner William J. Bratton furnished a computer-learning center in 1997. Police Commissioner Howard Safir provided additional space for a music/resource room.

As part of the NYPD's expansion of its activities, Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly recently moved The Shack, the media's offices in 1 Police Plaza, to another part of the building where religious workers were stationed and transferred those workers to another location to create space.