Daniel Maurer

As if Cooper Union didn’t have enough on its plate today, the East Village Community Coalition is circulating an online petition demanding that the school “not house students” in the former P.S. 64 building, which should instead be “returned to use for our community.”

The Wall Street Journal recently reported that Cooper Union had signed a 15-year agreement securing 200 beds in the 500-bed dorm proposed for 605 East Ninth Street, the former home of P.S. 64 and, later, CHARAS. Developer Gregg Singer’s plan for the conversion got the blessing of Community Board 3’s Landmarks subcommittee earlier this month.

Among the 188 people who had signed the petition at the time of this post were Andrew Coamey, Sara Romanoski, and other members of the Community Coalition; Chad Marlow, founder of the Tompkins Square Park and Playgrounds Parents Association; Rob Hollander, author of the Save the Lower East Side blog and founder of the No 7-Eleven campaign; Laurie Mittelmann of the Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space; Joyce Ravitz, president of the Cooper Square Committee, and Rev. Richard Del Rio, a candidate for City Council who wrote, “The school must be returned to the community. We need programs for our kids and suffer from a lack of space.”