Dinkins Beseeches City To Reconsider Decision To Evict Boys Choir

By ALEC MAGNET, Staff Reporter of the Sun | January 25, 2006

In a last-ditch effort to save the ailing Boys Choir of Harlem, its new chairman, Mayor Dinkins, along with Rep. Charles Rangel and members of the choir's board yesterday asked the city to reconsider its decision to evict the choir from its home on Madison Avenue and 127th Street at the end of the month - or at least to postpone the eviction until the end of the school year.

During a meeting yesterday at the Tweed Courthouse, the vice chairman of the choir's board, Skip Wyatt, and a new board member, Howard Dodson, joined Mr. Dinkins in presenting to the deputy mayor for policy, Dennis Walcott, a plan for improving the beleaguered choir's finances and reputation.

Accusing the choir of failing to fulfill a 2004 agreement to fix management and financial problems, the schools chancellor, Joel Klein, last month gave the group until January 31 to vacate the building it shares with a specialty public school, the Choir Academy of Harlem. Since 1993, the choir - along with the Girls Choir of Harlem - has occupied, rent-free, space in the building that could be rented for $550,000 a year. Its staffers teach music to the school's 600 pupils, about 200 of whom participate in its concerts, recitals, and tours.

"We have in hand pledges, commitments, exceeding $1 million and more forthcoming, but that will only be so if it appears that the city is willing to continue this partnership which has been so successful," Mr. Dinkins told reporters after the meeting.

Mr. Klein on January 16 told the Daily News: "We think there's a lot more that they have to do." The choir holds $5 million in outstanding debt, $3 million of which is unpaid taxes.

However, Mr. Dinkins told reporters yesterday that Mr. Walcott, the mayor's point man on education, "seemed open" to the choir's proposal. "They would not give us an immediate response yet, but later," he said.

In a statement, Mr. Walcott said he had requested additional information from the choir that it has not yet delivered. Without it, he said, the department cannot fully evaluate the choir's proposal.

The choir's new plan includes inviting new members with professional expertise to join the board, hiring new counselors, and attempting to raise $3.7 million by June 2007.