Thomas MacMillan Photo
Patrick Myrthil lost his wife to the earthquake in Haiti. He can’t get his daughter off the island. Meanwhile, he had a more mundane issue to bring before the Board of Zoning Appeals: parking relief.
Myrthil (pictured) appeared before the board at its monthly meeting Tuesday. He was looking for permission to have zero parking spaces at his private school on Newhall Street. Zoning regulations require him to have eight.
Since it’s a parking issue, Myrthil’s request was referred to the City Plan Commission. The board did not vote on it.
Myrthil is a native of Haiti. He’s been in the United States for seven years. For five of those, he’s been operating the USA Moving Forward Learning Center. He runs work skills classes and classes for people trying to get their GED. He also teaches Spanish and French.
Most of the classes are free, he said. The school runs on donations. Myrthil and two volunteers teach druing the day. In the evenings, he is a safety officer at Yale.
Myrthil recently moved his school to Newhall Street, where he is allowed to operate it under the local zoning. However, he needs to have four parking spaces and he has none.
That’s what brought him to the Board of Zoning Appeals on Tuesday. His neighbors took the opportunity to speak out against his school, especially the size of his sign.
But first a volunteer at the school spoke in favor. “Because of the school, drug dealers have moved further down the street,” said Linda DuBose (at right in top photo). She also mentioned that Myrthil hands out food to the needy twice a month.
Winfred Rembert (pictured) lives across the street from the school. “I don’t doubt that it might be a good program,” he said. But the local neighborhood is not the place for it. He said he was worried it might create a “hangout spot.”
Further, the school’s sign is too big, Rembert said. “I get up in the morning and I’m staring at these big signs.”
George Holloway (pictured) has lived nearby on Newhall Street since 1965. “I’ve seen the neighborhood at its worst,” he said. He also objected to the school’s sign. “Every time I come out of my house I’ve got to look at it,” he said. “I sit on my porch a lot in the summertime.”
Eddie Thorne, the local block watch captain, also spoke out against the school. It’s not right to have the business in a residential zone, he said.
City Deputy Director of Zoning Tom Talbot spoke up to say that the issue at hand was not the existence of the school itself, but parking. The school has a right to operate at that location, he said.
“No one’s talking about parking,” said BZA Chair Cathy Weber. “And I would like to know about this sign.”
City Corporation Counsel Felipe Pastore said the school has the right to have a sign that’s 20 feet square. Myrthil’s sign is legal.
Myrthil said the parking relief would be only a temporary solution. He is trying to by a nearby lot where he could have parking, he said.
Myrthil just moved his school to Newhall Street three months ago. Before that it was on Whalley Avenue, and before that on Grand Avenue.
The USA Moving Forward Learning Center is a not-for-profit enterprise supported partly by donations. “Most of the money comes from my pocket,” he said.
The school is accredited by the State Department of Education, he said. Most of the classes are during the day, because Myrthil has a full-time job at Yale in the afternoons and evenings.
Myrthil said that he pours himself into the school because he just loves to help. He’s been doing it for five years. Seven years ago, he came from Haiti, where he was an ESL teacher.
Several members of his family died in the recent earthquake, he said matter-of-factly. His wife is dead and he’s trying to find a way to bring his 15-year-old daughter to the United States.
The City Plan Commission will hear Myrthil’s parking request at its next meeting.