Old Erasmus Hall May Be Saved

Two years ago, reports were all about how the original Erasmus Hall building, a 1786 structure which sits in the courtyard of the larger, more familiar Flatbush building called Erasmus Hall High School, was in danger of falling down. The Department of Education was apparently uninteresting in this tragedy.

Today, comes good news that the abandoned, 225-year-old building may be saved. The Wall Street Journal states that "a new, $300,000 matching grant from the state Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation is likely to jump-start restoration of the building, which once housed the oldest chartered high school in New York and counts Founding Fathers John Jay and Alexander Hamilton among its early benefactors."

Why does it always have to be a matching grant? Just give them the damn money. There's no time to waste.