Park Slope desperately needs day care centers. But rules are rules. Especially the rule about there being two separate exits onto the sidewalk (means of egress). It’s all about fire safety and that’s very important when children are concerned.

Still it is very time consuming and costly to get a day care center off the ground. Legally that is.

There must be a way that the city can help expeditie this process. The alternative is more illegal daycare. Is that really better?

Parker Place, a new South Slope daycare in the space where Baby Bird used to be, is having trouble getting the permits required by the City to stay open.

The owners have excellent intentions and many interested parents. The space just didn’t meet code

The City Room lists some of the reasons why Park Place was denied permits:

For one thing, applicants have to secure a change in their site’s certificate of occupancy from the Department of Buildings, a process that can take months.

One of requirements that has proved trickiest is that day care centers must have two separate exits (or “means of egress,” in city lingo) onto the sidewalk. The rule applies to “family day care” centers, smaller facilities run out of their operators’ homes, too, and enforcement was intensified in November 2005 after the city’s Health and Fire Departments and the State Office of Children and Family Services met to clarify their policies

Hopefully, Parker Place will be up and running soon. The neighborhood needs it. So do the kids.