In trying to sort out how the Jefferson-Houston redevelopment plan suddenly loomed up before us, it's necessary to step back and look at a chronology. All of these dates are drawn from public records, news accounts or messages distributed through listserves with members of the community.
A couple of things to note: constantly shifting pricing for renovating or rebuilding Jefferson-Houston and the extent to which this is driving land use issues; the changing cast of characters and the question of transparency; and past commitments to capital improvements for the school.
So what do readers think?
May 7, 2007: The City Council approves the FY 2008 budget, including a five-year Capital Improvements Project (CIP) budget with $4.2 million in capital improvements for Jefferson-Houston slated for FY 2013 (see Table 2). Nothing is allocated for a new ACPS headquarters building.
December 2007: ACPS issues a white paper outlining five different options for the Jefferson-Houston facility involving either remodeling or reconstruction. Besides the elementary school and Head Start, other uses that are envisioned include a "special needs" center for 40 students and a city-wide preschool.
Pricing for the options ranges from $6 million for a single new elementary school for 400 students (Option #4) to $21 million to build a new school and remodel the existing building for the special needs center and Head Start (Option #9). Upcoming roof, HVAC and other major renovations needed around 2013 are estimated at approximately $3 million.
December 12, 2007: In a memo to Council, City Manager James Hartmann discusses a proposal from the Tauber Foundation to donate West End land parcels to the City in exchange for a $5 million reimbursement and demolition costs. The gift would leave the City with a net donation of land worth $10 to $25 million. The City Manager proposes using the parcels to build a new ACPS headquarters, noting "The Schools have found that their currently leased Beauregard office site works well as a location for School administrative services." The memo also states it will be "several years" before the planning process even begins, much less construction.
January 2008: Helen Morris and a small group of interested parents launch the Jefferson-Houston listserve to discuss how to turn the school around.
April 10, 2008: At a School Board meeting chairman Claire Eberwein notes that "the City/Schools Committee met and determined that they are not ready to take proposals for locations for a future Alexandria preschool. The proposal to convert Jefferson-Houston into a
dedicated preschool will therefore be removed from the slate."
May 2008: Council approves the FY 2009 budget, which increases the CIP budget line item for Jefferson-Houston to $6.1 million for FY 2013. This sum is almost identical to the amount listed in the 2007 white paper as the cost to build a new school.
June 2008: Dr. Morton Sherman is selected as the new ACPS superintendent. He reports for duty August 15 and begins making the round of schools and PTAs in the fall.
September 29, 2008: The U.S. Department of the Army announces that it has selected the Mark Center, near ACPS headquarters on N. Beauregard Street, as the site for 6,400 relocated defense jobs, prompting ongoing outrage in Alexandria's West End about the traffic impact on local neighborhoods and commuters.
Date unknown (circa late 2008): With the dramatic drop in stock values due to the burgeoning crisis in financial markets, the Tauber deal with the City is off because the tax write-off advantages behind the donation have evaporated. No announcements are ever made that the land offer has been withdrawn.
January 2009: Dr. Sherman begins discussions with City Manager Jim Hartmann about a possible public-private partnership. (According to statements made by Dr. Sherman at the June 22, 2010 ACPS-Council work session, talks with Mr. Hartmann had been ongoing for "18 months," which therefore dates the initial dialog to early 2009.)
February 2009: Ms. Morris announces her candidacy for the School Board.
April 27, 2009: Council approves the FY 2010 budget, which again includes $6.1 million for Jefferson-Houston for Jefferson-Houston in the CIP for FY 2013. There is still no funding in the budget for a new ACPS headquarters building.
May 5, 2009: Ms. Morris is elected to the School Board as a representative of District A (eastern Alexandria).
June 15, 2009: Mayor Euille attends a UKSNA monthly meeting and according to the minutes he "assured UKSNA members that physical improvements to the [sic] Jefferson Houston were a major priority and, now that the curriculum and other stabilization measures have been implemented by the school board, the city is now poised to implement and fund a capital improvement program at Jefferson Houston even in these difficult economic times." The minutes are written by UKSNA Secretary Helen Morris.
July 17-18, 2009: The newly elected School Board, according to Michael Lee Pope's recent article in the Gazette, are briefed about the possible public-private partnership. There is no recording or minutes for the briefing, which apparently took place at a closed School Board retreat.
October 28, 2009: At an ACPS Budget and Audit Committee meeting, Ms. Morris agrees to research the issues surrounding the establishment of educational foundations, which is a component of a future public-private partnership.
November 7, 2009: ACPS presents its capital budget needs at a City Council budget retreat. Jefferson-Houston is listed as needing replacement at a cost of $13 million in FY 2012.
December 3, 2009: At a School Board meeting (02:15:30), Ms. Morris reports on the Budget Committee's work since the July retreat in researching public-private partnerships and the feasibility of setting up an educational foundation. Committee chair Arthur Peabody states that Ms. Morris is doing the committee's "yeoman work" on these topics.
January 12, 2010: ACPS conducts a work session on the proposed Jefferson-Houston public-private partnership and for the first time word gets out in the press that a redevelopment plan is under consideration, some six months after it is first discussed by the School Board.
February 9, 2010: ACPS presents its proposed CIP budget for FY 2011 to the City. In FY 2010, ACPS asked for $86 million and received $64 million. With the FY 2011 budget, the first full budget cycle under Dr. Sherman, the request is now $139 million for a "Needs-Based" CIP budget or $127 million for a "Constrained Resources" CIP budget. Rising enrollment is being blamed as one of the principal drivers behind the increases.
Funding to replace Jefferson-Houston is no longer present. Instead, around $70,000 is allocated each year until FY 2013 to "replace failed components of the building’s façade, including mortar joints, precast panel repairs, and failed caulk joints. This work is necessary to maintain the existing facility until the new building is constructed."
The document states "This facility is proposed to be replaced in FY 2014 with a new mixed use complex" that "to be constructed under a Public Private Partnership Agreement with an alternative source of funds" and would include new ACPS headquarters offices.
"The school portion of this building would cost approximately $21.5 million in FY 2013-2014" and if replacement plans fall through ACPS would need to pay $8.85 million for "roof replacement, HVAC Systems replacement, fire alarm system replacement, ADA and plumbing upgrades, replacement of the carpeting throughout the building, and repainting of the entire facility... Based on this cost for renovations and systems replacement versus the cost of a new facility, construction of a new facility is more economically feasible."
April 7, 2010 : ACPS representatives, including Dr. Sherman and Ms. Morris, are invited to make a presentation to West Old Town Citizens Association to explain the proposed redevelopment. The initiative for the meeting comes from the civic association not from ACPS, and ACPS provides no specifics on how much density the project will require.
May 3, 2010: City Council approves the FY 2011 budget, including a capital budget for ACPS of $106.2 million over six years and $158.1 million over 10 years.
June 22, 2010: ACPS-Council work session on the proposed Jefferson-Houston redevelopment and public-private partnership. The introductory remarks are made by Dr. Sherman and Ms. Morris. ACPS's Margaret Byess and Planning and Zoning's Gwen Wright staff make a joint presentation, with slide #25 showing that it will require nearly 1.2 million sf of development and an FAR of 2.5 to hit the sweet spot where the project (which now includes ACPS HQ) is financially feasible.
July 19, 2010: Record attendance at the July 2010 Upper King Street Neighborhood Association meeting, where residents strongly express their objections to the proposed redevelopment and its impact on the neighborhood.
87 comments:
This whole thing makes me VERY uneasy.
It's clear that decisions are being made behind the scenes and that any effort at engaging the neighbors is a sham.
When the City was seeking "citizen input" prior to the Bland redevelopment, the neighbors repeatedly asked about the number of ARHA units to be offsited. That was our NUMBER ONE concern. They repeatedly assured us that the number of ARHA units had still not been determined and that the matter would remain open for discussion. They kept trying to get us to focus on driveway placement, siding color, etc.
Then, all of a sudden, they announced the huge number of ARHA units to be redeposited in our already saturated neighbhorhood and claimed it was set in stone. It was far greater than any of us had imagined (much less hoped).
Based on that experience (as well as the Braddock Road experience where they refused to discuss public housing AT ALL) I'd view this J-H project with much skepticism.
If this monster ever gets built, it will need a large space for its garbage dumpsters. 1500 Cameron Street has earned that honor.
The change in superintendents combined with Ms. Morris' election resulted in a neighborhood sellout. Dumpsters sound about right!
From alexandrianews.org's crime story. How many of these hot spots are located here in this neighborhood a neighborhood with concentrated public housing. Until the city demands dispersal and or redistricting the school problem will not resolve itself. I am most curious to see JH's August AYP numbers.
"The ten hot spots are: the Landmark/Van Dorn area, Potomac Yard, King Street in Old Town, the EOS apartment complex, Tower 2000, the Hamlets, new Alexandria Redevelopment and Housing Authority projects, North Old Town, Presidential Greens and West Glebe Road."
"and West Glebe Road"
Is this the other half of the Bland debacle? Guess dilution isn't working.
Re: the alexandrianews.org crime story. What exactly do they mean by "new Alexandria Redevelopment and Housing Authority projects"? Chatham Square? And how is that different from North Old Town?
The other comment I'd like to make is just below the crime story was a story about ARHA residents who had just graduated from a program where they had saved money. Kind of irritating, frankly. Seriously? I'd love to save that kind of money, but I actually have to pay my own housing costs with no taxpayer subsidy.
"a story about ARHA residents who had just graduated from a program where they had saved money."
You mean the story that referenced "six Housing Choice Voucher Program participants as they graduated from the Family Self-sufficiency Program?" Vouchers. Think ARHA learned anything?
If you're a neighborhood resident, you're an impediment that needs to be at best marginalized and if necessary managed. If and when any problems come up, the developers will be counting their money and planning their next closed-door development with whatever official has enough publicly valuable assets (open space, redevelopment sites) to swap.
"If you're a neighborhood resident, you're an impediment that needs to be at best marginalized and if necessary managed."
Like Mayor Bling telling us that the Braddock Road Small Area Plan belongs to other than neighborhood residents because the metro was built with federal dollars? May a swinging door hit his backside on his way out! According to the street it's his barber opening the new shop at Queen and Fayette.
I hate stat, I will say it again, I Hate Stats!
How many times have we listened to people shovel us statistics just to find out that their method of collecting data is different from others. Therefore the results are always misrepresented.
Dui's and trespassing are down? Is that due to lack of resources or less community policing? I thought these were crimes which officers had to seek out and not just respond to after a citizen calls the police about different problems.
So if the numbers are down, does this tell us
A). Less people are driving drunk and less are trespassing...
Or
B). Cops don't have the same amount of free time they had before because "less resources" are demanding them to become more responsive as opposed to proactive?
I can only guess at an answer but I think most of us would pick the same one. "Less resources" translates into many different things readers.
First of all, I hope this gets printed because many of my comments do not get posted. I think it is in very poor taste to allow the mayor to be referenced as Mayor Bling!!! It is an insult as it is meant to be.
Public housing residents are really looked down upon on this blog. It seems that getting them out of certain areas is a focus that will never go away. Worrying about where displaced people are going and if they will have a decent place to go would be a better use of time. Sometimes life isn't fair. Let some of them tell you about it.
A lot of what has happened to the Jefferson Houston school is based upon unfair decisions that were made with regard to redistricting . This has been stated again and again. Problems always occur when people are only looking out for themselves.It seems that the decisions made were made to keep certain kids out of certain areas and now people with the same mentality are trying to get large groups of people out because they think their property values will go up.When will we begin to make decisions that are truly meant to help all citizens. Some are always acting like martyrs because larger numbers of low income people are
relegated to their neighborhoods. That makes them almost as bad as the people who are trying to keep certain people out of other neighborhoods.It is sad when you really look at the situation.
Everyone in the city would like to have a clean, safe place to live. Some of us are blessed to be able to choose and pay for our living spaces. For various reasons , others are not. They need support and advocacy. This is a reality and some are impacted by it more than others.I'm sorry you don't like your neighbors but you knew they were there when you moved in. Why not spend more time trying to work with public housing residents to make the neighborhood safe and livable for everyone. Isn't that a wonderful possibility? Why not embrace those coming back when they arrive.
I hope the city will think long and hard before approving the new plan for the Jefferson Houston
School and be sure that JH isn't dumped upon again.
"Why not embrace those coming back when they arrive."
Blind and unequivocal support of Resolution 830 is not "embracing" anyone.
Continuing a housing policy that the majority of Parker Gray does not agree with makes you a lot of things, but it most certainly does not make one compassionate, no matter how many times you tell yourself it does.
".I'm sorry you don't like your neighbors but you knew they were there when you moved in."
I am not aware of any neighbor I have (and I live right next to Adkins) who doesn't like their neighbors.
I think most people hate the conditions my neighbors live in. We feel it contributes to a socioeconomic dead zone and to greater rates of crime in our area.
I also struggle with the "they were here first argument"
Thats like saying Virginia Paving, or Mirant, or Norfolk Southern, or the US Park Service, or the Old Dominion Boat Club, were all here first.
Yet we have had how many news stories, task forces, commissions, and taxpayer dollars spent on these problems?
Parker Gray residents call for improving the conditions of public housing residents, and question the wisdom of a policy that creates static brick and mortar public housing units on some of the most valuable pieces of land in the City, and we get what....racism charges? Class warfare? The Gwen and Lenny Show?
I find your argument to be from the heart and not devoid of compassion, but also one of moral and factual bankruptcy.
"I also struggle with the "they were here first argument"
Amen! If we look at who was here first it was probably the American Indian. In the 1830s an Alexandria Mayor lived in a luxious manse on the Monarch property. The manse survived beyond the turn of the century so who was here first? The problem is bricks and mortar public housing, housing created during Jim Crow and functions mostly as permanent not transitional housing. Don't get me started on Sherman's heritage explanation.
"For various reasons , others are not. They need support and advocacy. "
OK SO GIVE IT TO THEM!
Where would you rather have your kid grow up? The nice neighborhoods of Delray and Rosemont or the economic hell hole of Parker Gray?
I am 1000% behind the idea of support and advocacy but the idea of "just leave them where they are and provide them support" is not working.
The neighbors say its not working. The police say its not working.
Heck, the public housing residents say its not working.
I am all for waiting to see how Bland turns out. Lets see if it works like all the experts say.
But there are still folks at Adkins and Madden Uptown who by my guess would rather live in a "safe and livable" neighborhood than where they are now.
I dont see Adkins becoming safe or livable anytime soon. Do you?
"First of all, I hope this gets printed because many of my comments do not get posted. I think it is in very poor taste to allow the mayor to be referenced as Mayor Bling!!! It is an insult as it is meant to be."
Your knickers are in a knot! Mayor Bling is not my phrase but I get it. Euille worries more about external impressions than internal problem solving. Neighborhood dissatisfaction is nothing knew. In the last election he ran unopposed. Took a neighborhood wallop and deserved it. As for the barber shop, you tell me. I opposed the the Braddock Plan's Queen Street initiative. QSABA is a bankrupt if not artificial construct but maybe the corner rent is cheaper. His will be the third barber shop within a block of each other. Business planning? Don't think so! Euille lost us when he established his all black Charles Houston neighborhood advisory committe. Do we not live near the Center? Did our tax dollars not help pay for the Center? Are we not potential consumers? Where is his consideration of today's need? I'm the one who's insulted.
"It seems that the decisions made were made to keep certain kids out of certain areas and now people with the same mentality are trying to get large groups of people out because they think their property values will go up"
Property values go up? U r kidding right?
If property values go up my taxes will go up, and since most of the tax money is shipped out of Parker Gray to other parts of Alexandria, I am not sure why I or anyone else wants that.
The only people who might want property values to go up are those who want to get out of town and move somewhere else. Everyone else just wants to be able to live in peace and quiet.
"Why not spend more time trying to work with public housing residents to make the neighborhood safe and livable for everyone."
OK, what are your ideas? You say your comments are not posted here? What ideas do you have to make Madden Uptown, Hopkins Tancil, and Adkins safer and more livable for everyone?
And can you provide names and contact info for public housing residents that neighbors can work with to fix some of the issues that both residents of the projects and neighbors who border the projects can agree on?
There already are multiple trash cans on every corner, and Parker Gray residents living near housing projects take time out of their day in many cases to help clean up in the projects. There is a new community center. There is more than adequate police coverage to report crimes as they occur. Parker Gray residents donate generously to local and national charities.
Pls let us know what else neighbors can do.
"The problem is bricks and mortar public housing, housing created during Jim Crow and functions mostly as permanent not transitional housing. Don't get me started on Sherman's heritage explanation."
Should we not assume that Sherman's heritage argument is an extension of the city's containment policy? Can anybody prove me wrong? Education is the poor child's exit strategy.
"I think it is in very poor taste to allow the mayor to be referenced as Mayor Bling!!!"
We don't just sit around all day thinking of nicknames like Mayor Bling or the Spa Court. These names are basically given to us. Read the following from the Washington Post on 9-27-2007.
Official 'Bling' For City
Mayor Adds Pomp With Flashy Medal
Alexandria Mayor William D. Euille (D) felt like he was missing a little something. A little flash. A little hardware. A little, as the kids say, "bling."
And now he has a shiny gold medallion the size of a silver dollar to wear around his neck.
You can credit Washington Post Staff Writer Mark Berman for the name.
"Public housing residents are really looked down upon on this blog."
You couldn't back this statement up if your life depended on it. All I've ever read on this blog is residents begging City Officials to end their racist containment policies of public housing. The1999 redistricting of J-H is another example of the cities racist politics. We continue to be ignored when we ask the city to follow their own fair share policy.
"Sometimes life isn't fair. Let some of them tell you about it." If I was poor and needed to rely on government handouts for my whole life, do you really think I would want to speak to middle to/or upper class people about why I'm living for free off their taxes?
"They need support and advocacy." Give me a break. The city has said over and over that they don't want to break up neighborhoods of people who have been living together for generations. Sorry but generations? You don't see that as a problem? Abusing the system and never trying to stand on your own 2 feet does not constitute the need for more support.
"I'm sorry you don't like your neighbors but you knew they were there when you moved in." Shame on you for telling me that I don't like my neighbors. You have no idea who your talking to and you don't have a clue as to what I've done to help my neighbors.
"Why not embrace those coming back when they arrive." If your talking about ARHA residents coming back into public housing then I know that I have just wasted my time responding to someone with your ideology.
I cant believe the naivete of that previous commenter......
If ARHA stated that they were switching to a voucher system with congruent redevelopment of the Adkins and Madden Uptown sites that required 30-40% of the units to be designated Section 8 (by resolution or some other policy), they would get support from a huge majority of Parker Gray residents.
If ACPS and the City stated that they would redistrict to more equitably balance the school demographics in Alexandria, pursuant to this development proposal at JH, they would probably get a large majority of support from the Parker Gray community
Pray tell, how does this lead to the conclusion by a commenter, that yet again, all those Parker Gray homeowners hate "poor black people"?
I could see those 2 things having a hugely positive impact on public housing residents. Yet somehow, if we just "support and empathize" everything will be ok.
Teen pregnancy rates, academic achievement, drug problems, crime rates, and employment rates will all improve if we just sit back and say nothing...thats the argument? Thats the best we can do?
Wow, as a liberal democrat, I am stunned. I thought we were better than this in Alexandria.....
If public housing residents need "support and advocacy" then please come over and spread that message right now.
There are residents outside right now in the Adkins courtyard who await your support and concern. Bring your message to them. There are some kids who will be there most of the night so you have plenty of time to reach them.
"I think it is in very poor taste to allow the mayor to be referenced as Mayor Bling!!! It is an insult as it is meant to be."
Since you seem to be supportive of Mr. Euielle, maybe you can explain how Mayor Metro, who supposedly wants to build "smart growth" around all the Alexandria Metro stations, cant even bother to show up to almost half of the WMATA meetings, while still getting paid by them to be on the board.
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/local/Metro-board-members-play-hooky-1005888-99658089.html
Solomon's absences represent a broader problem. Six of Metro's 14 directors have missed at least one of every five meetings, according to The Examiner's analysis of Metro board minutes and observations over 18 months. D.C. Councilman Michael Brown had the worst record, for example, missing 66 percent of 79 committee and board meetings since he was appointed last year.
The poor attendance has come as Metro has been searching for leadership amid its most challenging year. The National Transportation Safety Board slammed the board just last week, saying a lack of direction was a critical factor in safety lapses that cost lives last year.
I guess he does everything "part-time"
OK folks, we need to stick to the topic of the Jefferson-Houston redevelopment. Do you think the case is made that the school needs to be renovated or rebuilt, and at what price (literally and figuratively in terms of development)?
"Do you think the case is made that the school needs to be renovated or rebuilt, and at what price (literally and figuratively in terms of development)?"
Without redistricting and some changes in the socioeconomic disaster that is North Parker Gray, the answer is clearly no.
The case has not been made that the school needs to be renovated OR rebuilt in site. A new school in Potomac Yard will easily accomodate a couple hundred former JH students. The school board should cash out the JH property and development sympathetic to the neighborhood and reasonable per its proximity to Metro should follow.
Nope, I dont think the case has been made at all. The only case I see is redistricting....
Here's an idea of finding money, let's start cutting out some of the ridiculous amounts of ACPS support staff and administration.
Its baffling that ACPS has all this support staff and all these administrators that they seemingly can't afford anymore.
That way, you wouldn't even need a sparkling new building to fit them all in.
I think it is great to have a neighborhood school but not when families don't send their children there or it continues to fall below an acceptable standard. Unfortunately, despite the efforts of the school's principal, it just doesn't meet the standards. If it did, I would think that more children on my street and other surrounding streets would attend. Instead, they attend other schools throughout the city and do so using the lottery option or attend private school.
Schools typically succeed when there is significant parent involvement. When you continue to concentrate public housing in one area and don't have this support from parents (and I am generalizing here since there are some parents that are engaged in their child's education), the school likely won't succeed. This is why PTAs are so powerful. If children were dispersed to other elementary schools it might benefit everyone.
I grew up in New England and children were bused from the public housing in our city to various elementary schools throughout the city (we had 7). While I know that is controversial, I made some friends I might not otherwise have made AND I believe everyone benefited since it only enriched our experience in school while allowing everyone to receive a high quality education.
I think another problem that ACPS has is that there is not a standard curriculum throughout the city. If your child is at Lyles-Crouch he or she is not following the same curriculum as one at JH or Maury, etc.
Even if the school is rebuilt, unless something significantly changes I don't see my neighbors sending their kids there. I know I won't.
For the record, while I can appreciate the honest comments by Sunday's poster, I was utterly offended. I think making assumptions is never good and hope that this person understands that it is more about improving everyone's quality of life - homeowners and those living in public housing. Thank you Growler.
"I think making assumptions is never good and hope that this person understands that it is more about improving everyone's quality of life - homeowners and those living in public housing. "
Exactly. I agree with Growler, we sometimes get OT here and can rant about the same issues, but its angering a lot of people that the new JH building is looked at by many in ACPS and the City Council in a vacuum rather than analyzing all the external issues surrounding JH, including parental involvement, the economic mix in our community, the concentration of public housing, and the appropriateness of dense development for our area.
When all those factors are weighed, its pretty clear we dont need a new school at JH; we need a complete approach that brings "change we can believe in", not "change the size of the building".
I think the ultimate test or question to answer is:
Would you send your child to JH if all ACPS does is rebuild a new school there?
Will a new school building change anyone's mind about whether they choose to send their child there?
The proposed plan for redeveloping the JH site is simply appalling and makes it clear that whatever this School Board is focused on it is clearly not children. Are they all unaware of the fact that the state has very specific regulations about the amount of land that must surround a school? An 800 student school needs to have at least 8 acres and closer to 10 or more around it. The amount of land that Council has agreed on for Potomac Yard doesn't even meet the criteria for a 400 student school. I cannot believe that the state would allow Alexandria to build a new JH school with essentially no land around it. Also the safety of the students is clearly of no concern. There is no possible way for school staff to supervise the students safety when they are entering or leaving the school site, there will be no place for parents to drive up to pick up children, there will be access to the school "site" for people going in and out of the businesses and offices. Being close to a mtro station with such a crowded buiding site as well as proposed condos makes the whole area a pedophile's and/or non-custodial parent's dream. It is the worst environment I could possible envision. Then, of course, the Board has overlooked the effect of such a development of the neighborhood. They and the Council seem to think nothing of taking away land that is now designated as public open space and, by developing it, take it out of the tax payer's and local residents' hands and giving it over to developers. The last 4 Councils seem to have loved the idea of selling off or long term leasing of the City's open spaces. For a long time now, schools have provided much of the city's open spaces and now that seems to be disappearing. The development of west end school sites will pretty much wipe out a vast amount of open space in Alexandria. I cannot believe that Council really thinks people move to and live in Alexandria so that their children can have an "urban school experience". In addition, has the fire department looked at the plans? How on earth can they deal with a possible school fire or evacuate the school safely should one of the other buildings have a fire. I don't see how they could get fire fighting equipment onto the site.
"Do you think the case is made that the school needs to be renovated or rebuilt, and at what price (literally and figuratively in terms of development)?"
No, for reasons already articulated by others.
But fighting this will prove tough as the public-private approach, as far as I can tell, seems to line up three vital constituencies against the Parker-Gray neighborhood.
The City Council, seeing the commercial use for the property, gets additional tax revenue to spend as they see fit and doesn't have to find the money to pay for the development.
The School Board and Administration get new offices and get away from the perceived nightmare of co-existing with the new Government Mega-Plex.
Residents of other areas get to maintain the status quo with respect to school boundaries, without having to fork out additional tax payments to pay for the new school in someone else's neighborhood.
So these three groups have it in their interest to maintain the separate-but-equal approach to public education that was codified in the 1999 redistricting, by building a new school on the current site, using the current boundaries, and passing the $$$ costs onto the private sector and all other costs onto our neighborhood.
There seems to be no rational educational reason to build a new school at such a high cost, or even at any cost, when enrollment is dropping at J-H and rising beyond the bursting point at other schools. The proposed plan seems designed to address non-educational purposes and preserve the status quo with respect to education.
"So these three groups have it in their interest to maintain the separate-but-equal approach to public education that was codified in the 1999 redistricting,"
Alexandria is the only city I know still trying to make Plessy v. Ferguson work.
If you lived in Parker-Gray in 1999 and IF you came out to speak in favor of J-H at the several redistricting hearings, THEN you might have standing to make the arguments many have made here about the state of the school today and who is to blame. I was around in 1999 and attended every school board meeting and public hearing, and I did not see or hear any of you who have posted on this thread advocating on behalf of J-H.
Those who were around will tell you the West-enders who primarily populated the school at that time, while they had fond memories of their time at J-H, were anxious to get into their own, brand-new, neighborhood school, Samuel Tucker. And, that group was majority minority. Although there was one redistricting proposal at that time to keep bussing those children east, their families wanted no part of it.
Most of the discussion at the time concerned un-pairing Maury and Lyles Crouch, and the fear that Lyles would become re-segregated once the Rosemont children stopped coming there for grades 3 to 5. Instead, the opposite happened. Lyles flourished from the get-go, because its focus program was a "traditional" education. The Old Town families immediately supported the school, and others from around town clamored to attend as well. It took Maury a while to assimilate the kids from the Berg and for the Rosemont families to support the school in earnest, but eventually both happened and that school is also doing well.
J-H should have been closed or given a traditional focus in 1999, but the community did not speak up at the time. In 1999, Parker-Gray was comprised primarily of older Blacks whose children were grown and gone or with the families in Public Housing. Only after the owner-occupied residences starting turning over was there this new hew and cry about the state of J-H. Frankly it is insulting to listen to the carping from some now in the community that it is the responsibility of others in the city to come in and straighten out "your" school. Those others didn't choose to be urban pioneers, (or get discounts on properties for doing so).
I understand your quandary, few want to run sociology experiments with their own children, but the only way J-H is going to be the school your community wants it to be, is for the community whole-heartedly to support it -- whether it is in a new building or the old one. It is unreasonable and unfair to expect families from other neighborhoods in town to swoop in and fix it for you.
And to those who are using the state of the school as a canard to oppose new development in your end of Parker-Gray, shame on you for dropping the race card relating to the school when your beef is with the office component of the development.
"It is unreasonable and unfair to expect families from other neighborhoods in town to swoop in and fix it for you."
The School Board's central district is alive and still kicking butt. So why do I a black remember attending meetings at the Departmental Progressive Club Melvin's spying for the central district? Why do I remember Parker Gray residents attending school board meetings in t-shirts that read "No More Re-Segregation? Why do I remember Lyles-Crouch parents arguing in favor of getting the redistribution of east-end public housing residents? Why do I remember the Lyles-Crouch principal being transferred to Maury? Didn't your mama tell you it is dangerous to play with fire?
Sorry to be off topic, but did anyone else notice that there is a new (huge!) sign pasted on the old Fish Market on Pendleton which says it's going to be a Grocery and Carryout. Great. Don't they need a permit for that? Just what this neighborhood needs - another cheesy carryout. That alley is finally relatively clean of trash - guess those days are over.
"Why do I remember Lyles-Crouch parents arguing in favor of getting the redistribution of east-end public housing residents?"
I remember too. Didn't those kids get reassigned to Jefferson-Houston?
"And to those who are using the state of the school as a canard to oppose new development in your end of Parker-Gray, shame on you for dropping the race card relating to the school when your beef is with the office component of the development."
No one has to use any such canard; they just need to point to the valuable community asset of open space that isn't available for plunder by the latest developer looking for a blank slate and land freebie from city officials.
Be orignial and instead of painting us in a misleading manner, save your scorn for them (who are the real race hustlers, as anyone with an ounce of honesty and isn't tied to a max dvt agenda at the site would admit), since they care not one whit about the negative impact on our long-standing neighborhood of a project better suited elsewhere in the city where the density is appropriate and not a traffic nightmare in waiting and the loss of this community's most significant piece of open space.
Was just reading an article on cnn.com about the chaos that ensued when 30,000 people came to pick up applications for public housingin a suburb of Atlanta.
The article was interesting, but what was absolutely fascinating were the comments following the article. Essentially, 95 percent of them said the same things repeatedly expressed here, i.e. that providing no strings attached government assistance has created a huge underclass of people incapable or unwilling to support themselves.
Many of the comments are, frankly, offensive, but the level of frustration was really striking.
How reasonably are alexandrianews.org's editorials written? JH failed the federal AYP. Even the State accredited the school with a warning. Tear the
g-d school down!
Seven elementary schools – Charles Barrett, Patrick Henry, Lyles-Crouch, Douglas MacArthur, George Mason, James K. Polk and Samuel W. Tucker – made AYP for the 2009-10 school year. AYP is based on pass rates for seven different NCLB subgroups in reading and math. For a school to make AYP, it must meet 29 benchmarks. None of the secondary schools met AYP. Before they were split into five separate schools, Francis Hammond Middle School and George Washington Middle School made AYP last year. In Virginia, 60% of all schools made AYP, down from 71% in 2009.
All of the 19 schools were accredited by the State. Jefferson-Houston Elementary School was accredited with warning in English and history.
"Seven elementary schools"
Thank god I don't have a dog in the fight because my first question would be: where is Mount Vernon Elementary? District A schools seem mostly failing.
"District A schools seem mostly failing."
Morris and Carter need to get back to the basics. They and the third member have let megadevelopment distract them. Out of curiosity, how do the 09-10 AYP ratings compare with Perry's last year as Superindtendent. I don't want to open a firestorm but do I not remember Mount Vernon then passed.
Below is a quote from an article in today's Gazette:
"The way Superintendent Morton Sherman looks at it, there’s not much more he can throw at Jefferson-Houston School. It’s failed to meet federal standards again and again. Ever since the landmark education reform known as No Child Left Behind was enacted almost a decade ago, the elementary school has received every level of sanction devised by the legislation. That includes everything from bringing in officials from Richmond to monitor a "transformation" plan to allowing parents to abandon the school in favor of other schools with higher test scores.
None of the sanctions have worked.
Now the troubled school has failed again, according to standardized test result released last week by the Virginia Department of Education. This year’s scores reveal something more than the fact that Jefferson-Houston is the persistently lowest achieving elementary school. They also show a stark racial divide in the city: Elementary schools with a higher percentage of white students, such as Lyles-Crouch and George Mason, are more likely to succeed. Yet schools with a higher percentage of black and Latino students, such as Jefferson-Houston and Mount Vernon Community School, are more likely to fail.
"It’s a shameful situation," said former School Board Chairman Ferdinand Day, who worked to integrate the city’s school system in the 1960s and 1970s. "There’s enough blame to go around to everybody, and we have a lot of work to do in this city."
Looks like Plessy v. Furgeson isnt working maybe somebody should tell the mayor.
"It’s been three months since the Alexandria City Council approved a special-use permit for a restaurant on Mount Vernon Avenue that will include a barbecue smoker. But the air hasn’t cleared yet, at least not for one neighbor who filed a suit against the city.
Del Ray Attorney Ed Ablard is challenging the restaurant as a violation of his civil rights. Because the gas-fueled smoker will release particulate matter into the air, his suit charges, his civil rights will be violated. Ablard, a white man who is representing himself in the case, is a member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the Alexandria Society for the Preservation of Black History. He charges that the restaurant will "provide a clubhouse for conservative persons to gather to drink until late hours and thereby form a barrier against the encroachment of persons of color …"
"Plaintiff believes … that he is representative of a class of persons who are persons with colored skin, persons whose ancestry stems from the importation of slaves and free emigration to the United States … " the complaint explains.
And while JH disintegrates, we have people filing civil rights lawsuits against restaurants because they use BBQ smokers that apparently discriminate against black people.
How much is enough? How many poor black children have to fail before the Delray-run City Council does something?
""It’s a shameful situation," said former School Board Chairman Ferdinand Day, who worked to integrate the city’s school system in the 1960s and 1970s. "There’s enough blame to go around to everybody, and we have a lot of work to do in this city.""
Apparently the only solution ACPS and the Council has to build a shiny new building.
AYP is based on total test scores, when the school has such a low population of students, no matter the racial make-up, its harder to accomplish the scores. The school made the grades a year ago, it will make them again. Jefferson-Houston was very close this year, but no one wants to know that. Bring the children back, merge the wealthy with the poor, see how things improve, we must work together to achieve, or we will lose everything.
WHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHAT?
"He charges that the restaurant will "provide a clubhouse for conservative persons to gather to drink until late hours and thereby form a barrier against the encroachment of persons of color …"
"
This sounds like something Lenny Harris would do....seriously, what kind of lawsuit is this?
"Bring the children back, merge the wealthy with the poor, see how things improve, we must work together to achieve, or we will lose everything."
Totally agree, so why arent ACPS and City Council onboard?
I live in PG and would welcome a school that mizes wealthy and poor and increases total student headcount. But that wont happen without redistricting and more redevelopment of not just JH, but the entire area.
"we must work together to achieve, or we will lose everything."
Lose what? The school? Yes, please. Nobody I've spoken to on my block is in favor of keeping J-H. Shut it down and integrate those poor kids into better schools.
"merge the wealthy with the poor" whats in it for the wealthy?
"whats in it for the wealthy?"
the possibility of exposing their children to the real world so they won't ask such narrow minded questions and the chance to learn the difference between "whats" (sic) and what's
"the possibility of exposing their children to the real world" the world of the wealthy is not real?
seriously if one could afford the very best for their children it would not include public school and certainly not one like JH.
In reference to the Payne St. project, did anyone else see this?
http://www.theasherapts.com/
They are claiming that construction is "right on schedule" to start this Fall.
Also, on another site, they claim to have "new" renderings for the project.
http://dcmetrocentric.com/2010/08/02/the-asher-new-renderings/
I loved the comment on the DC Metro Centric website:
"We always wondered how the area around a metro stop so close to downtown could be so under developed, but with the addition of this project and the very stylish Braddock Gateway development around the corner, all that is about to change."
Yeah, we all wondered that too, join the club....
"and the very stylish Braddock Gateway development around the corner"
HUH, WHAT?
What development is that? I thought they went bankrupt
Anybody know what was discussed at the School Board's August 28 retreat? Does ACPS not also have a work session scheduled for September 7 with Planning Commission?
"Anybody know what was discussed at the School Board's August 28 retreat? Does ACPS not also have a work session scheduled for September 7 with Planning Commission?"
I'm sure they talked about how best to deal with the pesky obstacle known as the local citizenry. They know that if they just can get their foot in the door, they can promise one thing to start off with (like the developers who promised self-funding of the Potomac Yards Metro stop in order to get things started there). Afterwards, they can change their tune and start dictating terms while putting up what they originally envisioned, without our being able to stop it.
No matter how much they'll talk about outreach, community input and such, they've already shown their true colors on this by going the closed-door route for so long, only now giving lip service to listening to us once we've raised a major stink. We need to bear in mind how best to preserve the open space for the community and prevent it from being a traffic choked lost opportunity.
Our only hope of truly shaping the destiny of the J-H land is to stand firm and insist that the backdoor fast-track process cease and begin considering specific alternatives that make sense. (Pointing them towards the western part of Eisenhower Avenue is a start.) As it is, city officials are being led by the nose by developers who see a malleable piece of land that they can shape with minimal effort, even though there are much better locations throughout the city to house city education employees as has been made clear in the comments section since this issue started picking up steam. We don’t need another project that caters not to the neighborhood or even the ultimate benefit of the city as a whole but to a developer who’ll take the money and run, leaving us with the consequences of a diminished community asset.
From a City Press Release:
Alexandria School Board To Hold Community Information Sessions On Proposed New Jefferson-Houston School
-----------------------------------
The Alexandria community is invited to meet with leaders of the Alexandria City Public Schools on Sept. 13 to discuss the need for a new school at the site of the present Jefferson-Houston School. The meeting will begin at 7 p.m. in the all-purpose room at Jefferson-Houston, 1501 Cameron St. School Board Chair Yvonne Folkerts, Alexandria City School Board members and Superintendent Morton Sherman will discuss the need for a new school and the division's concerns about the current state of the existing facility. They plan to solicit community input and to answer questions. This will be the first of a series of community dialogue meetings.
"As a school division, we have evaluated the Jefferson-Houston facility and determined that it is educationally and fiscally responsible for us to build a new school on this site and for this community," stated School Board Chair Yvonne Folkerts. "We are eager to brief the community and solicit community input on how this new school can best serve our children and the neighborhood."
Additional community meetings about Jefferson-Houston will be scheduled during the fall. For more information on the Sept. 13 meeting and to follow the community engagement and planning process over the next several months, please visit www.acps.k12.va.us.
"We are committed to continuing the conversation with the community about the need for a new Jefferson Houston School," Dr. Sherman said. "We have met with several civic associations, city commissions, the Jefferson-Houston PTA and with Jefferson-Houston neighbors. We look forward to the next dialogue in September."
For more information, please contact Sandy Hudnall at 703-824-6661
""As a school division, we have evaluated the Jefferson-Houston facility and determined that it is educationally and fiscally responsible for us to build a new school on this site and for this community," stated School Board Chair Yvonne Folkerts"
Its also ethically and morally responsible to redistrict the school lines so that poor kids have a chance.
""As a school division, we have evaluated the Jefferson-Houston facility and determined that it is educationally and fiscally responsible for us to build a new school on this site and for this community," stated School Board Chair Yvonne Folkerts"
Dear Ms. Folkerts -
First, based on what facts did you decide this?
Second, did you decide it was "fiscally responsible" to build a new school. Or that it was fiscally responsible to build a high rise school, AND shiny administrative offices, AND thousands of additional square feet of private development?
And, third, what community are you purportedly building this for? The community of APS school administrators? As you may have gathered, the community where you propose to actually build this project doesn't want any part of it.
A new article on Alexandria News.org about JH today:
http://tinyurl.com/2wvbrrk
"Its also ethically and morally responsible to redistrict the school lines so that poor kids have a chance."
But not politically feasible. People in other parts of Alexandria worked long and hard to ensure that their children go to schools without an overwhelming number of "economically disadvantaged students". If you really want to fix this problem and other problems you should push to repeal Prop 830. It will be an equally difficult task, but you will get less of a back lash from people who live outside of P-G and you will address more of the issues of living in this area.
This article just makes Morris look more ridiculous. Meet with developers and architects first?
HUH
How about meeting with the community to discuss redistricting so that disadvantaged children aren't locked into one specific school?
Why ACPS refuses to engage on this is beyond me. You would get a ton of goodwill by focusing on that problem first versus going the "build it and they will come" approach.
Thats just going to piss residents off and make them want to oppose this regardless of feasibility, up to and including legal action to halt it or slow it down.
Looks like the neighborhood is lining up residents on one side, developers and school board dumplings on the other. Residents want a cost analyses spanning several years - building estimates revisited - the dumplings want a new school the heck with costs, opportunity costs. For them a new building is the segregationists' panacea. Remind anybody of the Braddock Road charrettes. Top down get ready to slide. We citizens better get our duckies in a row because school board members obviously don't give a dink (except for their agenda). This lot is happy to preside over a mostly failed District A. Only good news is we are being spared Graves' superwoman stories. Babydoll's school didn't make AYP and the State issued a warning. Yep, a new megadevelopment is Jim Crow's answer.
Spare. Me. Please.
The school board and city council are going to just pretend to listen to the neighborhood. Then they'll do what they want anyway.
Soon, the Gazette will publish a picture of the City Council members and Morton wearing ridiculous hard hats and lining up with their ceremonial groundbreaking shovels.
The angry neighbors will show up in in the next election to vote against them, but most will get reelected because of all the lemmings in the rest of the City.
Then, a few years from now, the Gazette will publish a picture of the same council members holding large scissors for the ceremonial dedication of the sky scraping, green roofed megadevelopment.
Then they'll announce a contest to choose which underpriviliged or oppressed person they'll name the school after.
I'm never going to get back all the hours and hours I wasted at the Braddock Road and Braddock East meetings under the mistaken belief that the input of the neighborhood was meaningful. I truly regret ever getting involved.
Accept it - dense development is coming. And concentrated public housing and crappy schools are here to stay.
"Remind anybody of the Braddock Road charrettes. Top down get ready to slide."
Definitely! Upzone the school yard like they upzoned Bland. Bail out the ding dong staff who manipulate malfunctioning citizen boards.
Dumplings? I like it. Goes with chicken school board. Anybody else read that story and feel the finger? The School Board goes public with its story, Sherman schedules a work session with Planning Commission for September 7then condescends to meet the community. Backwards if you ask my husband.
229. This is the main item that struck me when reading the article - 229 students.
Why is it responsible, by any coherent definition of responsibility, to build a new school for such a small number of students in a building that is designed for at least twice as many students and which has seen enrollment consistently drop?
What seems responsible to me would be to expand the other schools that are bursting at the seams, and to let the ongoing improvements in curriculum at J-H run their course.
J-H would be better served by a focus on curriculum and academic performance. A new building does nothing to address those key areas.
"Accept it - dense development is coming. And concentrated public housing and crappy schools are here to stay."
Somebody needs to sue the city. There's more than enough failure and better we sue them than they exploit us.
Did anybody see the story on WAMU?
http://wamu.org/news/10/08/30.php
A couple of years ago it was $6 m for a school and now its 30. Is every kid getting their own homeroom?
"Somebody needs to sue the city. There's more than enough failure and better we sue them than they exploit us."
I think its reaching that point, where I have heard people mention they might sue ACPS or the School Board or the City Council if they try to push this through.
I remember the suit that ARC pushed against ARHA regarding Chatham Square, for the purposes of stalling that project out. That lasted 10-15 years, and I could see the same thing here.
We dont need a new building, we need some courage from our School Board members to recognize that socioeconomic factors are playing a huge part in JH's academic failings.
Also, I think its unfair to attack or mention Principal Graves here. She is doing a "superhuman" job considering the factors working against her at JH.
She is asked to work with what she has and she cant have any say in the demographic mix of the students she has to teach. The fact that she has accomplished as much as she has while being s%&$% on by City Council and ACPS is a testament to me of how effective she is.
"Based on that experience (as well as the Braddock Road experience where they refused to discuss public housing AT ALL) "
And I am SUREEEEEEEEEE that the first thing that will come up at the "public working session" is that no one is allowed to discuss Jefferson Village or the facts regarding how many poor children actually go to JH.
Its like Connie Ring banning the word "deconcentration" from the public discourse. I wonder what words they will ban this time.
Hey Mort, when you say:
"This gives us the school at no cost to the taxpayers. So if you don't like that model, then we need $30 million to build a school," says Sherman. "
You don't need anything. You don't need a new school. You need to give these kids a better chance in life by allowing them to go to one of the other schools in the City, and tell the NIMBYists who fight redistricting to stop with their covert racial undertones of why they wont allow that to happen.
Building a massive building is not going to save those kids test scores or ability to achieve.
Out-of-Towner, Out-of-neighborhood Sherman: "This gives us the school at no cost to the taxpayers."
Yes, the only cost is the huge one to this neighborhood as you steal a community asset that's critical to this community, the only sembalnce of open space we'll ever have. And in return, we get an unaccepatable level of high density and a traffic quagmire to go with it in perpetuity.
Sorry, but we're not making that tradeoff, and we're not accepting this predictable "either-or" pressure tactic where you act magnanimous and completely ignore yoour theft or our vital community asset. Seek your sweetheart deal with your developers somewhere else. You'll be moving on to some other port of call that you have the same lack of ties to eventually, so you'll pardon us if we don't let you ruin our neighborhood in the short time you're in the city.
[spellchecked!]
Out-of-Towner, Out-of-neighborhood Sherman: "This gives us the school at no cost to the taxpayers."
Yes, the only cost is the huge one to this neighborhood as you steal a community asset that's critical to this community, the only semblance of open space we'll ever have. And in return, we get an unacceptable level of high density and a traffic quagmire to go with it in perpetuity.
Sorry, but we're not making that tradeoff, and we're not accepting this predictable "either-or" pressure tactic where you act magnanimous and completely ignore your theft of our vital community asset. Seek your sweetheart deal with your developers somewhere else. You'll be moving on to some other port of call that you have the same lack of ties to eventually, so you'll pardon us if we don't let you ruin our neighborhood in the short time you're in the city.
"Its like Connie Ring banning the word "deconcentration" from the public discourse. I wonder what words they will ban this time."
Time to out Ring and Miller, both past school board chairmen both members of the ARHA Board, both now part of Sherman's brain trust.
Ring would rather lay in the street than let black children return to George Mason, Eberwein is was a protege. Miller at this stage of life is more white than black having lobbied aggressively for the 1999 redistricting plan. Public housing children are not his priority. MacArthur children are. Public education is the poor child's exit ticket. What are these people thinking? That everyone is cut from the Republican cloth? We need an intelligent, bipartisan approach to problem solving starting with redistricting.
"And in return, we get an unacceptable level of high density and a traffic quagmire to go with it in perpetuity. "
And don't forget that we will still have the same school that consistently fails to meet even basic levels of academic standards, despite the yeomans effort of Principal Graves.
Folkerts, Morris, and Sherman seem unable or unwilling to confront that issue. Apparently new buildings = better academic achievement
"Miller at this stage of life is more white than black having lobbied aggressively for the 1999 redistricting plan."
My understanding is Melvin Miller strongly opposed the redistricting in 1999, so its patently unfair to make accusations against him in this regard.
In all this talk about JH I am surprised that facts like this dont come up so that an honest and open debate can occur.
Nathan Glazer: “By the early 2000s, more than a third of all young black non-college men were incarcerated. More than 60 percent of black high school dropouts born since the mid-1960s go to prison.”
William Julius Wilson: “In 2003-2004, for every 100 bachelor’s degrees conferred on black men, 200 were conferred on black women.”
Educational Testing Service: Only 35 percent of black children live with two parents, which may partly explain why 59 percent of black eighth-graders watch four or more hours of television on an average day while only 24 percent of their white peers do… By age 4, the average child in a professional family hears about 20 million more words than the average child in a working-class family and about 35 million more than the average child in a welfare family — a child often alone with a mother who is a high school dropout…
Paul E. Barton, author of America’s Smallest School: The Family: Has estimated that about 90 percent of the difference in schools’ proficiencies can be explained by five factors: the number of days students are absent from school, the number of hours students spend watching television, the number of pages read for homework, the quantity and quality of reading material in the students’ homes – and, the most important, the presence of two parents in the home.
While a new school might be nice, I am stunned that a larger debate about the causes of academic stagnation at JH are not discussed.
"My understanding is Melvin Miller strongly opposed the redistricting in 1999, so its patently unfair to make accusations against him in this regard."
No, it is widely understood by those then in the know that he was a paid consultant who Berg employed to sell the 1999 to blacks.
Little has been said about the track record of the city and the school board on mega projects of this kind. It seems there is some collective amnesia among the board about the cost overruns, asbestos, traffic snarls, and more cost overruns and late delivery associated with TC Williams.
$30 million for what? Seems that every new school project in most any community has to be bigger, better, more expensive and more blinged out than the last or its not a project worth hanging your hat on (Sherman). Closing Jefferson Houston and moving the school to an area where there are no families in place to object, no open space to be lost (Potomac Yards) OR NOT BUILDING IT AT ALL and moving kids in better schools in the district are still better solutions than what the board is proposing.
We are in a protracted recession, public private partnership or not this is a fiscally irresponsible move.
Is it continued racism that JH needs a public private partnership and isn't just in line for capital project budgeting? Wouldn't it be more economically feasible to expand campuses of existing schools where kids are doing well? Wouldn't it be a better use of funds--especially in light of the improvements in modular school buildings we read about in the Gazette just this summer?
And finally, I ask, how much money are they paying the consultant doing their polling and public opinion research. The press release is extremely well crafted and attempts to convince the public that this is a done deal.
If there was ever a time for the community to sue the city and the school board for redress this is it.
229 is the issue! There isn't a huge influx of children expected in this neighborhood in the next 10-20 years? Why on earth would $30 million be needed to teach under 300 children!
Its VERY apparent to anyone who is awake that this is absolutely not about the children, their educational attainment or future life success-- its about ego, chits, gamesmanship, racism, redistricting, NIMBYism and adults trying to make their lives easier on the backs of children, the Upper King St & Parker Gray communities and residents.
SHAMEFUL!
"so its patently unfair to make accusations against him in this regard.
No, it is widely understood by those then in the know that he was a paid consultant who Berg employed to sell the 1999 to blacks."
You're either a newcomer or blindly loyal because everybody knows Miller helped Berg get the 1999 redistricting plan passed. Concentrated public housing functions like a voting block and Mel was always politically active even in law school. He claims independence but his bennies have mostly come from local Republicans. He left your neighborhood after the civil rights legislation passed.
"its about ego, chits, gamesmanship, racism, redistricting, NIMBYism and adults trying to make their lives easier on the backs of children, the Upper King St & Parker Gray communities and residents."
Just heard Sherman lives in Ford's Landing. If true he's in part self interested, preferring an easy commute here to the city's BRAC disaster.
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