Trying to stick it to the man!

[Zario]

Hey all, I haven't been around for a bit because I found out the elementary school right across the street from me wants to knock down all of their tennis courts and put in a big ass parking lot.  Aside from the school losing some of the last remaining playground space that's not occupied by a muddy field or giant dummy-proof playground equipment, the parking lot entrance with be DIRECTLY ACROSS from my driveway on a narrow 1 way street.

Best part is that they're sneaking this into a much larger school renovation plan, so no one has really noticed it.  I'm trying to mobilize as many people in my town as possible plus set up a facebook page/event to go to the town architectural review meeting and the school board meeting to fight this.

Any thoughts on how I can fight them?  Good sources for safety statistics?  Environmental concerns?  Resources to blackmail the school board? (j/k on that last one).  We're in a walking community (no buses, so lots of foot traffic around the school).

[Kothnok]

> We're in a walking community (no buses, so lots of foot traffic around the school).

Two questions immediately arose from this one statement.
1. If most walk, why is there a need for more parking?
2. Increasing the traffic on a street not designed for such traffic will significantly increase the risk to the crowd of pedestrians that already surround the place.

Talk to a local traffic engineer about safety information.  Your city should have a department for it, or at least someone that knows who they consult with when adding traffic lights, improving intersections and the like. 

[dharq]

Koth, my assumption for your first question is--there's a need for more parking because the school district has enough budget left over for it, and if they don't overspend their budget, they get reduced funding in the next budget year. If they're anything like our school district here, they aren't going to be as worried about actual usage of the lot or community impact as much as "we need to spend this money now, so that we don't have our budget reduced next year."

Zario, you're doing about the only thing you can to fight them--raise community awareness, get the people who will be directly affected involved, and hope that you can put enough stress on the board that they reconsider. Sadly though, for the people who aren't directly affected by the change, you'll have to appeal to their wallets. Try to get statistics about how much it will cost, try to find areas in the school budget where they already have shortfalls, try to make the case that "this reckless, discretionary spending on the parking lot" will lead to more shortfalls and possible calls for increased taxes and such.

Schools around our state are already short on funding, so making that case here might be easier than where you're at. Another tactic might be to find out if teachers are taking pay freezes/cuts due to funding issues, and try to get the teachers union on board to fight the parking lot based on the fact that the cost of the lot could be used to fund teacher salaries--this might be a harder sell if people in the community think teachers are overpaid, though.

When push comes to shove though, and with the economy in the state it's in, the individual's wallet is going to be the biggest ally, however. Get people to think about how it impacts them financially even if it doesn't impact their street/home/neighborhood, and you might have a shot at winning those who live outside the neighborhood.

[Kothnok]

Koth, my assumption for your first question is--there's a need for more parking because the school district has enough budget left over for it, and if they don't overspend their budget, they get reduced funding in the next budget year. If they're anything like our school district here, they aren't going to be as worried about actual usage of the lot or community impact as much as "we need to spend this money now, so that we don't have our budget reduced next year."

Such thinking is so pervasive anymore, why do we believe any budget is protected just because we spent the money?  Probably because not spending it is more or less a guarantee you will have your budget reduced whereas spending the money means you have a fighting chance of keeping it.  Such a waste.

[Tony]

Koth, my assumption for your first question is--there's a need for more parking because the school district has enough budget left over for it, and if they don't overspend their budget, they get reduced funding in the next budget year. If they're anything like our school district here, they aren't going to be as worried about actual usage of the lot or community impact as much as "we need to spend this money now, so that we don't have our budget reduced next year."

Such thinking is so pervasive anymore, why do we believe any budget is protected just because we spent the money?  Probably because not spending it is more or less a guarantee you will have your budget reduced whereas spending the money means you have a fighting chance of keeping it.  Such a waste.

Welcome to Public Education

[dharq]

Yeah, unfortunately, that's the nature of the beast. There is no reason to be profitable because the funds come in more readily if they just overspend and take out loans or increase taxes.

It's also the major reason college tuitions keep going up...

[Tony]

This year, in our district, they are cutting the specials (art, band, music, drama) down to part time positions to save money. Our district also just passed a bond extension of 11.5 MILLION dollars for renovation and technology.

I work in the tech department, and I would rather service the equipment we have and have specials, than replace every electronic device in our district.

Being a musician, I have a biased opinion on it, but that's just the way it is.

[Docsamson]

Koth, my assumption for your first question is--there's a need for more parking because the school district has enough budget left over for it, and if they don't overspend their budget, they get reduced funding in the next budget year. If they're anything like our school district here, they aren't going to be as worried about actual usage of the lot or community impact as much as "we need to spend this money now, so that we don't have our budget reduced next year."

Such thinking is so pervasive anymore, why do we believe any budget is protected just because we spent the money?  Probably because not spending it is more or less a guarantee you will have your budget reduced whereas spending the money means you have a fighting chance of keeping it.  Such a waste.

My assumption is that the street the parking lot is slated to be entered in was not used as a main traffic thoroughfare.  if so, the street itself is going to need to be improved beyond the parking lot.  Check the plans to see if it includes this.  If not, then start raising community concerns about the increased wear on the road.  Your average one-way street isn't designed to support more than 50-60 cars/hour, let alone buses, trucks, and all the heavy equipment that tends to move through a school parking lot.  This should be enough to get most of your community angry, as most towns and cities have already cut their road maintenance budget, so any increases wear and tear on your roads will likely be left alone, causing excessive damage to your personal vehicles.

If you can't get them to just not build the parking lot, see about redirecting the funds to restructuring and renovating the playground.  This one alone will get parents rallying around you, especially if the playground is in any sort of disrepair.  Throw out the idea that their kids are losing their spaces to play in, which will in turn increase health risks, all so the administration can have a slightly easier time parking.

[Zario]

Hey all.  Thanks for the support.  I forgot to mention that the parking lot is only for teachers (since the majority live outside of the district) about the size of 4 tennis courts and two basketball half courts.  Families still park on the street.

The reason they're spending all this $$$ is because we had two village referendums in the grand total of about $23 Million.  1 was to update the security, safety and regulatory requirements of an aging school.  The second was to add science labs, music rooms, expanded multi-purpose cafeterias with stages, plus additional prep rooms just for staff.  Money isn't in short supply, but land is. 

The parking lot situation is an unannounced, undisclosed result of the new cafeteria being built on top of the kindergarten playground and the teachers parking lot.  They decided to relocate the parking lot on top of the tennis courts, instead of actually renovating the courts too.  I'll mention that this school is 80 years old, and only in the last 10 years has there ever been a teachers parking lot.  They were only 2 weeks away from this whole thing being passed without the public's knowledge. 

So for know, I'm trying to raise hell.

[Zario]

Small victory today.  We were able to hold up the decision from the architectural review committee, convincing them the site plan wasn't sufficient to allow evaluation.  I think they were sympathetic to the cause and threw us a bone.  This means that the School Board doesn't have clearance from the ARC, and they theoretically can't move forward without said approval.  HA!