Question on Park Sale to CJUSD

In Brief = Staff Reports
San Bernardino County
Sun Article Launched:12/27/2006 12:00:00 AM PST

GRAND TERRACE Council approves joint-use agreement The City Council has approved an agreement with Colton Joint Unified School District for the joint use of Pico Park. As part of the development of a new high school in Grand Terrace, the council previously agreed to sell 23 acres of property owned by the Community Redevelopment Agency to the district.

The sale included 4.8 acres of the west half of Pico Park. (Was this actually part of the Public Meeting of the GT CITY COUNCIL/ PUBLIC MEETING?)

The district plans to rebuild the two baseball fields at the park for high-school athletics. The agreement gives the city priority to use all playing fields on the high-school property during nonschool hours.

(What is considered Non School Hours? Will it be OPEN ACCESS for PUBLIC USE after 2:45 including Restrooms, Parking, and all facilities?) Will the PUBLIC area be OPEN to the PUBLIC? The Playground Equipment/Snack Bar? We do have home-schooled children who use these facilities during the week. We do have non students who walk the parks and tracks daily. Was this all known at the time the City was holding "Negotiations" behind closed doors? NO I don't think so..... so the public was not able to provide informed comments at public hearings. I am not against the building of a High School. I am not against shared resources. I support a Shared Library Facility for example. I support joint use of facilities. However, look at how open the facilities are at Colton High School, and project the Public nature of the Facilities of Pico Park. Colton High School looks like a Jail Compound. Even the Football field looks like a Jail Yard, bars and all.

The compound being built is going to house to many students to be managed to best serve the students and or the community. We are building a "Factory School" not a school of the future. We are duplicating what doesn't work rather than building something that will work, and be forward looking rather than a repeat of the failed designs and compounds of the past.

City officials said the deal ensures that Grand Terrace Little League will have adequate playing fields during the baseball and softball season. The council approved the agreement at its Dec. 14 meeting, while the Colton school board did the same on Dec. 7.