Get Schooled

By Larry

September 22, 2008 9:42 AM | Link to this

Nimbys have always and will always be around.

A decade or so ago, GCPS wanted to purchase property for a bus depot, but some worried about the danger of underground fuel tanks. The BOE abandoned the idea, the land was sold to another party and now it’s a convenience store with underground fuel tanks. Clever.

Considering all the yelping about how kids today are evil compared to their parents’ perfect youth (although some of us are old enough to remember it quite differently), you’d think there wouldn’t be any opposition to creating a constructive way for kids to use their time. The God of Mortgage Foreclosures may take a dim view of this legal action.

By catlady

September 22, 2008 4:31 PM | Link to this

If the school had the plans out there before the subdivision was built,(unlikely) more power to them. Otherwise, the needs/desires of the neighborhood trump. No one buys a house to live next door to a high school stadium, no matter how “toney” the students.

My parents fought this very issue 40 years ago. The school was built on the edge (then) of town, but announced that they would share the old stadium with the other high school, since there was not room for money for a stadium. A vast middleclass neighborhood sprung up. Then, 15 years later, there was a move to build a second stadium so that the two schools would not have to coordinate their schedules. It was not successful.

There is no need for every tom, dick, and harry high school to have one of those behemoths. It is not a good use of taxpayer money or natural resources. And no need for quiet neighborhoods to put up with the traffic, noise, lights, and crime that it brings.

By TheBlogger

September 22, 2008 8:10 PM | Link to this

Whatever happened to a community wanting and supporting the local school(s)? When did “fighting” the school become popular?

As long as people have children, schools are necessary. Parents don’t want their child to ride for hours to get to their school, so it must be local. Also, no one (including the school system) can afford the gas to haul the students across the city.

With respect to the stadiums, etc., it was my understanding that the cost of those was primarily paid for by the athletic booster club - namely the parents of the players and the community members at large.

By tom

September 22, 2008 9:11 PM | Link to this

TheBlogger

These private schools aren’t exactly their local community schools, are they? I think people might be more willing to support schools in their communities that their children attend.

By Quiet Home Girl

September 23, 2008 7:03 AM | Link to this

Where do we go when we have had all we can take of the world? Home! If we can’t relax and find peace and quiet there, where can we go?

Schools without stadiums near established neighborhoods should contract with another facility for their games. Those stadiums are not used most of the time.

By Lee

September 23, 2008 8:22 AM | Link to this

“The question is whose rights are more important?”

Wow. More important?

I thought we were all EQUAL in the eyes of the law.

By HS Teacher, Too

September 23, 2008 10:07 AM | Link to this

What is interesting with the ND Academy is that apparently, the school purchased the land under one zoning classification and Suwanee later tried to change the zoning to prohibit the school from building there. (I am not certain — someone correct me if I have the details wrong, please.) If this is the case, this is potentially a First Amendment establishment clause issue, right?

I don’t mind NIMBYs when they are in the right with zoning; it’s when they change the rules on the fly to be able to pick and choose that I take issue with it.