DODGER SITE HIGH SCHOOL PLAN KILLED.

Byline: Mariel Garza Staff Writer

After meeting stiff resistance from the community and the Los Angeles Dodgers, officials of the Los Angeles Unified School District have abandoned plans to build a high school on the stadium parking lot, officials said Tuesday.

Instead, the district will house students at other sites, including two new high schools planned at sites of the district's current headquarters at 450 N. Grand Ave. and offices in the Third Street Annex.

News of the district's plans prompted cheers by the Los Angeles Dodgers and residents of the Solano Canyon and Echo Park areas, who had opposed the parking-lot proposal when they first learned about it in the spring.

``For the fans we're pleased,'' Dodgers spokesman Derrick Hall said. ``We'd had concerns, for obvious reasons, and we were working closely with the district to find alternatives because we do realize there is shortage of classrooms.''

Community activists were also pleased with the decision to pursue other high school sites in the downtown area.

``We're relieved,'' said Alicia Brown, a longtime Solano Canyon resident and neighborhood activist. ``We got the letter that should make us feel better.''

In the letter distributed to residents, LAUSD community outreach director Lorena Padilla-Melendez explained that alternative sites had been found to relieve overcrowding in the Belmont High attendance area.

``There were several potential sites identified in the Belmont community, including the Dodgers parking lots 40/41 and 23/25,'' the letter states. ``After a careful review process, which includes the communities' comments and concerns, LAUSD has decided not to move forward at this time with these proposed sites.''

Building a 2,000-student high school on part of the stadium's outer ring of parking had been proposed.

The site would have gone a long way toward replacing more than 4,000 student seats lost when the school board voted last year to abandon the Belmont Learning Center, a $175 million high school built atop a dangerous oil field.

The Padilla-Melendez letter also gave information on a community meeting held Tuesday at the Barlow Respiratory Hospital on Stadium Way, where district officials described alternative sites that include the Ambassador Hotel, the district's own headquarters and Third Street Annex building.

District officials said there will be room to accommodate students in the Belmont attendance area when district headquarters are moved to an office high-rise on South Beaudry, a 2,200-seat year-round high school is built by 2005 at 450 N. Grand Ave. and other downtown building plans are accomplished.

City Councilman Ed Reyes, whose district encompasses the stadium, said the LAUSD's change of direction is a good thing.

``It just didn't make sense,'' he said, citing safety and traffic problems.