ROBINSONS STILL ON LIST LAUSD CONSIDERING STORE SITE FOR NEW SCHOOL.Byline: David R. Baker Staff Writer Despite past assurances from school district officials, the Robinsons-May headquarters in North Hollywood remains under consideration for a school site, even as the company hopes to redevelop it as a shopping center shopping center, a concentration of retail, service, and entertainment enterprises designed to serve the surrounding region. The modern shopping center differs from its antecedents—bazaars and marketplaces—in that the shops are usually amalgamated into . Several leaders of the Los Angeles Unified School District The Los Angeles Unified School District (the "LAUSD") is the largest (in terms of number of students) public school system in California and the second-largest in the United States. Only the New York City Department of Education has a larger student population. said the store and offices, just east of the Hollywood Freeway on Laurel Canyon Boulevard Laurel Canyon Boulevard is a major street in the city of Los Angeles, California. It starts off at Polk Street in Sylmar in the northern San Fernando Valley near the junction of the San Diego (Interstate 405) and the Golden State Freeways (Interstate 5). , remain a leading candidate for the campus of a future school. Their statements at a school board committee meeting Thursday stunned and alarmed company officials, who said they had been told the district was no longer interested. ``To tell you I was shocked and disappointed would be an understatement,'' said company Chairman Robert M. Soroka. ``It's a real roller coaster ride. One week you think it's going in one direction, and then it turns around and comes right back at you.'' District officials said that despite a Nov. 19 letter from interim Superintendent Ramon Cortines saying the site was temporarily off the list of prospective school sites, they never fully abandoned interest in the property. Soroka and a neighborhood resident said school board member Caprice ca·price n. 1. a. An impulsive change of mind. b. An inclination to change one's mind impulsively. c. Young told those attending a community meeting the site was too expensive to make sense for the district. Young said Friday, however, that she meant the expense merely weighed against the district's interest and didn't eliminate it. ``I said that was a down side with that site - I didn't say it was off the table,'' she said. The company has its own plans for the location. Robinsons-May has formed a joint venture with Westfield America Inc., to redevelop the plaza as a shopping center. Westfield owns interests in 38 major shopping centers from California to New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of . Westfield representatives have already met with members of the neighborhood association A neighborhood association is a group of residents, sometimes organized as 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, who take on problems or organize activities within a neighborhood. An association may have elected leaders and voluntary or mandatory dues. fighting the district's plans for the site. Group member R. Michael Johnson Michael Johnson or Mike Johnson may refer to:
``This is only my own opinion, but I suspect the neighborhood would be as excited to have a mall as they would to have a high school,'' Johnson said. ``It's a tough choice for us.'' Johnson said he believed Westfield would retool re·tool v. re·tooled, re·tool·ing, re·tools v.tr. 1. To fit out (a factory, for example) with a new set of machinery and tools for making a different product. 2. its plans to respond to neighbors' criticism. A Westfield spokesman could not be reached for comment Friday. CAPTION(S): Map Map: Robinsons-May North Hollywood |
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