SCHOOL-SITE FIGHT IN ITS LAST INNING.Byline: NAUSH BOGHOSSIAN Staff Writer Community groups led by City Councilman Greig Smith Greig Smith is a Los Angeles City Councilman, representing the 12th District, which includes Granada Hills, Northridge and other parts of the Western San Fernando Valley. Smith is also a reserve officer for the Los Angeles Police Department. made an 11th-hour effort to derail de·rail intr. & tr.v. de·railed, de·rail·ing, de·rails 1. To run or cause to run off the rails. 2. what education officials call a much-needed high school in Granada Hills and instead to reopen a hospital on the site. 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. board is scheduled to vote today on plans for a 1,215-seat high school on the 11-acre parcel where the former Granada Hills Community Hospital stands. The district bought the site in 2004. About 80 community leaders and residents held a news conference Monday to oppose the project, claiming they don't need a school but are in dire need of a hospital. ``I begged the school district not to do this, and they went ahead and did it,'' Smith said. ``They don't even need a school. The numbers aren't there. We are of the opinion that this school is totally unnecessary. But district officials say projected enrollment figures show they need another high school in Granada Hills to meet the goal of their building program: returning all schools to a traditional two-semester calendar. Community residents have fought to retain the building for a hospital since the district bought the property at Balboa Boulevard and San Jose San Jose, city, United States San Jose (sănəzā`, săn hōzā`), city (1990 pop. 782,248), seat of Santa Clara co., W central Calif.; founded 1777, inc. 1850. Street. At one stage, residents submitted a petition more than 1,300 of them had signed. No hospital operator A main problem for residents is that no hospital group or health care provider has expressed interest in locating there. Still, opponents of the high school said they desperately need a hospital in their community. ``I'm asking for the school district to stop, wait, let us look at this, and let's determine whether we really do need (a high school) at all -- and whether the best use is a hospital,'' Smith said. The $89 million high school, projected to be completed in 2011, would relieve overcrowding overcrowding overcrowding of animal accommodation. Many countries now publish codes of practice which define what the appropriate volumetric allowances should be for each species of animal when they are housed indoors. Breaches of these codes is overcrowding. at Monroe, Polytechnic and San Fernando high schools, said the LAUSD's chief facilities executive, Guy Mehula. Each of those schools now has more than 4,000 students. ``I don't know Don't know (DK, DKed) "Don't know the trade." A Street expression used whenever one party lacks knowledge of a trade or receives conflicting instructions from the other party. what numbers they're looking at,'' Mehula said. Without a new school, the area would be about 4,900 seats short of meeting its goal, he said about enrollment projections. And school board member Jon Lauritzen, who represents the community, said if any legitimate hospital operators had been in the bidding in 2004, the district would have backed off on pursuing the site. Since then, if any had come forward, district officials would have negotiated with them, Lauritzen said. The school board purchased the property through bankruptcy court bankruptcy court n. the specialized Federal court in which bankruptcy matters under the Federal Bankruptcy Act are conducted. There are several bankruptcy courts in each state, and each one's territory covers several counties. for $22.5 million after a seven-hour bidding war against a financial company, district officials said. The operator of the 155-bed hospital filed for bankruptcy in 2002, with more than $18 million in outstanding debt. Residents had balked balk v. balked, balk·ing, balks v.intr. 1. To stop short and refuse to go on: The horse balked at the jump. 2. at a previous plan -- removing people from their homes through eminent domain eminent domain, the right of a government to force the owner of private property sell it if it is needed for a public use. The right is based on the doctrine that a sovereign state has dominion over all lands and buildings within its borders, which has its origins in , Lauritzen said. ``I almost got crucified on that. When we found a hospital available, it was a welcome thing to us, and to have the community say it wasn't a viable site was kind of a surprise to us,'' he said. Lauritzen said he would like to pursue setting up a community clinic at the school -- much like the successful model at Sun Valley Middle School Sun Valley Middle School is located in Sun Valley, a section of Los Angeles, California, and is part of Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD). In April 1948, school officials announced that "the most charming of all the new junior high schools" in the Los Angeles system would -- if a joint-use partner can be found. `Wise expenditure' School board member David Tokofsky said the purchase of the hospital property has proved to be very prudent. ``The purchase of this large piece of land was a wise expenditure of public funds See Fund, 3. See also: Public to resolve the overcrowding in the northeast San Fernando Valley San Fernando Valley Valley, southern California, U.S. Northwest of central Los Angeles, the valley is bounded by the San Gabriel, Santa Susana, and Santa Monica mountains and the Simi Hills. ,'' Tokofsky said. ``It's far better to take a closed hospital than take people's homes.'' But community groups, including the Granada Hills South Neighborhood Council, Old Granada Hills Residents' Group and Granada Hills Chamber of Commerce, continue to disagree. The nearest hospital for many of the residents is now about five miles; it was just over one mile when the hospital was operating. ``Every community organization in Granada Hills has come out against this high school,'' said Dave Beauvais, president of the Old Granada Hills Residents' Group and a member of the Granada Hills Neighborhood Council. ``The real problem is they (LAUSD LAUSD Los Angeles Unified School District (Los Angeles, CA) officials) simply have not demonstrated to us they need a high school on the site. If they can sit down and prove they need a high school and they could fill that high school up, we'd acquiesce and say all right.'' If district officials decide not to move forward with a high school, Smith said he will conduct a nationwide search to find a hospital group to take over the property. But if school plans progress, Smith said, residents will consider options including filing a lawsuit challenging the sufficiency of the project's environmental impact report or the use of bond money. ``There are other parts of the city that need a high school,'' Smith said. ``This was the easiest property for them to get. ... There's no imminent need to build a high school in that community.'' naush.boghossian@dailynews.com (818) 713-3722 CAPTION(S): photo, map Photo: The former Granada Hills Community Hospital remains boarded up Monday. Some groups are fighting the Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. Unified School District's plan for a high school there. Michael Owen Baker/Staff Photographer Map: Granada Hills Community Hospital Daily News |
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