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GUHSD board approves
Lazy A as high school site
By Lori Bledsoe
The Alpine Sun
EL CAJON — After almost 15 years of
soliciting for a high school facility for the Alpine community
from the Grossmont Union High School District, the board of
trustees unanimously voted to move forward with the plans to
build a campus on the Lazy A Ranch site. Alpine citizens filled
the seats with the addition of representatives from both the
Viejas and Sycuan bands of the Kumeyaay Nation.
Lee DiBernardo, however, approached the board with a
very different message. He is not in support of the 12th high
school, at least not as far as one being built on the Lazy A
Ranch. DiBernardo is disappointed in the community as a whole,
as he said specifically that he could not believe the
callousness and matter-of-fact attitude displayed by a number of
Alpine residents. He said that three families who are long
rooted in Alpine will lose their homes as you [Alpine] offers
them up as sacrificial lambs. In these economic times,
DiBernardo and his family are staring at a forced displacement
in the face of drastically lowered property values, as the
district moves forwards with their building plans.
DiBernardo emphasized that in using Eminent Domain, the
ones in power can simply force homeowners to take what they
consider fair market value for their home. He asked if anyone in
Alpine would willingly agree to take today’s fair market value
for their property. DiBernardo added that his plight was not
just about money. He and his family have lived on his land for
more than 30 years, which is to say he will not only be loosing
a home, but in his words, “traditions, celebrations, lessons and
tragedies”.
“Our homes are our histories, they are as important to
us as your homes are to you,” he said. DiBernardo closed his
statements with his disbelief that a more suitable property
could not be found that would not displace families from their
homes.
Dennis Dalwin spoke to the board, indicating that
Chocolate Summit was not a prime choice for the 12th high
school. The Los Coches Creek Middle School is already on the
corner of Chocolate Summit and Dunbar Lane and presents a
terrible traffic situation for the residents of the area, as
well as the parents who must transport their children to that
school every day. George F. Parkinson echoed these sentiments,
as well as saying that the noise mitigations could not begin to
fix the sound pollution that would infect the Blossom Valley
area.
Gina Henke, an Alpine Union School District Board
Member, delivered a resolution to the GUHSD board, reaffirming
AUSD’s promise that they have no desire to unify and acquire any
high school that GUHSD builds in Alpine.
Delia Cooley, a resident in Alpine, and a teacher in
the Grossmont District emphasized the importance of a high
school in the heart of Alpine. Sal Cassamasima said that this
high school will not just be a high school, but it will be a
centerpiece for education, arts, science and technology in
Alpine.
“One of the things that makes it so important to us in
the East County to have a 12th High School, is that every year,
for the 13 years that I’ve been watching it, we lose a child
going down the hill. So it’s important that we get this done,”
said Chuck Taylor, Vice Chair of the Alpine Planning Group. Also
present from the APG was Lou Russo, George Barnett, Greg Fox,
and John Hood.
Jim Kelly surprised many when he contradicted past
statements, “This is going to be one of the easiest decisions
that I have ever had to make. I am excited that the community
has come together as one.”
He praised Alpine’s persistence in their endeavor for
this high school, though the fact that it will displacing
families breaks his heart.
“I trust that the district will do everything they can
to be more than fair to these families that will be displaced.”
He added, “I absolutely deplore having to use eminent domain on
these families.”
Despite DiBernardo’s plight, the attendees as well as
the district board of trustees celebrated the final decision of
5-0 to move forward with the 12th high school building project
at the Lazy A Ranch site to open it’s doors in 2013.
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