PAYING ATTENTION!
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A Valid
Case For the North Side Location
It
is patently unfair to characterize people as bigots and
racist simply because they believe the new high school
should be located on the north side of the city.
It’s also unfair to dismiss their position or
questions because you have already made up your mind.
While there are some people in Lawrence motivated by
race, that small number of people do not reflect the
majority of those fighting for the north side location.
The worst thing we can do is demonize people who disagree
and dismiss their points of view. That creates division
where we truly need inclusion. The function of government
is to openly debate all the facts and issues and make a
more informed choice. Both sides of this debate want what
is best for the city. Both sides should respect the other
and listen, yes listen, to the valid concerns of those
who disagree. Out of fairness, I would like to present an
objective and valid argument on behalf of those who
legitimately believe that the high school should be built
in North Lawrence:
Since 1950 the city of Lawrence has seen a mere 14%
increase in new housing construction. That’s less
than 1% per year. Think about that. With all the fires,
burned out buildings, and vacant lots we have in
Lawrence, our new housing construction has been non
existent. This is destroying our tax base. It’s the
main reason we have to rely on the state for our funding.
While the rest of the country is seeing the biggest
economic boom in U.S. history, Lawrence is still
struggling to make ends meet. Abandoned business along
the down town stretch have no hope for revitalization
without an anchor to bring and keep people and money
flowing through the center of the city. The high school
could be that anchor.
Building on the north side would provide sports events,
art exhibits, community theater presentations, and a
prime location for promoting the City of Lawrence. This
would attract people from all over the valley and, by
it’s mere existence down town, would help dispel the
negative image associated with the name
“Lawrence”. It could be the down town showcase
we have been dreaming about for the last 50 years.
That constant flow of people and money to the downtown
districts of Lawrence would provide a safe campus
environment which could also include a public safety
police sub station, where police are on campus 24 hours a
day to protect students and the surrounding neighborhood.
Businesses in the area would see an immediate improvement
in the value of their trade and property. A north
location would put our all important focus back on
rebuilding a burnt out, tax poor, north central district.
At the north side location, only 48 students are eligible
for bussing. If the high school is built on the south
side location, more than 1300 student would be bussed
every single day. Besides the outrageous costs for
mandatory transportation, how fair is it to these
children that we force them to get up a earlier every
morning? How fair is it to put them on a bus every day,
and force them to arrive home a later? How fair is it to
them? Are we even thinking of the quality of life issues
that will effect these students?
The city will be saddled with millions of dollars in
transportation costs that must be paid out of local
taxes. That means after the first initial grants run out
(within five years) your property taxes must be raised to
continue paying for the enormous transportation costs of
bussing over 1300 kids every single day from North
Lawrence to South Lawrence. We have no choice. Remember
too, that the state legislature is changing the formula
for education reform money. Your tax money is guaranteed
to increase so we can pay for bussing and education when
that happens. Where is the money going to come from? What
services will we cut to provide that transportation cost?
We are in a great economy now and we’re struggling.
What happens when this economy slows down? Where are we
then?
There is no debating the fact that a north side high
school would become the anchor that down town needs to
help revitalize the city. The south side has nothing to
revitalize. It is mainly residential, and includes the
Stadium Projects, which is over run with drugs and
violence. Let’s not forget the South Lawrence East
School, with thousands of our youngest children, will be
just a few feet away from the influence of high school
students. Drugs and weapons are abundant in any urban
high school. Do we really want that spilling over to our
largest grammar school population simply because the
location is convenient?
I agree that the Mayor’s plans for the north side
were flimsy at first. But that becomes irrelevant to the
discussion. The focus of this debate needs to be the
;long term best interest of the students attending, and
the neighborhoods surrounding the chosen location.
Nothing else. Patty Dowling’s stated quest for a
north school location has a great deal of merit and I
think people are dismissing it out of personal disgust
for the way she has handled herself lately. That
isn’t fair to the children and it certainly
isn’t’ fair to the future of the city. Twenty
years from now Patty Dowling’s politics will be just
a memory, but the high school will still be here
effecting our lives.
The neighborhoods directly and indirectly surrounding the
South Lawrence site will present a multitude of traffic
and safety problems. That area is already one of the most
congested traffic areas in the city. It’s the
gateway from routes 495, 125, and North Andover. Try
driving by the Showcase Cinema on a Friday night when the
movies are letting out. Now imagine 100 times that number
of people on any afternoon congesting that bottlenecked
area, every day, five days a week, during weekend ball
games, and even after school events.
Then there’s the issue of the flood plane. No one
has talked about it yet, so I guess that means I have to.
In 1987 Lawrence received millions of Federal dollars
because of the April 1st flood. Water engulfed the entire
area of the Stadium, flooding out Demoulas, and closing
down route 114 for days. When the Shawsheen river
overflows it floods out everything from the Hampton Inn
and Friendly’s, all the way to Osgood street and
Mass Avenue. That includes the area of the south Lawrence
East and the site where the high would be built.
I worked for DPW director Frank Johnson during the 1987
flood. I was sent up in a helicopter to take video
footage of the damage that was done by the flood. It is
amazing footage! The destruction done to that area
occurred without a multi million dollar high school
sitting directly in it’s path. This is a disaster
that can be avoided. We have to think about tomorrow and
plan for every contingency. I will make copies of the
video available to anyone who wants to see it. (This is
why the mayor should talk to me more often.)
Every 20 to 30 years a flood of the magnitude of 1987
occurs on the Shawsheen River. That means we are due for
another within the first 15 years of a new school being
built. Why are we not thinking long term? How outraged
will the tax payers be when we announce ten years from
now that we have to raise taxes to repair 10 million
dollars worth of flood damage to a new high school? The
Federal government will not pay for damage caused by a
flood if we knowingly build a high school on the edge of
the most dangerous area of a 20 year flood plane.
Sure there are positive reasons to have the school in
South Lawrence. There are positive reasons for both
sites, and of course negative reasons for both as well.
But, let’s open our minds a little instead of taking
a position and then looking for facts to support that
position. Let’s ask questions and hear the concerns
of people on both sides of this debate. This is not a
decision to be entered into lightly or quickly, no matter
who is right or who benefits. I‘m not crazy about
the way Mayor Dowling presented this to the public, but I
am also open minded enough to listen to her legitimate
thoughts on the plan. No politician is always wrong. Her
behavior as of late has caused some to advocate the south
side out of spite, anger, political posturing and even a
little reverse racism. This does not help the city
prosper. Isn’t that our ultimate goal? We need to be
open and refrain from saying that we support either site
without having some real concrete answers to some very
rational questions.
I
would have no problem with the high school sitting on
either site if the concerns of the people on each side of
the debate were being considered and respected so that we
have the best site and the best high school. But
that’s not what is happening. Cries of racism,
bigotry, and lack of communication are silencing the
minority of people who want a north school location. The
voice of the minority should be heard and respected. Any
councilor who supports the high school on the south side
without having the answers to all the questions are not
doing their jobs. They are using convenient facts to
support their opinions and ignoring facts which cast
their position into doubt.
Please, do not advocate for either site without having
all the facts. Ask questions and evaluate both sites.
Look at which is best for everyone involved, and then
make a decision. And remember, don’t base your
opinions solely on the information you get from the daily
paper. Read Rumbo, listen to the radio, call your city
councilors, watch the meetings! and listen to the answers
to everyone’s questions! Especially those who
disagree with you. When you do that, you might just
conclude that a north site location is better for
Lawrence. And if you don’t, that’s OK too. It
never hurts to be better informed before you make a
decision. There are a lot of options. Let’s take a
look at all of them before we leap. Let’s learn
something from the Emerson College fiasco. Doing
something this large out of haste and political
expedience only causes long term problems for future
generations.
So now I ask you, my readers, if the Mayor and this
administration can step up to the plate long enough to
plan a legitimate site in North Lawrence, without taking
churches, and without demolishing landmarks, would you be
willing to consider all the information before making a
final decision? Would you put side your personal
preferences right now and look at all the facts on both
sides? Are you willing to do that for our children and
their children? We are the masters of our own destiny
here. We will rise or fall tomorrow based on the
decisions we make today. Don’t the children of
tomorrow deserve a little more consideration than this?