The latest controversy is over tearing down the Jennie Moore Elementary building in Mt. Pleasant. See [Group fights to save school .] Funny thing, those most affected are objecting. Today's P & C neatly encapsulates Lewis's philosophy of razing. According to the article,
Bill Lewis is executive director of the school district's building program.
- which qualifies him to tear down every ante-Lewis school in the County.
The preservation group [Gullah Heritage Foundation] has been invited to participate in the planning process for the new schools to ensure the Gullah heritage is incorporated in the new campus. . .
- a plaque? a picture?
but the school district isn't in the position to give a building to them because the Jennie Moore land is needed for new schools, [Lewis] said.
- because of the way he's planning to utilize the property
The school district has been able to buy the land adjacent to Jennie Moore, which is an ideal spot for the new Laing
- which brings up another school that shouldn't be moved, but when Bill Lewis talks, CCSD listens--or is it the other way around?
and creates a similar synergy to the schools in Park West, Lewis said.
- "Synergy" is a 50-cent word for "traffic jam"
Jennie Moore will be expanded from 500 to 800 students,
- so that it will lose its small-school atmosphere and become another "government learning center" to warehouse students
and the cost to renovate, expand and ensure that it meets current codes would cost almost the same as a new building, he said.
- well, then don't expand. Anyway, after what's happened with Lewis's figures on renovating the old Rivers High Building, does anyone trust his calculations?
Laing Middle also will be expanded,
- so that it, too, will become another government learning center to warehouse students
and its current site is too small to hold a new school with the desired capacity.
- let's see--who's desiring this capacity? Lewis or the parents of students now slated to attend Laing?
The district plans to sell the Laing site and use the proceeds to help fund its new building.
- Sell? No kidding. I wonder which developer with ties to CCSD and Joe Riley will be buying.
All schools are built to be community centers, Lewis said.
- Well, now that's clear!
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2 comments:
Oh, Babbie, you've said it all. What more can I add except to say that Bill Lewis is now bending the ear of The Chronicle reporter to explain the need for creating "earthquake-proof" buildings. Since when did "earthquake-proof" become a building objective? How about just built good enough for the occupants to survive a direct hit. (The last ground zero in 1886, was 25 miles away in Summerville). Not only is he saying every school site is in danger of eminent disaster, he's basing it on an earthquake event that's statistically predicted to occur somewhere in the region ONCE every 500 years! So I guess he's preparing for the Big One scheduled in about 378 years. There's also a major cost difference between "survivable" buildings and "earthquake-proof" buildings, but Bill Lewis doesn't want to trouble us with these details. After all, he's the engineer and he known best how to spend our millions. I guess he's planning for a 378 year old building to survive the next earthquake that it will continue to be usable. Gee, Bill Lewis must be right. I guess the sky IS falling.
Bill Lewis frightens me. We should all be afraid...very afraid.
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