Apparently, officials at Batavia City School District feel they haven't adequately explained their consideration of new park facilities at the district's North Street property.
This past Saturday, Councilman Bill Cox held a community meeting on the proposal and tonight, Superintendent Margaret Puzio issued a press release detailing the district's position:
"The School District apologizes for not better advertising to the public, the presentation of this material at our September 1 School Board Meeting. At that meeting, we presented to the staff and elected officials from the City of Batavia, Towns of Batavia and Stafford and Genesee County. The consensus of those staff and elected representatives as well as the BOE was that the first step should be to investigate grant funding. This is just the first step in a very long process."
The district contends that there are insufficient youth facilities in the Batavia area and that it is seeking state or federal grants to improve the situation.
Read the full press Release (PDF)
UPDATE: Margaret Puzio spoke with WBTA this morning (mp3).
She said there will be a public meeting on the topic at 7 p.m. on Oct. 6 at Batavia High School.
At that meeting, we presented
At that meeting, we presented to the staff and elected officials from the City of Batavia, Towns of Batavia and Stafford and Genesee County.
Who were these elected officials from the city of Batavia...
Below is the text of an email
Below is the text of an email I sent to each board member:
Board Members,
I write in support of Councilman William Cox’s effort to stop the effort to develop new athletic fields off North Street.
In case you’ve forgotten, the voters of the district voted NO on this issue five years ago. Why on earth you feel it’s a good idea to proceed with this project in spite of said vote is beyond me.
It is my opinion that the infrastructure of the district is already overbuilt and this is just another proposed “brick in the wall” that we DON’T NEED.
Rather than spending your time on this project, perhaps you could concentrate your efforts on improving the districts dismal ratings as reported by the Buffalo Business First Journal. Improving the districts ratings in Cost Effectiveness (rating at 68 out of 97) and Administrative Efficiency (rating at 77 out of 97) would be a far better use of your time and might even allow you to reduce our school taxes which are (in case you hadn’t noticed) TOO HIGH!
I applaud Councilman Cox’s effort to shine the light of day on this (what seems to be a back door) effort to ignore the will of the district’s voters.
Mark, from what I know now,
Mark, from what I know now, there is no one that was elected in the city that supports this. Council already turned down the idea of working collectively on this a few months ago and I doubt the results will be different this time. It is pretty clear the people who live over there don't want it.
Charlie, Mark asked David
Charlie,
Mark asked David Meyer who went, not if they support it.
It's clear Council will not support this just from the ones who attended the meeting.
This smacks of pure grand
This smacks of pure grand standing by one of our elected officials!!!
It wasn't. Mr. Cox is not
It wasn't. Mr. Cox is not running this year. In fact, his term is not up for another two.
But it is in his ward, it was voted down once by the whole city school district and the area can be left as it is right now, green space
Doing nothing should not be
Doing nothing should not be an option. We’re already paying for the maintenance of these fields and the benefit goes to about 15 adjacent properties. How is that right? This is public property and should have better access and facilities for the public. If this proposal can’t happen, for whatever reason, so be it, the property should be returned to the tax role.
My dog used to go poop over
My dog used to go poop over there.
Richard's dog doesn't give a
Richard's dog doesn't give a cr^p either way. Just doo something.
Mark, Many of the people at
Mark,
Many of the people at the meeting Mr. Cox held want the property sold and put on the tax roles.
Some, like me, want it left the way it i, green space. The amount of money to just cut the grass is ok with me.
As far as better access or facilities, then are you saying Centennial Park, across from the State School should be developed?
John, Green space is nice,
John,
Green space is nice, very nice. However, if it’s owned by a public entity it should be use appropriately. The school district needs the land for athletic fields, so be it. It’s still going to be green. The only difference is the public will be using publicly owned land. There’s nothing wrong with that. It’s my opinion that’s the real issue, people using the land. The bottom line is there are people of all ages that want to use the land for its intended purpose. If that can’t be done for what ever reason, it should be sold. The government has no business holding on to property they’re not going to use. I’d be willing to bet there’s an adjacent land owner that would scoop that lot up in a heart beat. The status quo is not acceptable to me.
As far as Centennial Park goes, there’s access (on all sides) and facilities exist (walkways, benches, historic markers, power...) for its intended purpose. Parking could be better but I would say it’s developed. Although, permanent restrooms like the other parks would be nice.