Mayor Art Ward said today he plans to meet with the city's legislative delegation early next week to talk about pushing through a bill to give the city more time to complete the preliminary work on the school project.
He said he also wants legislation to waive the requirement that the city buy an equivalent parcel if it opts to use the former Roberts property for a school. I'll have more on that later.
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Copyright 2008. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com
18 comments:
Someone needs to remind the Mayor that he, council, planning, zoning, Weiner, Strawderman, ZBA, BOE, BOF and/or whatever, do not get to choose which site the school will be built.
The Town Ordinances have given this authority and responsibility to the West Bristol School Building Committee. From what I know, there is not but one member who would propose the Robert's Property as an option. One does not make a majority.
A new school on the Robert's propery is a great option....much better use of the land than the huge doggie poop repository that is now.
I just wonder how long it will take the NIMBY's to protest the K-8 school at the Roberts site!
to 4:45, you sound like a member of the West Bristol School Building Committee, please get off your power trip, you have no expertise at all to make this decision all by yourself, and the city laws talk about making workshops made up of all the people you said have no say in the process. If you cared about making a good decision you would include all relevant parties in the process, which the Building Committee and the BOE refused to do.
My understanding is that there are restrictions on how you can use property that was designated as open space. That doesn't seem to bother Art Ward. He was last seen trying to build a crappy municipal golf course on the property.
4:45p.m. - so let's be protective of our egos when this could save tazpayers money because we own it and we might be able to do it in the timeframe needed. sure am glad that you aren't watching out for my taxes.
Ward is ridiculous. He can't get along with anyone on the council except for Rimcocki and he can't get along with people in his own party. He is goiing to try to ram the Roberts property through no matter what. I would take the Mall property instead. With the economy the way it is, just throw in the towel and focus on Route 6 as our retail corridor.
End the BS! Either build a new school on the old mall site or start work on renovating the existing schools.
Way to go Mayor Ward!
Who did Ward promise that it would be the Roberts property, and WHY???
Art you have less than a year to get this going. After that, you are history.
Bring back Couture!
Ward did not get along with anyone during the previous administration either.
OOPS, I forgot Do nothing Jonathan.
Put it at the mall. There will never be anything else viable down there again. With the economy the way it is, it will be at least 20 years before anything remotely close to the pipe dream will even sniff at that property.
the mayor's fixation with Roberts Property is unbelievable. Talk about totally disenfranchising whole parts of town - West End kids, Federal hill kids, upper North Main Street kids. The mall site would be perfect.
We should renovate our current schools. The buildings are structurally sound and just need some renovations. We also need to face the fact that over then next few decades the number of students will most likely decline (state demographic projections).
The offered justification is specious. Anyone who thinks replacing neighborhood schools with centralized facilities, especially for primary school age students, should think about what that means for young children who will be spending additional time in buses. The current plan is simply an attempt to build something for the sake of building it.
As for the Roberts property, Artie is mad because he couldn't build his golf course there. The fact that people, especially middle aged women for whom Artie seems to have a special animus, enjoy themselves up there is something he can not abide by.
Kudos Mayor Ward! Bristol gets our new school and the taxpayers save a bundle....it's a win-win!
9:07
How will the city save a bundle?
Only by delaying and stopping the project will that happen.
But maybe that is Wards plan.
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