CC MINUTES 03081988 - Laserfiche WebLink

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1 Ranallo reiterated that the Council hadn't gotten that type of 2 resident input when they sat down to discuss the same issues with the 3 School Board in the Council Chambers in September. He urged all 4 present to call the Councilmembers whenever they had a question the 5 Council could answer, cautioning them at the same time, to remember 6 that the Councilmembers couldn't answer for the School Board on some 7 of the questions they had raised that evening. 8 Sundland indicated he had been trying to tell school officials for 9 many years that one of the biggest mistakes they had made over the 10 last 16 years was to forget that only between 16% and 18% of the it homeowners had children in the District School and that any one who 12 hoped to convince those who don't that the school should be retained 13 should be careful not to alienate the majority. He indicated he 14 perceived from what the recent survey had told the Council that the 15 School District would have a hard time getting a referendum through 16 because people who don't have kids in the St. Anthony school don't 17 know enough about the school; don't understand it; or haven't been 18 given the opportunity of getting better acquainted. The Mayor said 19 he thought it would take a little extra massaging of those who don't 20 have St. Anthony students to get them to see the viewpoint of those 21 who do. 22 He and several of the councilmembers pointed to the fact that the 23 Focus newsletter sent to the parents of St. Anthony students could 24 have been distributed to the whole community over the years to let 25 them know what was going on in the school and to keep the residents 26 enthusiastic about their community school. 27 Ranallo indicated he had put three daughters through the St. Anthony 28 High School but now was facing having to get rid of a five bedroom 29 house whose value couldn't help but be diminished if St. Anthony had 30 no school. 31 Enrooth agreed that most of the Councilmembers had lived in the 32 community for more than 20 years so the issues raised that evening by 33 "a lot of you people who haven't lived here that long aren't really 34 new to us at all." 35 Marks reported he had got a number of calls before the school hearing 36 and to him the whole issue had taken a "rather interesting and 37 frustrating turn" because he and Councilmember Enrooth had been the 38 Council representatives who met with the School Board a year and a 39 half ago where a School Board member had just made the suggestion 40 that the City should take over the Parkview building outright because 41 the school district just didn't need it any more and now there's a 42 community perception that the City is "trying to put one over on the 43 school district" which causes him to take offense at some of the 44 comments he's heard lately to that effect. 45 *he had gotten a good number of calls before the February 24th 46 hearing; 8i: