Community excluded in Florence Elementary name change debate
By Andrew Towne
The proposal by the Gay and Lesbian Historic Task Force to change the name of Hillcrest’s Florence Elementary School to the “Christine Kehoe School of Social Justice” appears to be on its way to acceptance by the San Diego Unified School District Board of Education regardless of the preferences of students, parents, alumni, neighbors and other community members in the immediate neighborhood of the school.
There was practically no notice to the community when the first “stakeholder” meeting was held last October. Presented at that meeting were 10 letters, mostly by Democratic politicians and gay activists. The remarkable thing about those letters is that so many of them appeared to have been copied from an underlying form letter that was given to the letter writers. The boilerplate statement “I am confident the San Diego Unified School District and GLBT Historic Task Force can work collaboratively to ensure that the proper process and vetting occurs with parents, staff, neighbors, and others so that stakeholders can participate as the renaming is considered” appears in six of the letters (with “we” substituted for “I” in some of the letters.) Two additional letters use virtually the same words, but not exactly. And only two letters are what I would consider original.
When people cannot even find their own words to acknowledge the importance of community opinion, it is clear to me that they couldn’t care less about community opinion.
I attended the second “stakeholder” meeting Jan. 15. Again, public notice of the meeting — if it existed at all — was scant, but that did not prevent an impressive outpouring of opposition to the proposed name change. Of the 12 people who were given two minutes to speak, 11 were opposed and one was undecided.
Again, I got the sense that the school district representatives were indifferent to the community. Entering the meeting room, there was what appeared to be a sign-in sheet that actually turned out to be a petition in support of the name change. I asked where the petition was for those who opposed the name change. The school district representative said that it was not the district’s job to provide petitions of any kind. If that is true, then the petition in favor should not have been mixed in with informational flyers and speaker slips on the table by the entrance door.
Speakers at the meeting had to fill in yellow speaker slips and note on the slips whether they were in favor or opposed to the name change. As far as I know, not one of the speeches was recorded and no notes were taken of what the different speakers were saying.
At the same time, the members of the school board (who will make the final decision) were not present. So, instead of “hearing from the community” — which the meeting was supposed to be about — all the school board will see is a stack of yellow slips marked “opposed” or “for.” I don’t call that “hearing from the community.”
All of the above smacks to me of the “fix being in,” with politicians and activists looking out for each other while not caring one bit about what the community wants.
I think this proposed name change is a travesty, showing outrageous disrespect for the history and unique characteristics both of Florence Elementary School and the surrounding Hillcrest community. Florence Elementary is about 100 years old, and there is no good reason to change the name. Christine Kehoe has never been closely tied to the school, so the name change is purely a political statement.
The proponents of the name change want to honor a gay politician. That is fine. But don’t do so by disrespecting the history of a neighborhood that welcomed gays to its midst when other neighborhoods would not do so.
—Andrew Towne lives in Hillcrest, served on the board of Uptown Planners, and was a founding member of the Hillcrest Town Council.
LETTERS
TargetExpress for South Park
I do not support a TargetExpress in South Park [see “Fight against South Park TargetExpress continues” Vol. 6 Issue 2]. Reconsider leasing the property at 3030 Grape St. You have greatly overestimated the potential demand for your store in our neighborhood. Some deals are just bad ideas and this is one bad deal. Cut your losses now. TargetExpress may have worked in Dinkytown, but not here. The consequences of any safety issues which will occur will be on your conscience, not mine.
I’m writing to express my strong opposition to a TargetExpress in South Park, San Diego. South Park is a close-knit historic neighborhood with an identity largely based on its independent local businesses. A TargetExpress would threaten the very characteristics that make our neighborhood so unique and desirable. There are full-size Target stores in nearby Sports Arena and Mission Valley and a CVS and Walgreens pharmacy less than two miles away that are already meeting our needs. We do not need or want a TargetExpress in our neighborhood.
Sincerely,
Jeanette Voss, South Park Homeowner 18 years
“There goes the neighborhood!”
Arabo’s closing statement that “whatever it may be will have the entirety of South Park for support” is more than a little overstated. Clearly he only has conversations with people who agree with him.
I am a small business owner and homeowner in South Park since 1997, and the great majority of my neighbors and customers are thrilled about Target moving into the neighborhood — especially those with children, and those who are elderly. Even quite a few members of our business group are looking forward to it! Those of us who are long-ish time South Park residents have long wished for a nicer grocery store at that location, preferably one with pockets deep enough to maintain the property, and getting a pharmacy as part of the deal is just a bonus.
I don’t expect any store that goes into the location to meet all of my needs. I shop at Peoples Market, Albertsons, Costco, Sprouts, Ripe, and North Park Farmers Market. I’ve always bought certain things at Gala, which I now find at Millers or Food Bowl, our other two small independent markets.
I don’t expect Target to eliminate any of these stores from my shopping routine. I may go there to buy milk or other things I run out of mid-week, same as I did when it was Gala, but I mainly anticipate using it for things like pharmacy, socks, office supplies, or small hardware, that are not sold anywhere else in South Park.
I would love to know who these small grocers are who are interested in moving into the place, and why they didn’t put any offers for it when the place was up for lease. It was no secret — there was a big giant “For Lease” sign on the lot. When this Save South Park movement started, some of their members approached Sprouts, Trader Joe’s and Peoples Coop, all of which were either not interested in the space or said it was too large for their needs. This is not a store designed for a “small independent grocer” where people just buy a few items to fill-in between weekly shoppings at a more comprehensive supermarket. A building this large needs to have a large, busy store in it, to turn enough volume to make profits worthy of keeping the space up and well maintained.
—Monta Z. Briant
Owner, Baby Garten Studio
Having read your article in San Diego Uptown News, I find it’s time to voice my opinion. I’m a longtime resident of South Park and North Park, and am not so happy with the influx of bars and overpriced restaurants and shops that claim to represent the neighborhood. Let’s face it, South Park, North Park and Golden Hill are still primarily working class neighborhoods, with only pockets of affluence. Most of us have to get into our cars and travel elsewhere for affordable shopping. I’m all for a little competition that might bring some of our local businesses back to reality, to truly represent “the neighborhood.” If our local businesses actually catered to local demographics, they wouldn’t need to create events such as the Walkabouts that advertise to a much larger area, bringing the kind of traffic and parking problems we now experience. Let’s not make Target the scapegoat for what has already happened. If anything, TargetExpress will be an asset to the neighborhood.
—Anonymous, via email