Of course. Enough of the bombast, grandstanding, and showboating.

Michelle, can you post the full press release to this article? Thank you!

Good to have sensible action from the Board and District!

It would be great to have the city proactively work with the district to explore zoning and right-of-way changes (access from Severance) that might dramatically improve the value and desirability of the the property, particularly since the Council sees this as an issue that is important to the city.

Also worth noting that the district has rescheduled the upcoming facilities meeting until April 18 as a result of finally hearing the community dis-satisfaction with the plan and process.

There are positives in this development but something still does not sound right. According to the wording of the press release, they want to combine the 2 parcels of land into the assessment (the second parcel is not needed if one just wanted to keep the school) and according to the "best use of the land under current zoning code." I have a bad feeling that they are going to be dreaming again. This might mean assessing the value by envisioning a totally redeveloped property (ie lots of residential on the lot and removing the school) and then using the stable portion as a suggestion to say what if we created access to Severance Center through the stable area and therefore we could build whatever we wanted there (ie big developemnt $$)?

This would raise the figure way above the true value which reflects the property as is which is the only way that it can ever be- since the chance of this property being totally redeveloped is very unlikely. This will get them another misleading appraisal figure which will once again delay any chance of an amiable settlement between School Board and Mosdos. Further delays, further disappointment. School Board- appraise it as is in the real world please!

Isn't there something in the law about sales somewhere that when a school is sold, other schools have priority - first right of refusal?

There is a tradition of education in that building. There are many good reasons, such as mentioned in the article, like stablity, property values, safety, that speak to the sale to a school. Certainly that would maintain the tradtion of excellence in education there.

I lend my voice to the call for such appraisal be conducted in a real way, using what we have and without dreams of alternative zoning. It's zoned as a school in residential area. To hope for anything else means assuming zoning changes that make any such numbers speculative at best.

I hope Akiva's suspicions are just that. I hope that School Board is indeed genuinely responding to the needs and voices of its constituents and not playing more word games.