After months of speculation, the Board of Education has chosen 59th and O for its new office building. The decision isn't particularly surprising. The Board appeared to prioritize certainty over uncertainty, and the 59th and O location offered the fewest unknowns.
The last alternative was a location near 70th and A, near Lincoln East High School. I preferred that location primarily because I wanted to see the O Street lot return to the tax rolls. All the jibber jabber about 70th and A becoming too congested struck me as unrealistically paranoid. I admit that I have very little experience with that part of town at rush hour, but I am quite familiar with it before and after major events at nearby Seacrest Field. Traffic seems to flow just fine, all things considered.
Regardless, by choosing the O Street lot reconstruction can begin fairly quickly. I'm eager to see what the architects come up with. It won't be difficult to improve on the former building's design. The question, however, is if they can do it while satisfying the public's desire for a humble house of red tape. That will not be a small challenge.
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This was as surprising to me as the sun setting in the West. I would have made the same choice between the two. I think 70th and A was a horrible idea.
I figured it would go back in original location…but a savy city planner would be creative and build a building that is more vertical and uses the space better. Then they could sell the extra lot space there and maybe a restaurant on the corner lot or something like that. No reason they can not still leverage this area.
I spend a lot of time with family over in the 70th & A area. There was a lot of concern over that park area there that is used for little league football practices and other events. The street issue could have been resolved easily. Folks in that area really like that open park area right there.
Based on the way I read it, that’s their plan. Build on the same site, but sell some of the property. I think it’s a win/win.
Supposedly, some savvy economist estimated that, in addition to the profits from the sale of the entire O St. site and the additional property tax generated, commercial development of the entire O St. site could have generated $25 million in retail sales annually, which equates to $500,000 in sales tax revenue for the community. That’s why I thought the 70th & A site was a no brainer.
Question: I don’t have kids in school, yet. In a couple of years when I do, how often will we be traveling to the district office? Why will we be going there? Is it really that big of a deal where the DO is located?
You will almost never go there…ever. Some staff meetings take place there and and there is some communtication back and forth. But it really does not HAVE to be in the middle of town. In today’s internet based communication process…they could have probably put this just about anywhere. Only folks that would really have issues with it would be staff members that actually had to work in the offices there.
You’ll go there approximately never, plus or minus one or two times in the 13 years your kid is with LPS. The traffic at LPSDO has more to do with administrators, supervisors, etc who bounce between various schools around town and the central office. Perhaps some parents actually do travel to LPSDO on a regular basis, but they’re certainly in the minority. We have an extremely high-maintenance 3rd grader in LPS and we’ve not had cause to visit 59th and O. (We have, however, made some extra trips to his school. Like today. *sigh*)
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