By Robert Zirgulis
One reason I ran for School Board was to bring attention to the neglected and deplorable conditions of our Culver City School Natatorium swimming pool, shuttered since 1991.
Although I lost the election, I succeeded in making Culver City residents aware that it doesn't make sense to spend $10.7 million to demolish “our school pool” and replace it with a multi-purpose facility that would be used to accommodate only 80 students.
In contrast, the estimated cost to “fix our school pool” and refurbish the Natatorium building that could be used by 6,500 students is around $3 million.
The Natatorium is the poster child of the waste and neglect that has happened in our Culver City Unified School District. All of our school sites, including the Robert Frost Auditorium, are in need of capital facilities improvements.
In response to fixing these facilities, the school district is planning to float a $69 million general obligation bond that would be put before the voters in the next June primary ballot of 2014.
The School District has been working on a draft of a Facilities Master Plan incorporating the Needs Assessment Plan prepared by Balfour Beatty Construction.
Unfortunately, the draft of the Master Facilities Plan does not include the option of “fixing our Natatorium.” Instead, it is a glossed over version of Balfour Beatty's plan to: “demolish, backfill and recompact pool areas, removal of existing pools (bottom, walls, and deck).”
Those words were not included in the Draft Master Facilities Plan even though the current Master Facilities Draft would amount to the same thing, demolition of “our school pool.”
As for the Natatorium, the Master Facilities Draft Plan is disingenuous and violates the principle of transparency that is so important in gaining the trust of our voters.
Although a general obligation bond is necessary for the improvement of our school facilities, I do not believe the voters will support a bond that includes wasteful spending and no common sense in regard to spending $10.7 million to demolish the Natatorium school pool that could serve 6,500 students and only cost $3 million to repair.
I would urge the School District to include “fixing our school pool” in any survey done to gauge the support of voters who will ultimately decide on whether to support a school bond.
Mr. Zirgulis may be contacted at zirgulisr@yahoo.com
