If the unexpected announcement that the Hart School board is going to select a site for the new Castaic High two weeks before new board members are sworn in surprised you, you weren’t the only one. LA Count Supervisor Mike Antonvich’s eyebrows were also raised. From The Signal:
The meeting is the last for Hart district board members until Dec. 9, when Bob Jensen and Joe Messina will be sworn in. Some individuals criticized the Hart district for rushing to a decision before the new members are seated.
Jensen and Messina will be able to take part in the discussion of each property but will not have a vote.
“My hope is that I’ll be at least able to participate as an upcoming board member,” Jensen said.
Los Angeles County Supervisor Michael Antonovich issued a letter to board President Steve Sturgeon saying it is “vital” that the vote be delayed until the new board is seated.
“I would anticipate the current board would continue the decision of site selection until the two new board members are sworn in the first week of December,” the letter reads.
Superintendent Castellanos says he can’t wait two weeks until the newly-elected board members, Bob Jensen and Joe Messina, are sworn in. “Now is the time to move forward,” he told the Signal. Seriously? After ten years we can’t wait an additional two weeks?
By all accounts, Bob Jensen is a competent and well respected individual who got more votes than incumbent Paul Strickland in last week’s election. Joe Messina’s positions on Castaic High are well known too; he’s run for the Hart Board since 2001.
When even Supervisor Antonovich is urging a delay on local development, something is fishy. What’s the Hart District up to? Are the three sites so bad that it’s best to put the decision on the current Board members, or is the rush to select a new site intended to avoid questions from the new board members?
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That is a decidedly different view from that which he had when I asked MA about site selection at a GOP IHOP meeting. MA said it was a local issue to be decided by Hart District with input from the Castaic Town Council.
My guess is that he believes there is renewed interest in building in Hasley Canyon and Messina/Jensen may prefer the Larry Rassmussen property in Romero Canyon.
Let Petz bring the required clarity to this kerfluffle before TJMSR jumps in and mucks everything up with a verbal “pogrom” against the decent citizens working to make something good happen in the Hart District. That way you can watch your football games in peace and quiet.
The board on Tuesday will select from a menu of three -(two stong contenders (Hasley/Romero Canyons) and a long shot wanna be (Sterling Gateway) to conduct EIRs on. A single site for construction will not be chosen-despite the misleading headline in today’s Signal.
There should be no further delay since Jensen/Messina would in all likelyhood concur with the decision of the current board. If they disagree with the decision on Wednesday they can and should make their opinions known.
The time for delay has passed. The current leadership should take action and support Superintendent Castellanos and Mike Antonovich should be slapped down for throwing sand in the gears of progress.
Is this the same Petz who campaigned so hard for outsider Joe Messina? Joe informed me he would like the vote delayed until he is seated, since he will be a member of the board that has to move this forward.
Maybe Joe has a conflict of interest? I’d rather see a board with clean hands vote on it.
mike:
If there was a conflict Joe would recuse himself but naturally people will cry foul because someone will get their nest feathered at the expense of someone else. That is how real estate acquisition works.
From my sources the Romero Canyon property would seem to draw the least amount of nimby action, which destroyed one other side. The Lehman shock destroyed the other.
Lame ducks shouldn’t be making major decisions.
Agreed. Regardless of whether or not Jensen & Messina (wasn’t that also the name of a late 70′s soft rock band) would support the decision made, it is simply uncouth for the lame duck board to be making it. Perhaps they can have a purely ceremonial vote on the matter, but the final decision must be left up to the new board. In all likelihood, it is they that will have to see the decision through and pay the consequences or reap the praise for that decision.
Good grief KK, that was Loggins and Messina!