With Augustine Zuniga's permission, I am reposting an email that I received
in regards to concerns about the use of school facilities and property. I
believe that valid points are being stated here that have not been
considered by the Pasadena leadership.

Isaac Garcia


At the recent joint PUSD and City meeting, many property owners living next
to Marshall Fundamental School addressed the School Board and the City
Council on the issue of joint use of Marshall school playfields. The two
boards were to say the least, surprised at the information they received
from the homeowners.

Much of the discussion focused upon several recent and current uses that had
clearly not been vetted with the surrounding neighborhood. On one occasion,
a San Gabriel Valley non-profit drum and bugle corps had obtained a permit
to practice in the open for eight hours on multiple Saturdays and
Sundays. When the noise became a significant problem, several residents
asked about their permit and the program manager defended themselves by
saying that they had the approval of the local council member of the City
and that they were not going to stop regardless of how much it might be a
problem. They had a permit. Of course, when querried on who they had
obtained approval from, these non-residents could not name the right council
person or anyone else they supposedly had approval from.

After two days of the noise, neighbors had to call the police, the police
office reviewed the permit, but still contacted the City and the activity
was stopped. As an aside, the group was relocated to Muir High School along
the 210 Freeway, and we are unaware of any continuing problems with that
situation. Hopefully, the District and the City did not just move a problem
to another community because of the level of complaints.

A more recent problem involves the night time use of Marshall play fields.
There are no permanent lights on the fields, so the only way to use them is
to set up at least four gas powered generators, like those you might see
along the freeway at night when Cal Trans is making repairs to the roads.
The lights are very bright and the noise of the generators is quite
intrusive as they need to run nearly 4 hours to permit use of the fields
from 5 to 9 p.m. The group using the fields is allegedly a non-profit group
providing opportunities to underprivileged children. They began using the
fields during the summer when school was not in session. The neighbors were
told that they would only be there through the end of August. Then the
program received a follow-on permit to use the fields until November.

In addition, there is another organized group of older soccer players that
is using the fields on Saturdays. Of course, besides the noise, there are
al the cars parking everywhere and the trash left on the streets and the
school grounds by those attending the games to cheer on their friends. It
can get quite noisy with some of the fans bringing those little air horns
and bells to ring.

There is no doubt a dearth of park space in the City of Pasadena. The only
group to blame for this lack of recreational space is the City. The City is
charged with providing the space and their open space plan calls for
it. Unfortunately, instead of purchasing the space and improving the quality
of life in Pasadena for all of its residents, the City has neglected this
very important resource, and from some reports I have heard about, may have
developed a substantial unused park fund. One way the City is looking to
fulfill is obligations to provide park land, is to develop joint use
facilities with PUSD at its various school sites.

Initially, this seemed like a reasonable idea. However, as we are seeing
this kind of joint use put into operation, it is clear that an active joint
use approach will not work for those schools located directly adjacent
to larger scale single family residential neighborhoods. We have also seen
the battles over lights on school campuses with the issues at LaSalle, a
private school, when the school developed a piecemeal plan that eventually
upgraded its playing field and included large lights for night games, all
approved by the City over the complaints of the adjacent neighborhood.

It would appear that unless the community as a whole, joins together to
voice its opinions regarding the appropriate use of school facilities during
non-school hours, the LaSalle model may become the norm for use of all PUSD
schools.

Ms. McAustin, the District Two council member, raised a number of issues, as
did outgoing BOE member Mr. Lizardo, about what process should be followed
when examining joint use of any PUSD school. The first step was that there
should be an examination of the current environment at each school site.
For example, what kind of access is currently permitted; what are the
parking conditions; how close to the play fields are residents and how would
the local neighborhood be impacted by non-school functions. In addition,
how can the City and the District better coordinate the issuance of permits
for the use of a school site during non-school hours. And finally, there
needs to be a discussion regarding what kinds of uses should be permitted at
PUSD sites, if permits are to be issued.

City Council Member Gordo expressed his opinion that what he envisioned for
joint use was a passive form of park use. No organized activities, but
rather a place that local neighborhood families could stroll over to and use
in a passive way.

So what can we all do about the situation? It appears that the issue has
been referred to a committe of City and District staff that will somehow,
analyze the situation and report back to their respective boards or to the
next joint meeting. If you are concerned about how the City and the
District staff will address the issues raised by the Marshall neighborhood,
these issues need to be discussed with the residents around each of the
schools. Each City Council and School Board member should be contacted by
those of us who will be most directly impacted by joint use of a PUSD
school. We should seek an open meeting with City and District staff so that
our concerns can be raised, discussed and addressed before any
recommendations are fowarded to either public body for consideration. Only
in this way can we be sure that our voices will be heard and our concerns
addressed in a meaningful way.

Thank you for your interest in this issue and I hope that you will contact
you council member or go to the PUSD website to identify which school board
member represents your local school and contact that member about your
concerns.

Augustin Zuniga
Marshall Parent
Pasadena Resident


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