Empire Control Room & Garage
Time for a New Mueller Public School
RECEIVED Sun., Jan. 20, 2008
Dear Editor,
As the Mueller Airport redevelopment project is a high-profile, urban, public/private collaboration that has served as a national model of community planning, the Austin Independent School District should contribute to the project by building the Mueller Elementary School. While the Mueller ES was on the list of original school-building projects for the 2008 bond, the school has been removed by the Citizens' Bond Advisory Committee for failure to qualify as a present, critical need.
The Mueller neighborhood is finally taking shape after a decade of collaborative planning. Mueller is projected to add 100 elementary-age students per year for the next 10 years. That would require that the existing Mueller-area elementary schools receive critical overcrowding assistance during 2011-12, precisely when schools from the 2008 bond would be completed.
Why can’t the district allocate for well-planned civic growth when it is forced to consistently react to sprawl-oriented growth? It’s time to reward good planning.
As the Mueller Airport redevelopment project is a high-profile, urban, public/private collaboration that has served as a national model of community planning, the Austin Independent School District should contribute to the project by building the Mueller Elementary School. While the Mueller ES was on the list of original school-building projects for the 2008 bond, the school has been removed by the Citizens' Bond Advisory Committee for failure to qualify as a present, critical need.
The Mueller neighborhood is finally taking shape after a decade of collaborative planning. Mueller is projected to add 100 elementary-age students per year for the next 10 years. That would require that the existing Mueller-area elementary schools receive critical overcrowding assistance during 2011-12, precisely when schools from the 2008 bond would be completed.
Why can’t the district allocate for well-planned civic growth when it is forced to consistently react to sprawl-oriented growth? It’s time to reward good planning.
Dusty Harshman
