I wish our community would put its effort and passion toward building a new school instead of cleaning up the current toxic and decrepit one. We have the money and the plans to construct new beautiful, state-of-the-art buildings at Malibu High School. Over 200 million dollars has already been spent revamping five of the schools in our district. It is time the Malibu Community Alliance lift the appeal regarding the lighting plan for the construction or that the Coastal Commission schedule a hearing to set aside the appeal, so we can start building.Â
As if the fact that we are exposing our children to carcinogens wasn’t enough to urge these two organizations to come to an agreement, the fact that 14 million dollars waits in a bank account, all plan approvals have been obtained and no other work needs to be done according to every state and local agency should. We should be moving forward with the BB Building Program. If the children are our priority, why aren’t they being put first?Â
There are so many things wrong here. It doesn’t take rocket science to figure out how dangerous the campus might be and how much it will cost to remediate the PCBs. Our kids are in crumbling buildings without Wi-Fi, air conditioning and modern fixtures. They deserve a new school, even if there were no safety issues. Knowing that we have the approved plans and the money to build the campus our kids deserve, it’s crazy and sad to me that we are stuck in this legal frenzy of egos and bureaucracy. It’s time to build a new campus, not clean it up.Â
Justine PetrettiÂ