Long Beach : District Negotiates for Parkland by Wilson High
The Long Beach Unified School District is attempting to purchase 11 acres of city parkland next to Wilson High School as an alternative to razing about 30 houses to make way for a new science building. Speaking at a school board meeting earlier this week, Supt. E. Tom Giugni said the district is negotiating with the city, which has expressed a willingness to sell Blair Field, Rogers Field and Billie Jean King Tennis Courts in Recreation Park.
The district would like to use the land for student athletic activities, thereby freeing some of the school’s current athletic areas for the new science building and bungalows to house the expected influx of about 900 ninth-graders next fall.
A proposal to seize a block of houses on Bennett Avenue for the planned expansion has been bitterly opposed by residents. Recently they filed a lawsuit demanding that the district conduct an environmental impact study on the project.
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