A Valuable Lesson on Building Schools

In “Be Solomon-Like in Housing vs. Schools” (Commentary, Nov. 13), David Grunwald and Karen Bass wrote eloquently in pleading for the LAUSD to show wise judgment on the question of razing low-income residences to build new schools. Obviously, the reference in the headline is to the famous story of the two women who claimed the same baby, and Solomon offering to split the baby in half so both get a share, using this trick to expose the false mother.

Solomon would today have to first gain the attention of LAUSD bureaucrats before rendering a decision. The LAUSD stubbornly refuses to follow the “win-win” choice of using existing school athletic fields as the location for larger, more modern classroom structures. No need for eminent domain, razing of houses and apartments and no NIMBY complaints, since the school sites are already there. Athletic programs would be disrupted during construction, but new fields could go where the old buildings stood.

Too bad the LAUSD lacks the imagination to follow this idea rather than displace hundreds of families.

Abraham Hoffman

Canoga Park