SAN JUAN ISLANDER EDITORIAL

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Public land + public money = public access

By Sharon Kivisto

posted 06/14/05
Now is the time for all good ball players to stand up and be counted.

From 7 to 9 p.m. Thursday, June 16, San Juan Island School Board will hold a public meeting about the proposed athletic fields on Carter Avenue. Vocal support from the community is essential if the project is to become a reality.

Objections by neighbors to the use of Carter Avenue -- a PUBLIC road paid for and maintained by taxpayers - has stalled the project. Construction of the ballfields is being held hostage to the objections of a few islanders. The district has the legal right to use the road, but does not have the political will. The district doesn't want to antagonize anyone.

Towns throughout this nation have community ballfields. For this community not to have this basic facility solely because someone doesn't want cars to drive down a public road is ludicrous.

Don Galt has been spearheading an effort to build the fields at no cost to the school district. According to Galt, the gravel pit is willing to donate $250,000 of materials, contractors have offered labor and equipment, individuals have donated money, including a $50,000 private donation received last month.

The next step is completion of the district's permit application with the Town of Friday Harbor. The town council has offered to pay for the conditional-use permit. The ball is in the district's hands. It is time for the school board to give the go ahead and move forward with the permitting process.

San Juan Island School District purchased 30 acres of land with taxpayer money to be used as a future site for schools. A 1997 taxpayer-approved bond funded renovations of the middle and high schools and purchase of the land. During the election campaign voters were told the state matching funds -- estimated to be $600,000 -- would be used as seed money for the fields. The measure passed by 82 percent. Many voters approved the project because fields would be built. (I served on the San Juan Island School board from 1995 to 1999. I know first-hand what we told the voters.)

Here we are eight years later. Children that were in elementary school when the bond passed are graduating, still without the fields. It is time to move forward. The district can let the community build the fields. Their construction will not cost the district, which is financially strapped, a dime.

The benefit to the community as a whole will be immense. It is time to stop talking about the fields. Tell the school board you want them to step up to the plate. Now is the time to move forward.

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