Status and Disposition of Hull School

I have been watching this issue on the Livonianeighbors.com forum site and I just had to comment. Below you will see my comments related to this horrible situation that the BOE is causing by the actions and the City Council is causing by the indifference.

Good evening everyone.I have been following this discussion with a certain amount of disbelief and shock. Shock in that the school board has shuttered a building of this size and age with no idea of what's its disposition should be. As an architect and planner, I can think of at least 5 different uses for that property that would have little or no financial impact to the city's budget and keep the property utilized by different city agencies. I can also think of another 5 different uses for the building which would have modest to moderate costs to the city which would result in the building developing a positive cash flow verses a negative or non-existent cash flow as it is right now. The fact that it is not only has been shuttered but basically abandoned by the BOE is absolutely disgraceful. The building is about 20 years old or so, it is a valuable asset, cost probably 15 million dollars to build and the BOE is letting it be demolished by neglect, just like what happens in Dearborn, Detroit and in some areas of Wayne, Redford and Westland. The fact that the school board is letting a property, a viable property, sit derelict, should not only infuriate the citizens but should make you tremble with indignation.

Now, on the topic of the continuing vandalism, respectfully, I have to say that the damage is being generated by people who are local. There is no way that someone from Dearborn, Canton, Plymouth or even Detroit just happens to be out driving around, and just happens to find there way to Hull and then just happens to start hanging out and decides to paint or break windows. the only people that would know not only where the property is and that its shuttered are people who are local. The reason that Old Rosedale didn't have similar problems is because of two main reasons: highly visible all day and night; a strong presence of community watch. I must respectfully submit that perhaps the reason Hull is having the people with vandals and the supposed drug dealing that has been referenced here is because it is not a highly visible location and that more community watching is required OR the demand should be made of LPD to step up patrols AND that the BOE get Parks and Rec's over to the site to manage the landscaping, and keep the site clean. If elected to the City Council the first thing I would do is meet with LPD about added patrols, then tell the school board to transfer funds from their operating budget to the DPW's operating budget to pay for grooming the landscape, clean up the parking lot, board up ALL the windows, added additional temporary lighting for security and finally, install water filled or concrete median barricades to prevent any one who is in a car from being up to no good around the building. If anyone wanted to vandalize, that would force them to be on foot or on bikes. I would also have the DPW provide paint and related materials to realize the idea suggested by LPS Reformer which is to paint the window board ups with murals. When I was working on the Detroit Institute of Art project our site fence was being vandalized all the time, but as soon as we allowed the different grammar schools to paint murals on our wooden fencing the vandalism stopped.

My final thought is that this property has many different possible uses, which if people are interested, I'd be happy to share them off forum. But unless the BOE starts acting like responsible stewards of its own properties, then what good are they really. The loss of Old Rosedale was a tremendous failure of the board, especially considering the adaptive reuse potential it had as a historic building. Now its happening again and this time to a practically brand new building like Hull. As a member of city council, I will use my experience and background to protect and secure city assets, not let them rot and wither away. Thank you for your time and attention.