Eisenhower Elementary Building

[cannon_fodder]

I live in the Eisenhower Elementary neighborhood.  I recieved a letter yesterday addressed to "Resident."

The letter reads:

Dear Education Service Center Neighbor,

As you might know, Eisenhower International is in the process of moving its location to the former Nimitz Middle School and will be in place for the start of the new school year in 2013-14.  This letter is to inform you that the Eisenhower school building, 2819 S. New Haven, is scheduled, pending board approval, to be repurposed as Tulsa Public Schools enrollment center, opening January 2014.  The building will no longer operate as a school, but will be a center for district offices that will provide an efficient one-stop shop for enrollment and other services for parents and students.

We see this as a great opportunity for Eisenhower International School to expand both in physical size and to accommodate a larger student population. You may have seen evidence of this on a daily basis before and after school with a multitude of vehicle transporting students to a school at capacity enrollment.

A portion of the area to the east of Eisenhower that has been utilized as a playground will be pved to accommodate increased parking along wtih accessibility to thee xisting Education Service Center parking lot.  The grounds will continue to be maintained and groomed as in years past.

We see this new plan as beenficial for both our stakeholders and to the surrounding neighborhood.  The traffic in and around the Eisenhower building will no longer be heavy at school start adn end times, but will be staggered throughout the day.

If you have any questions or cocnerns, please feel free to call Bob Labass, Director of Bond Projects, at 918-746-6864, or send an email to labasbo@tulsaschools.org

First of all, don't pretend like closing down the neighborhood school is doing me a favor.  I'm not revisting the issue of closing down some schools... I understand that things have to change and sometimes it is in your backyard.  But certainly it isn't doing me a favor.

Second, I doubt that TPS needs more administrative space.  The (recently renovated) Educational Services Center has a footprint og approximately 250 x 75ft.  on five floors.  It has a couple wings and other space (and I'm sure the district has other admin space).  But the Educational Services Center is naerly 100,000 square feet of office space.  I'm not an expert on how much space they need, but that's a lot of real estate for admin only.   BUT - Im happy they are using the newly renovated EIS building for something.

What really aggrevates me is the statement that they need more parking spaces.  Quick, go to Bing, Google. Mapquest, or anything else you want and find the parking full at the Educational Services Center.  You won't. 

TPS is wasting resources to take out a park (or at least a portion of it) in order to chase the fabled dream of "having enough parking."  Why does Tulsa insist on dsetroying itself for under utilized surface parking lots?  $1mil on playgrounds, or surface parking?  Surface parking!

Below is my email on the subject:

To Whom it May concern:

I am in receipt of your letter dated May 29, 2013, which advises of the closing of EIS to relocate it to south Tulsa at the former Nimitz Middle School.  While I have long been aware of the EIS move, I was really taken aback when I learned that not only is my neighborhood losing our school - we are also losing a large portion of the only playground for more than a mile.  As a TPS parent and a neighborhood resident -

that's really a slap to the face.  Perhaps I am over reading into the letter, but it appears some, if not all, of the equiptment and some of the green space is being eliminated. 

It is impossible for any child from Expo square to the Educational services center to reach a another park without crossing a major roadway.  It will hinder the closest park to Ranch Acres, Kirkmore, Mayo Meadow,  the area east of Harvard, and the area behind the retirement village.  The nearest park equiptment will now be Whiteside (1.5 miles, across Harvard and 36th), other parks that lack equipment but will maintain greenspace include Darlington (1 mile, across Yale, past the BA), Highland (1 mile, across 31st and Yale - boardered by 2 busy streets). 

And for what?  MORE parking?

You indicate in your letter that one benefit of shutting down the neighborhood school will be more sporadic traffic.  Not peak traffic.  If so, shouldn't the buiding need LESS parking?  One would need more parking if it was expected that more vehicles would converge at once.  When you expect people to come and go throughout the day you do not need more parking.

Additionally, there is a veritable SEA of parking immediately next door at the educational services center.  I live right around the corner.  Even when the building is "full" there is plenty of parking.  I actually counted, on Google Sat view, on a day when school was in session and during normal hours, there was ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY FIVE OPEN SPACES. In addition to 25 spaces at EIS and parking for ~30 cars along New Haven.   And the admin building is full during periods that it is unlikely that a hoard of parents will come to sign up their kids. 

Do you really think there will be a need for more than TWO HUNDRED additional parking spaces?  If not, you already have plenty of parking.  And when people whien that they have to walk from the educational services center to EIS, remind them they walk further than that out of a mall parking lot.

Not only would it destroy parkland, it is a waste of resources.  See the empty parking for yourself:
https://maps.google.com/maps?https://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ll=36.121078,-95.932303&spn=0.002693,0.004128&t=h&z=19

If you zoom out a little you get an image on a non-school day, with far less cars in the lot:
https://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ll=36.120206,-95.931963&spn=0.007618,0.016512&t=h&z=17

Here is another random sample, from Bing:
http://binged.it/19zjwZ2

Each shows far more than a hundred empty parking spaces.  By creating less peak demand and utilizing the buiding less... we are creating a need for MORE parking?  That doesn't make sense.

I understand change has to happen.  I appreciate that you are working hard to make TPS (which my son attends) the best it can be.  But PLEASE consider the neighborhood.  Don't forget that TPS school children live here and play at EIS (even if they couldn't get into school there).  Please consider the waste of resources. 

We don't need more parking in our neighborhood.  If anything, we need less parking and more park.

Sincerely,

[me]

PS.  I searched and was unable to find any plans published on the internet.  I would appreciate the ability to view the same.

[Callahan]

March 28, 2010. Not full but at least 75% full.

[cannon_fodder]

Yes! 75% full, and 100+ spaces free.

[RecycleMichael]

My kids went to school there for nine years and I never saw the entire parking lot full. Ever.

[guido911]

I would love to have better parking and general vehicle access to my children's school.

[Vision 2025]

Likely the repurpose of the building from education to administrative uses required the increase in parking per City Code.

[Callahan]

Yes! 75% full, and 100+ spaces free.

Did a rough count of spaces in that pic and there is ~452 spaces and there are ~158 empty spots, not including the circle drive on the west side of the building, so the lot is ~65% full. Show me a business parking lot that is 100% full every working day. Also you know that no person from Tulsa will ever park in the NE corner of the lot because it's too far to walk to the door.

[AquaMan]

I don't think the empty lots to the east in that pic belong to TPS. I think they are commercial businesses. The lot fills and empties depending on what activities are scheduled. It seems to me to be a good size for that operation.

[Conan71]

I don't think the empty lots to the east in that pic belong to TPS. I think they are commercial businesses. The lot fills and empties depending on what activities are scheduled. It seems to me to be a good size for that operation.

The lot to the east is Stanley's Funeral Home.  I do not believe that was part of the empty space count.

[AquaMan]

His count seemed off to me. Anyway, that ESC lot will fill up during board meetings, enrollment, training classes, the fair shuttle, etc. I think its pretty well sized for its purpose.

Can't say about Eisenhower, but it often overflows into the church lot across the street and into the neighborhoods.

[RecycleMichael]

Eisenhower events always filled up the lots to the north and the church lot across the street.

I never saw the big lot to the south ever filled. I went to school board meetings when they had hundreds of people attending and I still never saw the lot completely full. It was 50 to 90% full often, especially when school board and school activities were at the same time.

I never saw the lot during the weekends when they were doing shuttles from the fair, but adding capacity for that purpose seems like a poor trade for losing playgrounds and soccer fields.

[AquaMan]

I understand. Just noting my experience. I'm a firm believer in mass transit. Parks and playgrounds are gold. Parking lots suck. They should be muddy, rocky and filled with trenches (like McNellies parking lot) to discourage their use and encourage other means of arrival. Which puts me on yet another fringe of the population.

[Markk]

Eisenhower events always filled up the lots to the north and the church lot across the street.

I never saw the big lot to the south ever filled. I went to school board meetings when they had hundreds of people attending and I still never saw the lot completely full. It was 50 to 90% full often, especially when school board and school activities were at the same time.

I never saw the lot during the weekends when they were doing shuttles from the fair, but adding capacity for that purpose seems like a poor trade for losing playgrounds and soccer fields.

You obviously do not value the beauty of a well striped parking lot.

How's that?

[RecycleMichael]

You obviously do not value the beauty of a well striped parking lot.

That is a good point.

Nice to see you post again.

[Markk]

I think you missed my recent posts about the crapulent convenience store at 41st and Harvard?