The School Board's Bungled Building Site
A local editor criticizes the school board for purchasing a fractured plot of land divided by an alley, forcing design changes and costing the district unnecessary money.
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The decision of the school board to refuse to call another election on the school site matter, but to proceed with the construction of the building would seem to settle the question. In the first place, the district practically bought two sites when it secured a tract of land divided by an alley. The board should have, before purchasing, made it a condition of sale that the alley in block 25 should be vacated. No man of judgment would buy a divided piece of property on which to place a public building. Again, after the land was purchased, the board apparently went ahead with the plans for the building regardless of the size of the property, taking it for granted that the alley would be vacated. How fallacious this idea has proven all are aware and it is now necessary, in order to place the building on the larger half of the property, to effect radical alterations in its construction.
“No man of judgment would buy a divided piece of property on which to place a public building.”
Local government land-use failures and the struggle to fund public infrastructure are as characteristic of 1892 Aberdeen as they are of the modern era. This editorial captures the recurring tension between civic boosterism and the messy reality of municipal planning.
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