Only two trustees publicly and repeatedly refused to support the purchase of the cheap level graded Kawano property. No other Trustee ever publicly opposed the purchase. Not David Hubbard, not any other one, ever.
It was Gibson and Guffanti who forced the district to spend tens of thousands of dollars investigating the few large empty sites left in VUSD which by 2002 was nearly all gone.
I have eight or so quotes from this newspaper which will prove they were the only ones publicly opposed the cheap, level fully graded Kawano site. I am happy to post the quotes and the URLs of the articles if you wish. See the end of this blog for six ofthe eight of those quotes and URLs.
ANTI blogger JustTheFacts wrote, "Yes, Gibson and Guffanti opposed taking the Kawano site by eminent domain. So what? Aren't they entitled to their opinion?"
My answer is YES with two caveats. Their actions should not result in foreseeable extra cost or delays to the district's building program. But many of the costs and the delays were clearly foreseeable. Gibson and Guffanti, as school board trustees, knew of should have known that tens of thousands of dollars must be spent each time a new different, potential third high school site was investigated.
One potential secondary site had a natural gas pipeline running through the middle of it. California school construction laws do not allow a major gas pipeline to run under a school site. Another had a nature preserve that required a nature corridor running through the property and the potential high school. An EXPENSIVE team of experts had to hired and paid to find those and other problems with other sites.
Gibson and Guffanti knew that at the very least, their actions would cost tens of thousands of dollars and years of delay for the district to investigate those and other secondary sites.
The second caveat is that they must stand behind their decision and not hide from it. Instead of pretending that it was not their fault that the district has had to pay an extra 40 million dollars for the third high school, they should man up and apologize to the taxpayers.
Have they ever done that?
NO.
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THE DAMNING QUOTES--proving it was Jim Gibson and Stephen Guffanti and only Gibson and Guffanti who were responstible for the greatest loss of taxpayer money in VUSD history.
QUOTE NUMBER ONE:
http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2002/10/30/export21822.txt
Two VUSD candidates attack magnet high school site
Tuesday, October 29, 2002
Incumbent school board Trustee Jim Gibson and the candidate he endorses ---- Steve Bradford ---- said this week that they oppose putting the campus, which would accommodate two magnet high schools, on the property the district is studying on East Vista Way between Mason Road and Osborne Street in an area called Strawberry Hill.
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QUOTE NUMBER TWO
http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2003/02/16/export3600.txt
New Vista high school project picking up steam
Saturday, February 15, 2003
In the latter case, the district board of trustees would be faced with a difficult decision. Two of the five members ---- Jim Gibson and Stephen Guffanti ---- have said they oppose putting the school on the Kawano property (Strawberry Hill).
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QUOTE NUMBER THREE
http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2003/08/10/news/inland/vista/8_10_0323_00_12.txt
Vista still searching for home of magnet high schools
August 9, 2003
Three board members say they wanted to build the high schools on a 50-acre tract known as Strawberry Hills in Bonsall. But the other two members said they want the district to put more effort into looking at smaller sites around the city.The board couldn't agree on the Strawberry Hills site…
Board members Jim Gibson and Stephen Guffanti said they refuse to support condemning the Kawano property (strawberry hill)
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QUOTE NUMBER FOUR
http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2005/05/29/news/inland/vista/22_38_385_28_05.txt
VUSD sees Melrose campus as key project
Saturday, May 28, 2005 10:48 PM PDT
The long road
Vail said the district seriously considered three other sites before settling on the Melrose property. Those sites included property south of Highway 76 off East Vista Way that didn't work out for environmental reasons; the "Kawano" or "Strawberry Hill" property that failed to generate enough support among school board trustees; and the Lincoln Middle School/Vista City Hall site that fell through because the state wouldn't provide necessary funding.
QUOTE NUMBER FIVE
http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2003/03/23/export6438.txt
School district exploring new high school campus proposal
...there are very few properties left big enough to accommodate a high-school campus serving around 2,000 students. District trustees voted 5-0* (see blog editor note below) on March 13 to abandon the most recent possibility, a produce farm (Kawano property aka Strawberry Hill) on East Vista Way in the unincorporated area just north of Vista. The proposal encountered opposition from neighbors and the property owner was unwilling to sell. Two of the board trustees objected to the site (Guffanti and Gibson), which would have left the five-member board short of the four votes needed to institute an eminent domain proceeding that would be needed to obtain the property.
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QUOTE NUMBER SIX
School board drops rural site for new high school
http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2003/03/14/export5702.txt
...Kawano himself said he was unwilling to sell his property. Also, a couple board members(Gibson and Guffanti) had said they opposed the district pursuing the Kawano property. For the district to go forward with an eminent domain proceeding to forcibly acquire the property would have required four votes on the five-member board.
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*Blog editor note: The three pro education candidates finally gave up the fight to get either Gibson or Guffanti to be the fourth vote needed for the third high school. The three PRO trustees decided to table the Strawberry Hill site as Gibson and Guffanti told them over and over that they would not be the fourth vote.
Gibson and Guffanti gleefully joined in with this vote that acknowledged the Strawberry Hill site could not be obtained thus a 5-0 vote to quit looking at the primary Kawano Strawberry Hill site but ONLY TWO board members were happy with the decision--Gibson and Guffanti.
Nevertheless it was the intractable opposition of Gibson and Guffanti and only Guffanti and Gibson that killed the Strawberry Hill site and cost VUSD high school students to endure at least five more years (six?) of overcrowded high school campuses.
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