Dear Council Members:

As a mother, I am somewhat saddened to see these pre-school children
being placed in a situation where the school heads are attempting to
house them in a place NOT designed for small children. I am quite
concerned that the parents are very unaware of the area where the school
heads want to put their children. To err is human but to invite the
type of problems on small children that we can foresee is unforgivable!
There is nothing more important than our children and to place them in
harms way is contradictory to good principles of safety and caring.

It appears as if some unwise choices were made and that it is all about
the money -- not about the children!

I personally have worked in an office on O'Brien for twenty years and my
office has large windows on one entire wall which, by the way, contains
bullet holes. I once found a shell on the floor of our conference room
which was shot through a window. One of our managers was at the side of
our building outside around noon time and three men accosted him. He
ran from them back in the office and, recognizing the breathless fear in
his face, I called the MPPD. Several years ago we had the FBI
surveillance on our roof because of the drug and violence close by. We
have found all kinds of disgusting things in and near our two other
locations at 1075 and 1105 O'Brien thrown away in the drainage ditches
and other places. Then there is the matter of unsavory looking people
milling around.

The subject of traffic is another sore spot. We have had three people
pulling out of our parking area whose cars have been hit by oncoming
traffic (I was one of them). In fact, one lady had to go to the
hospital. We petitioned the City to paint our curb red at egress for 20
feet on either side and they concurred because it was clear the
situation was out of hand because of traffic. Countless times we have
seen very large trucks and teenagers driving by way too fast. The teens
blast their radios, so they aren't paying attention. This goes on all
the time.

Many companies in this industrial area do use chemicals, so this is a
hazmat area. While we follow the rules and regulations when it comes to
chemicals, there is a potential for a spill and we did have one close by
some years ago. The fact that it hasn't happened for a period of time
that we are aware of is meaningless when it can happen again.

Considering everything, I would pull my children out of any school that
located itself in an area not designed for the safety and growing of
children.

Carol M. Del Buono