by Bill Baker, J.D.
Editor and Publisher, The San Bruno Beacon

As a former San Bruno City Councilmember and long time San Bruno resident, I am always concerned about events that could have a negative impact on San Bruno and its residents. 

I was recently reading an interesting article about the San Mateo Union High School District (SMUHSD) 7-11 Committee's hearings to determine the future status and use of the former Crestmoor High School site. This 02/03/2010 article titled, Can San Bruno Save the Crestmoor Site? was written by Joseph Capote in his online publication San Bruno Views. This article pointed out the fact that the former Crestmoor High School site (Crestmoor site) being considered for redevelopment  and/or other uses plays a vital role in the lives of hundreds, if not thousands of San Bruno residents and other people who use the Crestmoor site for general recreation, education and organized sports.

It's difficult to put an exact dollar figure on the value that the Crestmoor site has to the thousands of people who directly and indirectly benefit from its present use. It is also hard to put an exact dollar figure on the value of the disruption and damage the redevelopment of the Crestmoor site would have on the San Bruno residents and their property who live in the vicinity of the site. The negative impacts on the lives of the thousands of people who directly and indirectly benefit from the Crestmoor site, in its present configuration, will be negatively impacted long after the SMUHSD spends the money it receive from the sale of the site.

SMUHSD 7-11 COMMITTEE.
DEVELOPERS WIN. UNIONS WIN. SAN BRUNO'S RESIDENTS LOSE.

First rule of politics: follow the money.

Do you like numbers? Well here are some numbers you should burn into your mind while reading this article: approximately 83% of the taxpayer money spent by the San Mateo Union High School  District (SMUHSD) is spent on certificated salaries, classified salaries and employee benefits. Let's call these folks the eighty-three percenters. That leaves about 17% to pay for everything else that doesn't go directly into the pockets of the people working for the SMUHSD.

Developers have been chomping at the bit to get their hands on this one of a kind building site and make some big bucks ever since Crestmoor High School was closed in 1980.

Now, the developers have found an ally in the unions and SMUHSD administrators. The trade unions want the work that the development of the Crestmoor site will bring to their members. As I see it, SMUHSD administrators and the unions, representing SMUHSD teachers and school employees, aka the eighty three percenters, want to convert the one of a kind, former Crestmoor High School site, offering spectacular views, into cash in a bad real estate market to insure their salary, benefit and retirement packages that continue to grow no matter how bad the economy gets. 

Put another way, any Beacon reader who gambles knows that in the dice game of craps, a come-out roll of 7 or 11 (as in the "7-11" Committee) is called a "natural", resulting in a win for pass line bets. Unfortunately, the only winners in the fight over the Crestmoor High School site are going to be the developers, their union buddies and everybody else feeding off of the development food chain. The losers will be that vast majority of San Bruno's residents and everybody else who uses the former Crestmoor High School site in its present configuration.

That being said, and since the name of this committee has a gambling theme to it, what do you think the odds are that the 7-11 Committee is going to vote to declare the Crestmoor High School site "surplus property" and put it in the chopping block? I'd say the chances of this happening are pretty dam good. You can almost hear the dump trucks, D9 Cats, and every other piece of construction equipment firing up their smoky diesel engines waiting for the high sign to tear into the Crestmoor High property.

The people who have done such a great job mismanaging the SMUHSD are frothing at the mouth as the smell of cash, from the sale of the Crestmoor site, fills their nostrils. In an April 16, 2009 Examiner article titled, District faces surplus schools dilemma, the following observation was made:

"Although no analysis of the Crestmoor site’s value has been done since the real estate market’s decline, an assessment about two years ago estimated it was worth $80 million to $120 million, according to Elizabeth McManus, [SMUHSD] district budget director.

'Selling the land could go a long way to solving the district’s budget woes. The district has a $75 million 'albatross' of debt that it must pay off mostly with its own operating funds, to the tune of $3 million a year, McManus said. That money would otherwise be directed toward classrooms, she said."

In other words, the SMUHSD has mismanaged the District's finances to the point where the SMUHSD is $75 million in debt and they want more money to waste?

Living in the neighborhood around the Crestmoor High site is going to be hell on earth for a few years as the construction teams spew diesel smoke, fill the air with dirt and sediment, and make more noise ,than a war zone in Iraq, possibly constructing an expensive gated community wet dream some architect has come up with to fill this beautiful, one of a kind piece of property now being used to benefit more than a thousand children and adults who use the school's fields or go to school at Peninsula High.

According to the SMUHSD 7-11 website the cleverly selected members of the San Mateo Union High School District's (SMUHSD) 7-11 Committee must perform the following duty:

"The San Mateo Union High School District has established a 7-11 Advisory Committee to review relevant property information, establish and communicate throughout the attendance area a priority list for use of surplus space and real property, hold public hearings, and forward to the Board of Trustees a report recommending uses of surplus space and real property."

So, how do the votes stack up on the 7-11 Committee, vis-à-vis voting to recommend to the SMUHSD Board that the former Crestmoor High School be declared surplus property that can be sold to the highest bidder and get the construction equipment rolling? To start with, you need a majority vote of the Members present to pass a Committee recomendation to the SMUHSD Board. San Bruno has three members on the 7-11 Committee.

Who are the 7-11 Committee Members who will help decide the future of the Crestmoor site:

1). San Bruno Park School District (SBPSD) Board Member Skip Henderson is the 7-11 Committee Chair. Henderson is advertised on the 7-11 Committee website as being a San Bruno Park School District Board Member and his membership as an elected official on the SBPSD Board of Trustees was an important factor in his being selected to the 7-11 Committee. We should expect that Mr. Henderson will not vote to change the current status of the Crestmoor site or sell it. It certainly wouldn't make sense for one of San Bruno's elected officials to vote against the interests of San Bruno's residents.

2). Former San Bruno City Councilman Tom Ricci is also a 7-11 Committee Member. He understands the negative impact that the sale and/or development of the former Crestmoor High School site would have on San Bruno and the residents in the area around the site.

3). Craig Childress, President of the San Mateo Union High School District Teacher’s Association (SMUHSDTA) and a science teacher at Hillsdale High School. Can't find a website for the group this guy presides over. However an April 7, 2007 SFGate.com article titled, Teachers seethe as school districts reach impasse observed: 

"The San Mateo Union High School District has been at impasse since November, said union President Craig Childress. The average salary is $75,000, and teachers are angry about a district plan for them to start contributing up to $600 a month for health insurance.

Although costs rose 12 percent, Childress blames the fiscal squeeze on mismanagement.

He (Childress) said the district is $80 million in the red because it overspent on construction projects -- then refused to include debt relief in the $298 million construction bond measure passed in the fall."

I agree with Childress that the financial problems the SMUHSD is facing are the result of mismanagement. And caving in to union demands for higher pay and benefits, that the SMUHSD could not afford, is part of this legacy of mismanagement.

In my opinion, Childress will probably vote to identify the Crestmoor site as surplus and sell the property thinking the bucks from the sale will help insure the salaries and benefits of his teacher union cronies by reducing or eliminating the present SMUHSD debt load so more debt can be created to pay for bigger salary and benefit packages.

4). Mark Avelar, retired SMUHSD Deputy Superintendent Instruction. The SMUHSD is drowning in debt as a result of decades of mismanagement of District resources and who shows up on the 7-11 Committee? One of the top SMUHSD leaders who is now receiving a taxpayer supported pension and taxpayer supported benefits after retiring from the SMUHSD and leaving this mess behind him? I'm surprised this guy has the Chutzpah to sit on this Committee.

5). Dwight Dunn, CSEA Public Relations Officer. Isn't part of the reason the SMUHSD is in the mess it is in is that unions, like CSEA, have pressured the SMUHSD into making wage and benefit concessions that the SMUHSD cannot afford to make? Hasn't this helped destroy the SMUHSD's financial position and bury the SMUHSD in a sea of debt it now finds itself in?

6). John Ward. The 7-11 Committee site says this guy is a "Government/Community Relations Consultant". What the does that mean?

It looks like that means John Ward is the owner of John M. Ward and Associates a company that:

"......finds undeveloped or underutilized properties for investor / developer clients"

Ward's site also boasts: "Mr. Ward maintains good contacts with public officials throughout Northern California at all levels of government."

Interesting resume for a 7-11 Committee Member.

7). Paul Belzer. Mills High School Principal.

8). Neil Wild. City of San Mateo Fireman, CHS parent. He's a Crestmoor High graduate. A parent of a student at Capuchino High School. A good choice for this Committee.

9). Deirdre Marblestone. Attorney and Aragon High parent. Personal injury attorney. Another good choice for this committee.

10). Mike Loy. General Contractor. AHS parent. Former candidate for San Mateo Union High School District Board of Trustees. Here's what Loy had to say about the SMUHD Board of Trustees when he ran for the SMUHSD Board:

"The 2006 Grand Jury charged the SMUHD Board of Trustees with "fiscal irresponsibility" and "squandering" tax dollars that should have gone to the classrooms to pay teachers and maintain our classrooms. I will commit to fighting for sound budgeting and spending practices.

Good schools enhance property values while bad schools drive home values down. Students that attend good schools tend to stay in school longer and do better. Money spent on education is money well spent.

I want to make sure that our students receive a solid education that will prepare them for college or careers and the competitive global economy they will be working in."

Mr. Loy made some excellent points during his campaign. If we extend Loy's logic to the present situation, we could say that it would be wrong to give this same fiscally irresponsible group of people more money to squander.

I'm seeing 5 yes votes on the 7-11 Committee to recommend that the Crestmoor site be declared surplus and sell the property. There is also little doubt that there is probably an easy 6th vote lurking on the Committee to add to the other 5 ayes. As far as the voting is concerned, I think this is a done deal.

I would hope that the three San Bruno residents, who are 7-11 Committee Members, will voice their strong objections to having the Crestmoor site identified as surplus property and vehemently object to any recommendation that would call for the sale of the Crestmoor site. They should each prepare written statements detailing their objections and have these statements entered into the minutes of the meeting verbatim.

The San Mateo Union High School District has always treated the City of San Bruno like a second class citizen. Now, the SMUHSD wants to sell off, overburden and bulldoze a one of the most beautiful parts of our City. Are we just going to sit back and let them roll over us with their construction equipment?