Does This Affect Me?

This is not simply a matter of not in my backyard. The AAPS proposal does not just affect neighborhoods immediately adjacent to the site. Every family whose kids are to attend this school will be affected. The area around this site (including Huron River Drive, Newport, Miller, Craig, Parkridge Roads and all the roads leading into these) will be affected.

Imagine that you live on Newport Creek Drive or Oak Hills Drive in the Newport Creek neighborhood.
- Now imagine that there will be students on foot and on bikes that will want to use your street, mornings and afternoons, to cut through the narrow wood buffer to get to the school property.
- Now imagine the lights from the baseball fields, only 200 feet from your backyard, streaming in your windows at night. Imagine the continual crack of the metal bats on the balls as your younger kids try to go to sleep.
Imagine you live on Craig Road, off Maple
- Now imagine your quiet, lightly travelled dirt road is likely to be paved so that people coming from Wagner can cut through to get to your road, which now leads straight into the football stadium entrance or to turn right onto Maple and left into the traffic jam.
- Imagine that some people will simply choose to park along your road rather than try to deal with the traffic to the parking lots inside the school property.
Imagine you live where you do live, now in a newly defined area from which this high school will draw its student population. (The AAPS does not even plan to begin determing boundaries until fall of 2005, with an announcement in the Fall of 2006.)
- Now imagine that your high school aged son or daughter gets a ride from a friend every morning just in time to meet hundreds of other rushing students and adults, all cramming into two entrances on the only road with motor vehicle access to the school, under the narrow M-14 overpass and into the rush.
- Imagine your son or daughter using M-14 to get to and from school
Imagine you live in an area not serviced by this school but where population growth actually dictates where a school would more properly be located.
Imagine you are a minority student or parent. Does the money being spent on this school at this time really serve your needs. See the Ann Arbor District Black Parents and Students Support Group's June 9, 2004 Report to the Board. Also, read the essay by J. Mark Finneganabout why the current proposed site is unjust.
Imagine your student is not one of the small percentage of students who will benefit from the large part of the budget used for converting nature to sports facilities.

The AAPS does not plan to even begin defining boundaries of the areas in Ann Arbor from where students will be drawn for this school until the fall of 2005, with a final announcement in the fall of 2006. Why are they waiting? They are keeping people in the dark so no one will see the problems with this site until nothing else can be done to change the Administration's course. How can you know if you or your child is affected by all this? How can the planners for the AAPS have said publicly (as it did on 8/16/04) that 80% of the traffic will come in from the south on Maple Road and 20% from the north, if it is not known where the traffic will come from? What other numbers can't we trust?

	Fighting Mismanagement in the Ann Arbor Public Schools District "If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don't have to worry about answers" — Thomas Pynchon

Main Archives Page (New High School) Environment Land Use Traffic School size Demographics Safety Archaeology Alternative sites In the News About CRS Write a letter ! Contact Us Home Page	Does This Affect Me? This is not simply a matter of not in my backyard. The AAPS proposal does not just affect neighborhoods immediately adjacent to the site. Every family whose kids are to attend this school will be affected. The area around this site (including Huron River Drive, Newport, Miller, Craig, Parkridge Roads and all the roads leading into these) will be affected. Imagine that you live on Newport Creek Drive or Oak Hills Drive in the Newport Creek neighborhood. Now imagine that there will be students on foot and on bikes that will want to use your street, mornings and afternoons, to cut through the narrow wood buffer to get to the school property. Now imagine the lights from the baseball fields, only 200 feet from your backyard, streaming in your windows at night. Imagine the continual crack of the metal bats on the balls as your younger kids try to go to sleep. Imagine you live on Craig Road, off Maple Now imagine your quiet, lightly travelled dirt road is likely to be paved so that people coming from Wagner can cut through to get to your road, which now leads straight into the football stadium entrance or to turn right onto Maple and left into the traffic jam. Imagine that some people will simply choose to park along your road rather than try to deal with the traffic to the parking lots inside the school property. Imagine you live where you do live, now in a newly defined area from which this high school will draw its student population. (The AAPS does not even plan to begin determing boundaries until fall of 2005, with an announcement in the Fall of 2006.) Now imagine that your high school aged son or daughter gets a ride from a friend every morning just in time to meet hundreds of other rushing students and adults, all cramming into two entrances on the only road with motor vehicle access to the school, under the narrow M-14 overpass and into the rush. Imagine your son or daughter using M-14 to get to and from school Imagine you live in an area not serviced by this school but where population growth actually dictates where a school would more properly be located. Imagine you are a minority student or parent. Does the money being spent on this school at this time really serve your needs. See the Ann Arbor District Black Parents and Students Support Group's June 9, 2004 Report to the Board. Also, read the essay by J. Mark Finneganabout why the current proposed site is unjust. Imagine your student is not one of the small percentage of students who will benefit from the large part of the budget used for converting nature to sports facilities. The AAPS does not plan to even begin defining boundaries of the areas in Ann Arbor from where students will be drawn for this school until the fall of 2005, with a final announcement in the fall of 2006. Why are they waiting? They are keeping people in the dark so no one will see the problems with this site until nothing else can be done to change the Administration's course. How can you know if you or your child is affected by all this? How can the planners for the AAPS have said publicly (as it did on 8/16/04) that 80% of the traffic will come in from the south on Maple Road and 20% from the north, if it is not known where the traffic will come from? What other numbers can't we trust?