Parents, neighbors clash
Charter school location outrages residents
HOLLYWOOD — A chorus of controversy erupted on the steps of City Hall this week, with dozens of parents pressing for a new Ben Gamla charter school clashing with neighbors who say their streets just can’t handle the extra traffic.
Slated to rise on 1.52 acres in the 2600 block of Van Buren Street, the four- story school would serve 1,050 students in middle and high school and sit just a block from a second Ben Gamla school across from City Hall at 2620 Hollywood Blvd. The taxpayer- funded charter school, with 670 students in kindergarten through eighth grade, offers a Hebrew- language program.
“What you’re looking for is going to hinder and hurt the quality of life for the people who live there,” said Commissioner Peter Hernandez, who lives two blocks from the site and called a Town Hall meeting Wednesday night to air concerns.
More than 300 people showed up, overwhelming commission
chambers and forcing the gathering to move outside. Some parents heckled Hernandez, threatening to vote him out in the next election if he opposes the school.
“When did traffic become more important than education?” one parent yelled fromthe steps of City Hall.
Bars and nightclubs in downtownHollywood have more traffic than a school, shouted another.
“Again, I’m not against the school,” Hernandez said to the crowd. “It’s the location.”
Former U. S. Rep. Peter Deutsch, founder of Ben Gamla’s network of charter schools, challenged the commissioner, telling the crowd he is only one vote on the seven- member board.
“Don’t worry about it!” hollered Howard Siegel, a Hollywood man whose son is a fourth- grader at Ben Gamla. “We’ll vote him out! We’ll vote him out!”
Jeff Gillepsie lives next to the parking lot of the Ben Gamla K- 8 school, open since 2007.
“Parents park in people’s driveways,” Gillepsie told the Sun Sentinel. “They’ll even pull up in your yard. And you wouldn’t believe the honking.”
Critics say they’re not against the new school, but hope it will find a more suitable spot within the city.
“It’s too many cars in a small space,” said Charlotte Greenbarg, president of the Hollywood Council of Civic Associations. “I have nothing against this school. It’s just not enough room for them.”
Guy Chartier, president of a nearby 10- unit condo building, predicts “total chaos” if the new school wins approval from both the city and the Broward School District.
Ben Gamla officials were hoping the school would win all the necessary approvals and open by August 2014, said Lynn NormanTeck, a spokeswoman for the Florida Consortium of Public Charter Schools.
City officials are planning a public workshop to discuss the project at 7 p. m. Oct. 3 at CityHall.