We’re not sure that this latest offer from the Hollywood Citizens Association to lease a chunk of land to Riverside School District 96 for the annual sum of $1 for 30 years (with options to renew at market rates afterward) is the final answer to the school district’s playground and parking issues, but at least the conversation is still taking place.
To be sure, the offer is a generous one, about 10,000 square feet of space set aside for students to use and potentially serving as a way to separate play space from parking.
But, it doesn’t account for an addition the district would like to build onto Hollywood School and really doesn’t solve the parking issue.
It’s still our belief the parking solution is to be found offsite, perhaps privately owned land or a combination of public and private land near the intersection of Rockefeller and Hollywood avenues. Such a solution would truly separate parking and play areas, and could allow the district to remove the parking lot immediately south of the school altogether.
That might face some neighborhood resistance, but there’s no easy answer in this area that is also shared by D96, Hollywood House, Brookfield Zoo and RBHS.
