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EMAIL SENT AFTER SCHOOL BOARD VOTE OF TUESDAY, 16 AUG 03
9/17/03 8:30am CT On May 20th. the Texarkana Independent School Board voted to demolish the classic buildings on the Pine Street campus. Due to your committee's efforts, on June 2nd they voted to pause on the demolition and pay-off the contractor for the work so-far done. On July 8th, the Board voted to put the property up for sale and last night they voted to sell it if the purchasers represented by broker John Stone can come up with the $2,325,000 financing. Your committee had proposed a "grand civic space" concept which would have been a permanent improvement to mid-town Texarkana. The Board did not pay much attention to our proposal because of the prospect of making over $2 million on what 3 months earlier they had wanted to demolish and use for a potential but unscheduled elementary school. While your committee is pleased that the classic buildings will be restored if the announced restoration plans of the buyers are fulfilled, we must admit that we would have preferred our vision for the future had won out. Nevertheless, the buildings now have a chance for a dignified future, which is a lot better than the wrecking ball. We do, however, have concerns. There are many details of the purchase agreements which we would like to see in concrete rather than just promises, and we will do what we can to make sure the final agreements resolve those concerns. We will keep you posted. Your committee has learned a lot about how the TISD Administration and Board function. Last night's meeting was particularly revealing. In the next few days we will be sending you an email about all of this which we hope will help you better understand what has transpired and why. In the meantime, let's be grateful the wrecking ball was stopped. We gave a list of 834 names of supporters of our efforts to save and restore the buildings to the Board last night. We would not have been able to accomplish anything without the support of people like you who have enthusiastically told us to persevere. Thank you. We are as one,
Doris Douglas Davis, Co-Chair ('64)
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