"Living the Vision" -- but WHOSE vision?

[The article is quoted entirely from the original work by Steve Snyder of the TODAY Newspaper -- Lancaster Edition, August 3, 2006. Presumably all copyright is retained by Today and Mr Synder. ]

Lewis bets on hotel development

The Moulin Rouge in Lancaster?


Well, not exactly, but at least a hotel with Moulin Rouge -style cachet and
name, if Lancaster Schools Superintendent Larry Lewis has anything to say about
it.


From the time the city of Lancaster agreed to trade out land at the northwest
corner of Lancaster Community Park with the School District, Lewis has dreamed
of a motel at the northwest corner of the high school, beyond the traded out
land
area.


Well, with the right connections and the right contacts, what Lewis and the
school districts are calling "Enterprise City" has moved a little closer to
reality.


When saxophonist Kim Waters played at the city's May 6 Musicfest concert,
sponsored by radio station 107.5 FM The Oasis, Lewis met Sheila Green, a
consultant with the station. She, in turn, happened to know people from
Moulin Rouge Development Corporation, which bought Las Vegas' Moulin Rouge Hotel
and Casino in
2004.


The Moulin Rouge, a National Historic Landmark, got its place in history by
breaking the color line as Las Vegas' first integrated casino and hotel from the
day it opened its doors in 1955. In 1960, white and black leaders in the
city signed an agreement to officially abolish segregation on the Las Vegas
Strip.


And it's that history that Lewis sees as a draw, if the Moulin Rouge Development
Corporation would build a hotel on Dallas
Avenue.


Lewis said there's nothing wrong with Hilton or other upscale hotels, but that
he thinks the site needs a special
look.


"We've got to have something to draw the people, because we're not on a
highway," he
said.


Lewis sees the hotel, then as anchoring a development of various retail and
service businesses that would build on the hotel's traffic and
needs.


That whole complex, in turn, would connect to the new Lancaster High School in
two
ways.


One, it would offer a nearby hotel for when the portions of the high school are
rented out, such as the basketball gym, football gridiron or the track oval for
playoff games and other competitions. The same holds true if the schools
theater is rented out, or its cafeteria is rented out as a conference or meeting
room.


But, Lewis sees a more direct tie-in to the high school, which is why all of the
high school's vocational related classrooms, face west, toward the 18-acre
would-be hotel site. And that would be the possibility of students in the
computer, culinary arts, broadcast journalism, design, theater, cosmetology and
other classes getting the chance to work with staff and management at the hotel
complex, or else work on guest of the hotel, for things such as hair
styling.


"(It would) give kids the real world of work experience. If you have a
motel or food court over there, they can walk right on over," Lewis
said.

"And
that's what we're trying to get for these kids - connections and opportunities,"
Lewis
said.


He then, with a tour of the new high school facility, which is approaching
completion, showed in detail how this might work out, as well as illustrating
features of the new high
school.


The auditorium at the new high school has an orchestra pit and a prop
room. It also has acoustically designed walls, as do all fine arts
classrooms where necessary. And it has full-scale theater lighting with
control
room.


This part of the west wing of the high school also has a culinary arts classroom
with multiple full commercial sized pot sinks and other cleanup
areas.


It has a black box theater classroom with lights and control room, for teaching
theater tech
skills.


Likewise, it has a broadcast journalism studio, with full control panels and
equipment.


Besides the cosmetology classrooms, other technology-related classes include a
metal fabrication class, a design/materials/sewing classroom and multiple
computer and information technology classrooms.


Lewis stressed the amount of technological-related material in each teaching
area.


He said that, especially with minorities often having less access to, and less
comfort level with, technology than the public as a whole, this was important
for Lancaster students and their academic and career
future.


"We want them to be very comfortable with technology," he
said.


Beyond that, the high school in general has one other goal besides education in
the narrow sense, Lewis
said.

"We're
trying to prepare students academically and help them find out who they are
career-wise," he
said.


Lewis then took a few minutes to explain how he saw a hotel tying in with high
school athletic
facilities.


"We can hold NCAA and AAU track meets," Lewis said. He added that the
basketball gym and football stadium are both sufficient for UIL playoff
games.


"Our goal is to make the athletic department self-sufficient and put more
taxpayer dollars in the classrooms," he
said.


He added that this went beyond athletics, saying the new cafeteria, which had a
stage area built into it, could be rented out for conferences and
meetings.

Of
course, there's just one hitch -- getting the
land.


Lewis said the district has started talks with the trust that manages the
property, via commercial real estate agent Margie Waldrop, and the discussions
are ongoing.

This makes me wonder... In May, Dr Lewis and the Lancaster District thought they could cope with demographic growth and the need to repair old buildings with a bond of $93 Million.

In July, Dr Lewis met up with the developers of the Moulin Rouge / Enterprise city project, and looked at some land deals.

And in August, Dr Lewis, and the District, start planning for projects totalling $215 Million -- over TWICE what they planned for in May.

Now, there is nothing at all, whatsoever in any way shape or fashion in the bond planning information suggesting that the district fund a vocational-technical hotel-convention center-high school.

But if the high school could get the land, they might consider it. And the bond projects DO forecast land acquisition.

There is nothing in the bond package about putting the second, expanded, high school on a site adjacent to the current new Tiger stadium -- much less making it a training center for careers in the hotel and entertainment industry.

But if they DID want to build such a school, nothing in the language of the referendum would restrict them. And the "vision" does, explicitly, refer to helping Lancaster High School students find careers as cooks, cosmetologists -- and presumably bus boys, bell boys, pool boys, shoe shine boys -- all the sorts of jobs where kids get to wear black slacks, white shirts, red vests and those little round hats ...

I honestly don't know. What kinds of jobs DOES the hotel industry offer teenagers?

Anyhow. Something changed between May and August. The only big idea I can find that's consistant with that time period, is this. Does anybody else have any other suggestions?