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Costa may go private to fund new gymnasium
by John Tawa
When the Master Plan to renovate Mira Costa High School was unveiled 1 1/2 years ago, one construction project the school district contemplated was a new gymnasium complex to replace the antiquated Fisher Gym.
But when Manhattan Beach residents go to the polls Nov. 7 to vote on Measure "M," a $26 million bond measure to modernize and upgrade the high school, a new gym will not be on the project list.
"The input we got from the community indicated a strong support for the academic needs of the campus, but it did not support the athletic needs," said school board trustee Mary Rogers. "It disappointed us, but out of respect for the community, we had to respond to that."
Rogers added that new athletic facilities are still an integral part of the Master Plan.
Enter Manhattan Beach resident John Altamura. He was disappointed when the gym was removed from the bond measure and angry that a community as affluent as Manhattan Beach has one of the worst gyms in the area. He has vowed to do something about it.
"There are lots of people in the community who are sports minded who'd like to see a new gym built on that campus," he said. "I'm willing to talk to community members and business leaders to see about raising funds to do this."
The school district is saying "Bravo!"
"I'm going to take John at his word," said school superintendent Jerry Davis. "I'm going to believe that he believes he can raise $5-6 million to build a new gym or at least refurbish it."
"I think we need a new gym," said Mira Costa athletic director Bob Fish. "It's 50 years old, it's small, and the locker room facilities are substandard. This is not a major league facility in any manner of speaking. As athletic director, I think it's important to have the best for our kids in every area. And sports is one important area."
"The value of building another and newer facility on this campus would be other than just for the school itself," added Mira Costa head boys' basketball coach Glenn Marx, who said the community at large uses the gym a great deal. "So one would hope that other people would emerge to help finance it. Because it really would serve a lot of purposes."
Altamura concedes that even if he is successful in raising funds for a new gym, that's years down the road, probably long after his four children have graduated. In the meantime, refurbishing Fisher Gym has his attention.
"There's a tremendous amount of parents in town who will put forth time, effort and money to refurbish Fisher Gym," he said. "But it's got to be done now. If they're going to tear it down in 5-6 years fine, but right now, it's not acceptable."
Altamura said that, as a start, the chipped paint in the gym's entryway should be rectified, trophy cases should be constructed to show off Costa's long and proud sports tradition and championship banners inside the gym should be re-hung to increase their visibility.
"We have a real nice swimming facility; we have a nice football stadium," he said. "It's just a horrible gym."
"Paint and cleanup can go a long way," he added. "This would not be hard to resolve. It would just be a manner of getting the people involved to do it. And if the school district doesn't have the money, let's see how much it costs and see if we can fund it privately." ER